Tony Berlant


Anthony Hanna Berlant is an American artist who was born in New York City. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a BA and MA in painting and an MFA in sculpture. He has a large collection of Southwestern Native American art, especially Mimbres pottery and Navajo rugs. He lives and works in Santa Monica, California.

Work

Berlant became known for his collages of found metal objects. More recently, he has used tin of his own manufacture, gaining control over the color.

Mimbres pottery collection

Berlant was a founding member of the Mimbres Foundation, a Los Angeles-based archaeological conservancy attempting to protect vulnerable Mimbres sites. The Mimbres Foundation also assembled the first photographic archive of all known Mimbres figurative pottery. This archive is currently maintained by the University of New Mexico. Parts of the archive are available online.
Berlant worked with archaeologist Steven A. LeBlanc and others in attempts to attribute Mimbres painted pottery to specific Native artists. Berlant and LeBlanc found that a relatively small number of Mimbres artists made the majority of the ancient pottery, perhaps as few as 2 or 3 artists per village at any given time. Berlant identified one prolific artist he called the "Rabbit Master," who painted rabbits in Figure-ground reversal. Examples are given in a later paper by Russell and Hegmon, which gives examples and photos of other ancient Mimbreño artists' work.

Collections

Personal life

He met performer Helen Méndez at a party in Detroit in the 1970s. Ten years later, they met again in Los Angeles and he recognized her immediately. The two married in 1985. Their daughter is Kate Berlant.