Brooklyn Museum Collection

Brooklyn Museum Collection

TOTEMS TO TURQUOISE: NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN JEWELRY ARTS OF THE NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST. CHALKER, KARI EXHIBITION CATALOG, 2004, Publisher: HARRY N. ABRAMS, INC. CHIEFLY FEASTS: THE ENDURING KWAKIUTL POTLACH. JONAITIS, ALDONA EXHIBITION CATALOG, 1991 THE KWAKIUTL OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. BOAS, FRANZ MEMOIRS, 8, 1909

OBJECTS OF EXCHANGE: SOCIAL AND MATERIAL TRANSFORMATION ON THE LATE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NORTHWEST COAST. GLASS, AARON EXHIBITION CATALOG, 2011, Publisher: BARD GRADUATE CENTER CHIEFLY FEASTS: THE ENDURING KWAKIUTL POTLACH. JONAITIS, ALDONA EXHIBITION CATALOG, 1991 OBJECTS OF BRIGHT PRIDE: SECOND EDITION. WARDWELL, ALLEN EXHIBITION CATALOG, 1978

OBJECTS OF EXCHANGE: SOCIAL AND MATERIAL TRANSFORMATION ON THE LATE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NORTHWEST COAST. GLASS, AARON EXHIBITION CATALOG, 2011, Publisher: BARD GRADUATE CENTER CHIEFLY FEASTS: THE ENDURING KWAKIUTL POTLACH. JONAITIS, ALDONA EXHIBITION CATALOG, 1991 OBJECTS OF BRIGHT PRIDE: SECOND EDITION. WARDWELL, ALLEN EXHIBITION CATALOG, 1978

This feast dish is carved in the form of a stylized whale head with eyes and mouth indicated. Blow hole appears at top of snout. In the center there is an opening on which rests a projecting dorsal fin. The bottom of the dish has a leg for support on the right side; on the left side a pole shaped runner extends horizontally from the front of the body to the back fin.

Some of the most striking and aesthetically pleasing products of the Northwest Coast carvers' art are wooden bowls. We should not be surprised that a utilitarian bowl can be a work of art. It seems to be a universal human trait to regard food containers as worthy objects for aesthetic expression. Often without elaborate surface decoration, they depend on elegant proportion and relationships of pure form for their beauty. Complete mastery of tool and material is evident in this large, graceful feast bowl. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

This dish is carved in the form of a reclining human figure, knees drawn close to the body, head extending outward at the opposite end, and hands grasping the edge of the bowl, which encompasses the whole torso. The carving of the disk-shaped head is highly stylized in the Kwakwaka'wakw manner and is painted black, yellow, green, and white. A carved rim resembling rope surrounds the face. It probably represents the twisted red cedar bark that has such a prominent role in the Tseyka ritual. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)