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contemporary art

Description

Stylized image of a house front. Gabled roof and outside supports in red-orange bands. House front design is bilaterally symmetrical. Three wedge shaped vertical elements hang under the eaves on each side of the roof. In the house, there is a frontal humanoid figure at the top centre on top of a black rectangle with circles off centre. To either side, there are large profile whales curling and facing inward with the ovoid head to the centre and the black outlined split u to the outside. Red outlined horizontal band above the house tapers to the right with two notches, one at the centre and one to the left. Random series of red outlined circles between the band and the roof on the left side. Pencil inscription across the bottom edge '42/80 29/3/77 HOUSE OF BLACKFISH Roy Henry Vickers TSIMSHIAN TRIBE KITKATLA B.C.'. The print is on a horizontally rectangular, brown paper stock.

History Of Use

Northwest Coast serigraphs are a contemporary art form, deriving from early 20th century drawings of traditional crest and decorative designs, commissioned by anthropologists and undertaken by artists such as Charles Edenshaw. Residential schools reinforced the medium, while discouraging the use of traditional themes. An important series of traditional designs in coloured pencil and watercolour were done by Mungo Martin for UBC in 1949-50. The 1960's saw the rapid growth of prints, first in unlimited poster editions, and later with the establishment of the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art at 'Ksan (1967), and of the Northwest Coast Indian Artists Guild (1977), limited edition art runs became the standard. Northwest Coast silkscreen prints are part of the mainstream art market, as well as, functioning within the native context as potlatch gifts, and commemorative prints. Although, there are distinctive regional styles, individual artists may work in several styles, or apply unique themes and variations to specific works.