Kwakiutl Art by Audrey Hawthorn

Nutured by a benevolent land and guided by a sophisticated mythology, the Kwakiutl [peoples] of the British Columbia coast developed an art that is characterized by variety, skill, and power. Even after the [European] culture begain to interfere with the [Native]’s traditional living patterns, their art, firmly rooted in ceremony, continued to flourish and produced an exuberant array of carved masks, house posts, totem poles, feast dishes, rattles, whistles, and other objects. In 1927, the beginnings of what is now a superb collection of Kwakiutl art was assembled at the University of British Columbia. Audrey Hawthorn has played a key role in helping this collection grow. In this book she introduces the craft and technology of Northwest Coast [Native] art, discusses in detail the wellsprings of its central images, and carefully reviews the significance of such important cultural features as the lineage house and the totem pole. The re-emergence of old themes in new forms of graphic art is touched upon, and some of the important figures in the preservation and revitalization of the tradition, especially Mungo and Abayah Martin, are portrayed in photographs and sketches. Features colour, black and white photos, and maps. Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967

Paperback – January 1, 1988