History and Development
by anthropologist Karen Duffek

The legal, social and cultural pressure upon Pacific Northwest Coast Indian society from the time of first contact with the Europeans caused the disintegration or loss of many aspects of traditional culture. One area that suffered was art. Among some tribes, knowledge of the structure and meaning of the art was lost entirely; for others it was barely maintained; and for a few tribes it remained viable, although in the hands of only a few practitioners.

The latter was true of the southern Kwagiutl, who were able to continuously maintain their art and ceremonial traditions in the decades between 1900 and 1960, when most other tribes lost any functioning connection with theirs. The southern Kwagiutl are perhaps unique among Northwest Coast groups in that they openly and steadfastly resisted attempts by authorities to alienate them from their traditional culture. Their fierce determination ensured the survival of the Potlatch, despite opposition from the government and church attendants, ongoing economic and social upheaval, and acculturative forces such as residential schooling and television. As a result their art remained purposeful, as did the role of the artist in the society.

The Potlatch, which was outlawed between 1884 and 1951 by the Canadian federal government, did not emerge unscathed from the long period of oppression and social change. Still, almost every important feature of the traditional ceremonial dance complexes and associated Potlatch activities, as we understand them from the old accounts and the recollections of present-day Kwagiutl, has its counterpart today.

The paintings in The Kwagiutl Collection reflect traditional Kwagiutl themes as well as the artists' individual styles. It is particularly clear from the work of Henry Speck, Marshal Speck, Tommy Speck, Ben Dick and Godfrey Hunt that many of the artists were still knowledgeable about the lineage animals and other characters, and had been witnesses to the dances in which they appeared. The best paintings show a vigour that is characteristic of Kwagiutl culture and that has kept Kwagiutl potlatches and dancing going long after those of other tribal groups have faltered and ceased.

The continuity that the Kwagiutl believed existed between the natural and supernatural world, and the interchangeability between humans and animals, are strongly reflected in many of the paintings in this collection. For instance, a transformation mask reveals its inner face and animal beings are presented in a half-human way. The artists drew on many sources of information for their paintings, and as shown in their work, the rich mythology offered endless opportunities for interpretation in two-dimensional design.

Today Kwagiutl graphic artists are experimentally extending the traditional conventions of portrayal and decoration in their contemporary work while, at the same time, deriving inspiration from the old art forms and work of earlier Kwagiutl artists. Contemporary artists are thus continuing the process of adaptation and innovation that has characterized Kwagiutl art throughout its history.

SEA BEAR

This legendary animal is part whale, part bear. In addition to its bear-like body, the sea bear has fins on its back and gills on its cheeks.

The sea bear was a supernatural being that lived under the sea, and was the counterpart of the land bear. He was ruled over by Komokwa, chief of the undersea people. (Example: Henry Speck)

Kwagiutl term: na-nis.

BEAR

The bear ("nan" for the grizzly and "Lae. " for the black) is the subject of many legends and superstitions, and is often featured in art works, particularly in totem poles (e.g. Henry Speck, Ben Dick),and button blankets, as he is an important family crest. He is represented in myth as strong, aggressive and fearless, symbolizing the fierceness of the warrior, and possessing supernatural strength.

There were two grizzly bear characters among the Kwagiutl:

The Hamatsa grizzly bear ("Nanes Bakbakwalanoksiwae"), one of the high ranking characters of the Hamatsa series, who assisted the Noohlmahl (fool) dancers in their enforcement of the ritual. These dancers had no masks but painted their faces red to symbolize a voracious bear mouth, and wore costumes of bearskins with long wooden claws. Angry and menacing, they threatened anyone in the audience who moved or laughed

The Klasila grizzly bear dancers wore not only a fur costume but also a mask. A myth recounted by Boas mentions that the character Grizzly Bear was an excellent hunter because he had a powerful grizzly bear mask to put on when he wished to obtain game.

The bear in Kwagiutl art is distinguished by a massive, powerful muzzle, alert and aggressive rounded eyes and wide, flaring nostrils. Fangs and claws are usually shown prominently and emphasized. Both upper and lower teeth are evident. Ears, if shown, are upright and blunt. The texture of fur is often added. If paint is used the colour is generally black or dark brown.

HALIBUT

For the Nimkish Kwagiutl of Vancouver Island it was the halibut (po-ye) who, stranded at the mouth of the Nimkish River when the great flood subsided, threw off his skin, tail and fins to emerge as the first man. The halibut can also be a form taken by the mythological sea monster that makes the surface waters shallow and the tides to run out.

The halibut is a flat fish that starts life swimming in a vertical plane but, as it matures, turns over on its side and becomes a bottom feeder. The lower eye then migrates to the upper side, giving the fish its odd-looking face with the mouth to one side and the eyes off centre. These features together with the outspread tail and oval body shape edged with a fin, are the identifying marks of the halibut. The halibut design is never distorted to fill a given shape in the manner that many Kwagiutl designs are adapted to, for example, the shape of a hat or the front of a box.

When the halibut crest incorporates a human form in or on its body, it serves as a reminder that the first Nimkish people originated with this fish (e.g. Lloyd Wadhams).

THUNDERBIRD

Thunder as a bird was a continent-wide concept among North American Indians, but was nowhere as graphically portrayed as on the Northwest Coast, especially by the Kwagiutl. Kwagiutl mythology abounds in references to this powerful tribe of supernatural birds. In the early days of the ancestral people of the myths, the sky was inhabited by beings who lived in great houses and occasionally descended to earth on stairways. In this world lived several Thunderbirds having different names, each the parent of many children who became chiefs of the lineages. When the chief of a Thunderbird died, thunder rolled; when the great bird blinked his eyes, lightning flashed.

Thunderbird was huge and powerful, able to fish for killerwhales as though they were small fish, diving from the sky to seize them in his talons (e.g. Godfrey Hunt). As in the Nimkish origin story, he could lift the heavy frame of a dwelling and set it into position.

The marks distinguishing the Thunderbird from other sky beings are the supernatural horns that adorn his head and the curved, humped and massive upper beak over a curved lower one. His talons and legs are emphasized to a greater degree than in other bird forms. His wings are not usually folded at his side, but are commonly shown outspread, a dramatic statement of his flying ability.

SISIUTL

This two-headed serpent is one of the most frequently depicted supernatural characters (e.g. Lloyd Wadhams, Ben Dick, George Wilson). Central to the themes of warrior power, strength and invulnerability, the Sisiutl was a dangerous creature, capable of bringing harm or death to anyone coming upon it. In the myths, it guarded the house of the sky people. It was associated with the war dancer and with the Tokwit dancer, who performed magical tricks with figures that rose from the ground and flew from above.

The Sisiutl played an important part in the ritual of Winalagilis, the war spirit. This mythological creature was the warrior's assistant. Only if one had been given the power by Winalagilis could one touch the Sisiutl without injury. For those with warrior power the Sisiutl became a great help- a drop of the Sisiutl's blood could cause a warrior's skin to become as hard as a rock and impenetrable. The Sisiutl would come to the warrior at his command and its body could act as a self prepared canoe. The skin of the Sisiutl made a belt that allowed the warrior who was wearing it to perform superhuman feats. The Sisiutl's eyes could be used as sling-stones and were so powerful they could even kill whales.

Alternatively, the glare of this two-headed serpent could cause a man to die, his joints turned backward, and it could cause an enemy who looked upon it to turn to stone.

The Sisiutl is always portrayed with a face with stylized human features in the centre of its body, and the two ends of the snake extending out from the sides of the face or curling around to form a semi-circle or circle. The profile head on each end, and the one in the centre, have curled horn-like appendages like those of the Thunderbird. Large, round nostrils, teeth with pointed canines and a long protruding tongue complete the serpent's heads. The central face may have variations such as human hands. Where the Sisiutl forms a semi-circular or circular design, another motif often fills the centre space.

RAVEN

Throughout the Pacific Northwest Coast, the Raven (gwa-we-na) takes a prominent place in mythology and art. It is important to recognize that these representations are not all of the same mythical being- the culture hero Raven was not the same bird as the man-eating raven monster prominent in the Hamatsa ritual. It was Raven-the transformer, the culture hero, the trickster, the big man-who created the world. He put the sun, moon and stars into the sky, fish into the sea, salmon into the rivers and food onto the land. He was full of magical, supernatural power, and could turn himself into anything at anytime. His legendary antics were often motivated by greed, and he loved to tease and trick. The raven is also an important totem figure of prestige.

Raven masks can be identified by a long, clear-cut beak, curved above but absolutely straight on its underside. They are painted red, white and black with occasional touches of blue or green. They are less imaginative than the Hamatsa raven masks, and do not have red cedarbark fringes. The Raven in mask form may also be represented as a human with symbolic face paintings.

On totem poles, the raven's beak may be an extension affixed to the front, or may be depicted folded down along the front of his body (Henry Speck).

As a lineage crest, Keso, the raven was commonly worn as a frontlet above the brow of the wearer. In raven rattles and two-dimensional design, a sun disk in the partially open beak is a reminder that Raven flew with it in his beak and tossed it into the sky to bring light to the world. The moon or fire can also be shown carried in this way.

KILLERWHALE

The Killerwhale (gwa-yum), sometimes called "Blackfish" (bel-gha-na), was an important part of Kwagiutl mythology, generally as a clan ancestor associated with sea beings, particularly Komokwa, sculpins and loons. It was also associated with coppers, property disposition and wealth.

The Killerwhale was generally represented by masks so large that they might be called body masks, since they partially covered the body. The dancer had to lean forward and bear the weight on his shoulders and back. Strings could be manipulated to move various appendages, such as fins, on the mask.

Distinguishing features of the Killerwhale are a round-snouted, long head with a large mouth with many teeth, a blow hole, a dorsal fin, a pectoral fin and a tail with symmetrical flukes. Two or more of these features are always present in any representation of the whale (e.g. Tommy Speck and Godfrey Hunt). On totem poles, Killerwhales are usually carved with the head downward and the tail curved forward to form a platform for the figure above.

YA-GIS AND KOMOKWA

Sea monsters sometimes combined features of land and sea creatures, and were often associated with storms, rising tides and whirlpools.

Ya-gis, whose dance is part of the Tsetseka, is a water monster that causes marine disorder. He can block up rivers, make great waves on lakes and on the sea, and can swallow or upset canoes. His dance is characterized by movements that imitate a sea mammal sounding, then surfacing and breathing. This being is often portrayed as a strong, powerful animal-like form, but he is shown with many different variations.

Henry Speck portrays Ya-gis as a monster with many faces on his upright body; a grimacing wide mouth, usually with many teeth; a broad flat tail; and claws.

Of major importance in Kwagiutl myth, Komokwa was King of the Undersea World, whose name was "Wealthy One". He ruled from a great, rich house under the water, which contained great wealth in blankets, copper and other treasures.

Both sea monsters, Ya-gis and Komokwa, may be considered different manifestations of the same being.

Komokwa is portrayed by a mask of predominantly human form, but with rounded eyes and the symbols of sea life on it. Brow, chin and cheek usually protrude, the mouth is wide, and fins or gills may be represented. Coppers indicated on the mask or robes of Komokwa also help to identify this sea monster.

HAMATSA OR "CANNIBAL DANCE"

This is the highest dance privilege of the Tsetseka, and is counted as one of the most important privileges to be brought by a bride to her husband in marriage. Each succeeding heir to the hamatsa re-enacts the story through dance, song and ritual. The hamatsa dancer represents a human who has been possessed by the spirit of the dreaded man-eating monster, Bakbakwalanooksiwae(Cannibal-at-the-north-end-of-the-world). As the dance progresses, the dancer is gradually "tamed" and purified. Returning to his human or civilized condition.

When the hamatsa first appears, he is wearing fresh hemlock branches, symbolic of his return from the wilderness. His squatting dance and loud cry, "hap!", "hap!", expresses the voracious hunger of the cannibal spirit for human flesh. Attendants wearing blankets and carrying rattles watch him carefully. Two hamatsa songs are sung as he dances in the traditional counter-clockwise direction.

The second time the hamatsa appears he is wearing the sacred cedarbark head and neck rings of the initiated hamatsa and dances upright. He is now tamer, but still to be feared. When his wildness overcomes him again, he dashes out of sight, and the four monster bird dancers appear in his place. These are the associates of the cannibal spirit from which the hamatsa derives his power. In this dance, they are participating in his taming.

One by one, the great monster birds with snapping beaks appear, performing a slow dance, stepping high, crouching and hopping, and sitting on the floor waving their huge beaks in an arc, aided by attendants.

The masks represent the man-eating supernatural raven (characterized by a heavy beak with massive nostrils accentuated by red lines), the Crooked Beak of Heaven (recognized by his wide flat mouth and elaborately arched beak-like nose), and Hokhok (with a long, straight beak used to crush human skulls so that he can eat their brains).

Some complex mask's combine two or more of these birds. The masks are painted black white and red and are worn on the dancer's forehead at an upward angle, concealing his face with a cedarbark fringe. A harness tied around the dancer's chest under his arms helps to support the heavy mask, which can be manipulated with the dancer's hands under the bark fringe.

The third time the hamatsa appears he is tame and wears a blanket and apron. This time he dances with a female attendant who symbolizes his successful taming. During the final dance, all those who have inherited the hamatsa dance privilege and who are present are expected to dance as well.

TSONOQUA

Tsonoqua or "Lady Giant" was a complex character of the southern Kwagiutl. She is a crest of the Nimkish people of Alert Bay. Half human/half Tsonoqua is an ancestor of the Kwakeulth people of Fort Rupert.

Often appearing in myths, the most frequent form of Tsonoqua is that of a giantess, with a huge body and head, long pendulous breasts, upthrust hands and bushy unkempt hair. Her face has a heavy brow, an arched nose and sunken cheeks and eye sockets. Her rounded lips are pursed to utter the cry, "HU HU!" Tsonoqua is also described as sleepy, with half closed eyes. She is vain, stupid and clumsy, but at the same time is a horrid and threatening figure. On her back, Tsonoqua carries a basket in which she collects children, taking them home to eat.

Tsonoqua's most important role was that of bringer of wealth and fortune. In her house there were many boxes of treasures and coppers which were found by children who went to seek her (e.g. Lloyd Wadhams). There were also magical sisiutl house beams and posts, another indication of her importance.

As a dancer in the Tsetseka performance she is a lumbering creature who cannot keep alert enough to dance a normal four circuits around the fire, but shambles in the wrong way and is guided to her seat where she falls asleep.

Tsonoqua is frequently represented on houseposts and totem poles (e.g. Henry Speck), as feast dishes (e.g. Marshall Speck), and masks.

Another form of Tsonoqua is a male giant of the forests and high mountain, who is endowed with ferocity and great strength and a formidable alertness. He is represented by a large face mask whose style emphasizes force; they eyes are open and alert. It is this mask, the "Geekumhl", which is used in the important ceremony of the distribution of coppers by the chief. This form is also present among the warrior spirit characters and in the winter enactments of myth.

SWAN AND SNOW GOOSE

In the Weather Dance or "Nunalalahl", performers wear a headress shaped like a bird, and dance back and forth in front of the singers. It is a quick, spirited, light dance that could be performed by either a man or a woman, although today it is usually danced by a woman. The dancers cover and uncover their faces, indicating the break of dawn. The Weather Dance has sometimes been called the "Swan Dance" because of the similarity between the words for "weather" or "day" ('nala) and "swan" ('nala). The dance is incorporated into the Klasila and family crest dances.

The headress for the dance has a curled beak-like appendage with a long narrow tongue protruding from between the upper and lower beak. Wings are situated behind a broad, flat head. The same type of head-dress is called "Swan" and "Snow Goose" by the artists in The Kwagiutl Collection.

The swan and snow goose are also shown as bird masks with true beak shapes, and wings and feather appendages. The dancers wear button blankets (e.g. Henry Speck).

COPPER

Trade copper sheeting was used for the copper, that most important symbol of wealth, which may have been previously made in small form out of naturally occurring copper beaten flat. In Kwagiutl art the copper is also represented on flat and carved wood, textiles and metal surfaces, always in the same shield-shaped form. It is embroidered on dance aprons and blankets, painted on screens, carved or applied on staffs, rattles, head-dresses and totem poles; and recorded in carvings to mark the special occasion of a chief's actions. At naming ceremonies, copper rattles were used in the shape of a copper.

The copper was an item of essential importance in the Kwagiutl potlatch economy. As a symbol of prestige and of surplus wealth it also appeared in the same form among the Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit. Each copper had a name that boasted of its value, for example, "all other coppers are ashamed to look at it," for which 7500 Hudson's Bay blankets were paid. Each copper represented the number of blankets paid to obtain it, and had no function expect to serve as an index of wealth.

The copper was made of a large flat sheet of beaten copper cut in the shape of a shield with a T-shaped ridge imposed on it. Varying in height from 6 inches to 2 ½ feet, coppers were painted with black lead, through which a crest design was incised. Such coppers were brought as the climax of a potlatch, and were the preferred finish to the ceremony. They were particularly associated with the marriage transfer of privileges, with a wife's gift to her husband, and with naming ceremonies.

Kwagiutl coppers have a number of characteristics that differ from those of their northern counterparts: they often are much slimmer and of thinner copper; they are typically strongly arched or angled at the top edge; and frequently the painted design continues down the sides of the lower half. The copper was the most common symbol shown on a Kwagiutl pole. Example: Godfrey Hunt.

TOTEM POLES

Totem poles are essentially commemorative of ancestry and its continuation to the present time. Totemic symbols can be properly called crests. The beings represented in animal form on totem poles are those beings from mythical times who became, or were encountered by, the ancestors of the group that later took them as crests.

Totem poles were usually erected at potlatches, at which times the stories relating to the crests were publicly witnessed. Some types of totem poles include houseposts, carved and supporting the main beams of a house; house frontal poles, standing against the front of the house and usually containing the opening through which the house was entered (e.g. Robert Whonnock); memorial or commemorative poles, erected in honour of a person who died and usually placed in front of the house of the owner along the beach. Especially important poles were those raised in honour of chiefs by their successors (e.g. Henry Speck).

Kwagiutl totem poles have a pronounced sculptural quality compared to northern Northwest Coast groups. Beaks jut strongly forward, and wings flare out widely. Figures are carved in the round; head and body proportions are fairly naturalistic, approaching those of humans. There are horizontal breaks between figures (the figures do not flow into one another as they do on Haida poles). Sculptured elements of figures are emphasized by painting.

Totem poles are carved of red cedar and are usually fifteen to twenty feet tall. Figures are arranged from top to bottom but their sequence is not a measure of importance. Not all of the images on poles are identifiable. Many figures represent people, objects, animals or events named in family legends. Animals of the forest and mountain are usually shown in a seated or compressed form like humans, as are birds. Sea beings, for example the killerwhale, are usually carved with the head downwards and the tail curved forward to form a platform for the figure above. The mythical sisiutl is often shown at the bottom of totem poles, with the two sea serpent heads protruding sideways or upwards.

SCREENS, CEREMONIAL CURTAINS

During the Tsetseka, a ceremonial curtain is hung at the far end of the large plank house, opposite the entrance door. The crest of the initiating spirit of the dancing house is painted on it; each dancing house has its own spirit-painted curtain. Behind the curtain, awaiting their cues, are the dancers in costume, who use the space as a dressing room and a place into which they can disappear. This was traditionally considered a sacred space where masks, whistles, rattles and other dancing paraphernalia could be guarded. To look into this territory was strictly forbidden to those who had not been initiated.

When muslin cloth became available through trade, it was used for the ceremonial curtain, replacing earlier cedar planks, and was similarly adorned with mystic beings. By tradition the curtain was ceremonially burned at the end of each winter dance season, but because of the expense of commissioning a new curtain every year, it was often saved and used in the following season. Examples: Godfrey Hunt, Tom Wallace. Kwagiutl term: mawihl.

HOUSEFRONT

The lineage house (gyokw) was central in Kwagiutl thought and its physical structure symbolized the people in it just as much as did their myths and crests. The house was regarded as the "sacred container" of the lineage, its very structure a crest. It was given a ceremonial name, and was itself an entity within the social organization. Houses were rectangular in plan, with an entry through the front and with a gabled roof. Some houses had crest motifs and supernatural creatures painted directly on the front (e.g. Chas Dudoward and Robert Whonnock).

FEAST DISHES AND LADLES

For feasting during the potlatch, food dishes of varying sizes were brought into the house and passed around according to proper ritual, as the speaker explained the ancestral names of the food dishes and their history. The speaker also urged the different chiefs by name to eat and enjoy themselves, in the name of the host.

Important feast dishes (Kwagiutl term: xElkwa) and ceremonial boxes were among the treasures brought by a bride as part of the marriage arrangement. Carved by specialists and their assistants, they were commissioned by a lineage head and his family to mark the milestones of family affirmations at events that publicly recognized their claims.

In sets of four, feast dishes represented the divisions of the supernatural beings of the undersea, sky, land, and forest. They were also symbolic of the abundant resources of food indicated by their natural forms, and of different food creatures.

Most dishes were made of wood; some were carved, others were kerfed like bent boxes. Undecorated wooden dishes were used for serving ordinary food. Feast dishes varied in size. The first one to be used at a potlatch was a very large one which might be the size of a canoe, and would contain generous portions of food. A typical feast dish was conceived of a large sculptured animal hollowed to receive the food it is to serve or, for example, a reclining human figure with a bowl encompassing the whole torso. The effect of such a dish is of a man spreading open his body to receive the food (e.g. Marshall Speck). The sisiutl was also a frequently used design on feast dishes.

The food served depended upon the occasion but consisted mainly of dried salmon, dried halibut and smoked shellfish, with fish oil used as a condiment.

Large ladles were used to serve food into smaller containers, which were placed before every four or six people. The large feast ladles were generally made of wood, although some smaller ladles were made of mountain sheep horn. The handle was often carved with crest figures or other mythical creatures (e.g. Henry Speck, Tom Wallace). On some ladles the head was conceived as an extension of the handle, and painting was carried on down the neck of the ladle to represent the highly conventionalized body.

CHILKAT BLANKET

Chilkat blankets were the robes of the nobility, and were worn by dancers in the klasila "peace dance", together with the chief's frontlet head-dress. Dance aprons were also woven in the Chilkat style.

The blanket is a rectangular textile woven of mountain goats' wool and worn as a cloak; it has a curved or peaked bottom edge, with a heavy white fringe. Chilkat blankets are characterized by highly abstracted representations of crest animals in blue, yellow, white and black. Extremely complex twining techniques were used by women weavers to produce exacting copies of designs painted on pattern boards by men.

The blankets are called "Chilkat" after the Tlingit tribe that produced most of them, although there is good evidence that women of other tribes made them as well. Among the Kwagiutl, only those with Tlingit forebears claimed the right to use the Chilkat blanket. Example: Godfrey Hunt.

TALKING STICK

The speaker's staff ("yakuntpek"), also called "chief's talking stick," was carved and ornamented like a totem pole (e.g. Chas Dudoward). Some staffs are simple cylindrical staffs topped with a crest carving.

The speaker ("alkw") was a hereditary official who acted as a spokesman for the chief on all public and ceremonial occasions. His badge of office was the speaker's staff, which he held at all times while addressing the crowd. He stood by the chief and relayed his sentiments to the gathered visitors. The staff was used for emphasis - pounded against the floor or jabbed into the ground, rested on the shoulder or held in various positions.

CRADLE

Kwagiutl cradles were made of wood by the same kerfing technique as bent boxes. Their traditional form was a narrow open box with a high headboard at one end. Cradles decorated with carved and painted designs were used only by the nobility; the designs were probably family crests (e.g. Henry Speck).

At naming ceremonies, a large ceremonial cradle ("yathla") was constructed and hung from the beams at the front centre of the house. The copper was a "blanket" to keep the child warm. A speech was made naming both the copper and the child (e.g. Godfrey Hunt).

Cradle designs portrayed by the artists in The Kwagiutl Collection include the sisiutl, the hawk and the raven or other bird.

Kwagiutl terms: kiw-kwa-su-le-nuk and xaap!

BOX

The bent box (or "kerfed" box) is a triumph of Northwest Coast Indian woodworking technology. It is constructed by bending three corners of a long plank with the use of steam; the fourth corner is fastened together with pegs or rope, and a base is pegged on the bottom. Well-made boxes were water tight and could be used as vessels for storing water or fish oil, or they could be used for cooking with water and hot stones. Many boxes functioned as containers for foodstuffs and household gear. Boxes of ceremonial importance were finely carved and beautifully painted with family crests or decorative designs (e.g. Godfrey Hunt). Such boxes were used for the storage of the most valuable treasures of the family, were prized as potlatch gifts, and were traded widely up and down the coast. Northwest Coast Indian myths contain many references to "boxes of treasure" acquired from supernatural sources. Kwagiutl term: xes or xatsEm.

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