| "The Northwest
Coast tradition is continuously evolving, changing and expanding to become something
different than it was before. There will be no last word on this subject until the last
Northwest Coast artists lay down their paintbrushes for the last time." - Steven C. Brown |
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Masks, bowls, bentwood boxes, and weavings from Native artists of the Northwest Coast grace museums around the world. Northwest Coast art embodies a highly flexible tradition, reinterpreted by individuals in each generation, as is evidenced by artifacts collected from the area over the last two centuries. This richly informative book includes photographs of more than 160 objects from Seattle area private collections and the Seattle Art Museum, grouped chronologically to illustrate evolutionary changes within the Northwest Coast art tradition. This is a tradition of great antiquity which also remains vital and alive today in the work of the best contemporary Northwest Coast Native artists. Among the extraordinary artworks illustrated in Native Visions are archaeological artifacts and the earliest documented Northwest Coast objects, collected in the eighteenth century, along with numerous pieces by the nil teenth-century artist Charles Edenshaw, masks and totem pole models by Willie Seaweed, and an unusual gold sculpture by Bill Reid. Native Visions: Evolution in Northwest Coast Art from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century is based on an exhibition organized by the Seattle Art Museum. Steven C. Brown, a noted carver, is associate curator of Native American art at the Seattle Art Museum. |