Part 17

The designs on the following series of carvings are no less conventionalized. Fig. 258 is a sea-monster adjusted to a circular slate dish. The carving is perfectly symmetrical. The drawing appears asymmetrical because it has been taken from an eccentric point of view. Here also the centre is occupied by the head of the animal. The tail is seen under the lowest part of the mouth, turned upward in front of the body. The arms are shortened considerably. They are attached to the lower corners of the mouth, the paws touching the chin. The fins are joined to the upper part of the arms, and are turned upward so that they lie close to the sides of the face and about on a level with the ears. Attention is called again to the spiral nostrils.

In fig. 259, which represents the front of a small box carved in slate, the same sea-monster is shown. Again we see the animal cut in two, the section separating the eyes and the ears, the mouth, however, being left intact. Here the whole body has been omitted, with the exception of the paws to which the fins are attached. The paws will be recognized turned inward under the mouth, while the fins extend upward along the outer margins of the slab. The dorsal fin has been bisected, and one-half is shown in each upper corner. The ornament in the centre of the upper margin probably represents the tail turned upward over the back so that it almost touches the head. This arrangement must be considered in connection with the formal treatment of boxfronts which will be discussed later (pp. 263 et seq.).

Fig. 260 represents the carving on a slate slab. We have here a different representation of the sea-monster, which is also, as we might say, much abbreviated. The head occupies by far the larger portion of the carving. The body which is seen underneath the head, in the centre of the slab, is indicated by a comparatively small square with rounded edges, decorated with two fins. The rest of the decoration on the lower edge of the slab must be interpreted as the arms of the monster, the large face on each corner representing an elbow. The whole arm, extending from the elbow to the hand, is omitted. The latter is indicated by an oval the centre of which is occupied by an eye. From it rise the three fingers or claws. The important symbols of the monster, the fins, which are attached to the fore arm, are shown adjoining the elbow, and rise along the sides of the slab, outside of the eyes. The two ornaments occupying the upper corners of the slab are undoubtedly the tail. This arrangement is also determined by the general principles governing the decoration of boxes (see p. 263).

The shark which is shown in fig. 261 is found on one end of a small food tray. I do not need to repeat the description of the shark’s face, on which the characteristic symbols will be recognized. I have introduced this figure here in order to show that the whole body of the animal has been omitted with the sole exception of its pectoral fins, which are carved on the rim of the tray on both sides of the forehead. Their position is somewhat analogous to the one found on the totem pole fig. 213 (p. 219).

In figs. 262 and 263 we find the representations of the sculpin distorted and dissected in the same manner as the sea-monster of the preceding figures.

In fig. 262 the sculpin has been adapted to a circular slate dish. The centre of the design is occupied by a rosette, which has undoubtedly been copied from European patterns. In the drawing the outlines of the various parts of the body have been strengthened in order to make their relations somewhat clearer. It will be noticed that the head is split in two, cohering only at the nose and the upper jaw. The two spines rise immediately from the nose. The two halves of the body extend from the corners of the face upward along the rim of the dish. There they grow thinner, indicating the thin portion of the fish body near the tail. The tail has not been split, and is turned upward and backward so that it touches the central rosette. A comparison between this design and the design at the centre of the upper margin in fig. 259 will show a great similarity between the two, thus making it probable, that, as stated before, the latter design is intended to represent the tail of the monster. The pectoral fins of the sculpin are shown in a rather abnormal position. They are turned forward from the body so that they adjoin the lower jaw. They will be recognized between the jaws and the rim of the dish. The dorsal fin is indicated by the long pointed ornaments extending from the eye towards the tail.

In the design fig. 263 a fish has been dissected in a somewhat different manner. The head occupies the upper margin of the slab. It has a remarkably triangular shape. The body has been bisected from head to tail, and turned and twisted in such a manner that each half extends in a curve downward from the corners of the face to the middle of the lower margin of the slab. The pectoral fins have been left in contact with the corners of the mouth, and are placed in the same position as in the preceding figure, namely, adjoining the lower jaw. They meet just below the chin of the animal. I believe the ornaments which are stretched along the right and left margins of the slab represent the dorsal fins.

I have described at a previous place (p. 215) the extraordinary distortion and dissection of the killer-whale in its adaptation to a blanket, and I have given the description at that place.

Quite a unique distortion is found in body paintings used by the Kwakiutl Indians in a boy’s dance. Fig. 264 is a copy of a body painting representing the bear. On the chest, the head of the bear is shown turned downward. The white spots over the collarbones are the eyes of the bear; the angular line with semicircles, the mouth and teeth. On the upper arms are shown the forelegs, the claws just under the elbow. The hind legs are shown on the front of the thighs. On the back of the person is shown the nape of the bear placed on the upper part of the back; under it, extending downward, is the back, the lines representing hair. The hip joints are shown by dark designs on the buttocks. The spiral design on the left leg was said to represent the tail.

Still more remarkable is the frog painting shown in fig. 265. On the small of the back is shown the top of the head of the frog; the two eyes with eyebrows above, the mouth below. Corresponding to this place we find in the front of the body the mouth set with teeth (which really do not belong to the frog). The back of the frog is shown on the upper part of the back; the hind legs on the back of the arms. The opposite side of the hind legs is shown on the front of the arms. It seems probable that in the design which was copied for me by an Indian, the painting on the front of the left arm was accidentally omitted. The shoulder joint is shown on the front of the thighs; the forelegs in corresponding position on the back of the thighs; the ankle joints on the knees; and the foot on the calf of the legs. In other words, the frog is shown in such a way as though the body of the person were the frog. No explanation was given for the black design on the left leg.

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We will turn now to the purely formal side of the treatment of the decorative field. There is a tendency to cover the entire surface with design elements. Vacant places are avoided. When the surface of the object represented has no features that lend themselves to decorative development, the artist resorts to devices that enable him to fill the surface with patterns. On totem poles the bodies of the animals represented occupy considerable space. The monotony of the surface is broken by placing the forelegs and hindlegs across the front of the body, by turning up the tail in front, and by adding small animal figures.

Far more important is the application of a great variety of decorative elements, all of which consist of curved lines. The Indians have a decided disinclination to apply equidistant curves. In all work of the better class the lines are so arranged that more or less crescent shaped surfaces result, or that narrow, curved areas, wide in the middle, narrower at the ends, are formed.

The most striking decorative form which is used almost everywhere, consists of a round or oval field, the “eye design”. This pattern is commonly so placed that it corresponds to the location of a joint. In the present stage of the art, the oval is used particularly as shoulder, hip, wrist, and ankle joint, and as a joint at the base of the tail and of the dorsal fin of the whale. It is considered as a cross section of the ball and socket joint; the outer circle the socket, the inner the ball. Often the oval is developed in the form of a face: either as a full face or a profile.

The general disposition of this design demonstrates that the explanation is not by any means always tenable. Thus in the blanket, fig. 205 (p. 215), the eye pattern in the two lower corners has no connection with a joint. In this position, in the mouth of an animal, it is sometimes described as food. The two profile faces higher up on the side of the same blanket, are obviously fillers. They might be replaced by “eye designs”. Another instance of similar kind is found on the upper part of the face of the dish fig. 168 (p. 191). The circular designs shown here might perhaps be interpreted as tail joints, but they are probably decorative elements. The design appears clearly as a filler in fig. 283 _f_ (p. 272) at the inner upper corner on the long side of the box, and on the ears of the beaver, fig. 229, (p. 227). On Chilkat blankets it appears always in fixed positions (see p. 258) and in large boxes it is the constant corner design (see p. 263). Its use and interpretation as a joint is presumably related to the frequent ornamental combination shown, for instance, in the feet on fig. 160 (p. 188) and in the tails fig. 193 (p. 205). The oval represents the joint and the elevated part the limb. These are at the same time formal elements that appear regularly on the lateral border designs on carved boxes (fig. 274, p. 263). The eye design appears in a variety of forms ranging from a large double eye to a circular pattern with black center.

Lieutenant Emmons has collected the various design elements as they appear on the blankets and has given the names by which they are designated by the Tlingit (fig. 266). These names do not fit the explanations given for the whole pattern. The “double eye” (_h_) and the “eye” (_f_) are not always eyes but occur also as joints, (fig. 269 _b_). The profile eye is called the “head of the salmon trout” (_c_). It is used quite generally as the eye of any animal. The “black eye” (_g_), the “nostril” (_l_) and the design called “one in another” (_o_) are practically identical. They are also used as joints. The frequent use of the circular design of light or dark color, set off against a dark or light background indicates that the tribes of the north west coast do not tolerate areas of the same color, the monotony of which is relieved by the insertion of circular designs of contrasting colors. These may be seen on many blanket and box designs (fig. 274 et seq.).

The forms called “side holes” (_p_) and “holes”, “ends of gambling sticks” or “rain drops” (_q_) have white circles relieving a black background. It is quite evident that these designs also, as parts of the whole design, have not the significance implied in the names, nor do the names explain the reason for their use. The frequent occurrence of the white circles, both isolated and in lines, (see figs. 269 et seq., pp. 259 et seq.) proves that they must be considered primarily as a formal element designed to break large surfaces.

It seems to me most likely that the black or white circular design has been the basis from which the eye design has developed. In the style of the north west coast art shoulders, hips, hands, and feet form large dark monotonous surfaces. These are broken by a large white circle or oval, which is again varied by a black center. This tendency would also account for the goggle design (fig. 266 _i_). The same desire to relieve the monotony of the cheek surface leads to the insertion of an oval design on the cheek (_k_).

In carved designs these forms are not contrasted by color, but the form alone varies the monotony of the large undecorated surface.

Another characteristic pattern, the narrow crescent, has presumably also originated from the desire to break the monotony of continuous areas. It appears particularly when it is desired to set off two merging patterns against each other. Here also design names obtained by Emmons, “woman’s hair ornament” (_r_) and “slit” (_s_) have nothing to do with its function and significance as part of the whole pattern.

The most characteristic filler, next to the eye, is a double curve, which is used to fill angular and round fields that rise over a strongly or gently curved line. Many fillers of this type have a dark colored band at the upper end, generally rounded in paintings or carvings, square in blankets (see fig. 202, lower lateral design on central panel; the tail patterns, fig. 193). In the blankets the angular form is perhaps due to the technique in weaving, although the frequent eye designs prove that round forms are not impossible. On blankets the heavy upper line is often drawn out into a tip (fig. 270 _a_, over the “goggle” design on the side of the central panel). Examples of these forms have been collected by Lieutenant Emmons who states that the Tlingit call them “the wing feather of red-winged flicker” (fig. 266 _t_). The use of the pointed form of this design for a bird feather agrees with the theoretical claim of the Kwakiutl (see p. 205), but obviously the explanation does not always fit the meaning of the pattern as a whole, as is shown by the killer-whale design fig. 205 (p. 215) or the whale design fig. 270 (p. 260).

The design is used commonly to represent quite diverse objects. Thus, the double flicker-feather (fig. 266 _t_), occurs in fig. 269 _a_ as the beak of a bird, occupying the middle of the mouth design between the two large eyes. It occurs also between the ears along the upper border of the design as the single flicker-feather. Here as well as over the beak of the bird, in the lateral fields, it is used only for filling in parts of the design which otherwise would remain undecorated. In fig. 202 (p. 213) the same design occurs between the eyes, just over the nostril, and here also it obviously has nothing to do with the red-winged flicker. Many other cases of this application of the wing feather design, simply for the purpose of filling in spaces, may be observed in practically all the blankets. A comparison of fig. 202 with the box designs fig. 274 shows that the wing feather design may serve to express the forearm and the upper arm. In fig. 274, we have the two hands placed in a position, similar to the paws in figs. 202 and 269 _b_. On the box fig. 274 _a_ the parts are connected with the body by a narrow red strip, which is divided by characteristic curves into two parts. A comparison of this design with figs. 222 and 223 shows very clearly that they are meant to represent the upper arm. In the blanket design fig. 269 _b_, the two sections connecting the paw with the body may be recognized distinctly as upper arm and forearm. In the blanket designs fig. 202, the space that is available for the upper arm is much condensed; but it is quite obvious that the two wing feather designs which lie on the outer sides of the paws must be interpreted here also as the forearm and upper arm. Judging by this analogy, I think there can be very little doubt that the two wing feathers placed by the sides of the body in fig. 269 _a_ may be considered in the same way as the two parts of the arm of the animal represented. Since the animal here shown is a bird, these feather designs are in this way made to represent the bones of the wing.

Similar considerations have determined the distribution of ornaments in the design fig. 270 _b_. Here the two feet will be recognized at the lower edge of the design. Adjoining it, above the “eye”, are two long white flicker-feather designs, which obviously represent the legs. Each of the two inverted double eyes under the jaws must be interpreted as a shoulder joint to which is attached the lower part of the arm in the form of a flicker-feather design.

The forms here discussed are interpreted as various kinds of animals,—birds, quadrupeds, sea-monsters,—but never as the red-winged flicker, nor can the parts be interpreted as ornaments made of flicker-feathers. It is obvious that we are dealing here with a fixed form, which has a conventional name, and which is used for a variety of purposes.

It will be noticed that this design occurs in three principal forms. In one of these it is cut off square at the upper end. Most of those shown in fig. 266 are of this type. Another characteristic form of this design has the pointed wing feather, (as the second one in the series fig. 266 _t_). A third form, which is not given in the series of named designs, seems to be quite common. It has a rounded tip, and may be observed, for instance, in the beak part in front of the upper eye in the lateral panels of figs. 203 and 269 _a_; also in the central field in fig. 273 _b_.

The wing design is applied wherever a somewhat oval or rectangular field which is situated laterally has to be filled in, particularly when the field adjoins another design which is surrounded by heavy black lines, and which forms part of an animal body. For this reason the design appears very commonly in front of, over, or under the eye design. It is used to fill in the ears; it appears at the sides of the body, as in figs. 203 and 269 _a_; and it is used to fill in small fields which adjoin black lines, as for instance, in the lowest section of the lateral panels in fig. 269 _a_.

On blankets the light circle on a darker background with black tip and small white segment at the base, is almost ever-present. The white segment at the base is limited very often by a pointed double curve,—like a brace,—which divides the adjoining colored field more or less distinctly into two halves. These may be observed, for instance, in one of the ear designs in figs. 202 and 269 _b_, and also in the design over the nose in fig. 202.

This pattern is also used as a filler for long narrow spaces. According to Emmons this is called the “mouth design” (fig. 266 _j_) or the “eyebrow” (_e_), but it is often used on fields that cannot be interpreted as “mouth” or “eyebrow”, as for instance, in the lateral parts of the lower border of fig. 202 and in the lower corner of the box, fig. 274 _b_.

Judging from the general application of this design, it is quite obvious that it is not primarily a feather design, but that it is a decorative element used throughout in certain definite positions for the purpose of filling in.

Flat black curves are used quite often for indicating the teeth. These may be observed in fig. 269 _a_, on the body of fig. 270 _a_, in the lowest face in fig. 204, in the lower faces of fig. 271.

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We have discussed before the adjustment of animal form to the decorative field. The adjustment is not by any means free, but definite, stylistic forms may be recognized. These appear with great clarity on the Chilkat blankets.

The measurements of the blankets show that the central height is very nearly one half of the width. The width of the narrow border, consisting of a black and yellow stripe, is about one twelfth of the total width. The angle of the lower border is quite variable, the vertical distance from a line connecting the lower corners of the blanket to its greatest depth is generally a little less than one sixth of the width. The fundamental trait of the blanket pattern is the division of the field into three panels. The central one about double the width of the lateral ones, or more. In most blankets the line of division of these fields is quite clear and is indicated by black and white lines. The designs on the lateral fields are symmetrical and quite distinct from the central field.

The blankets may be divided into two large groups. Their fundamental patterns are indicated schematically in fig. 267. The one design is clearly a representation of an animal with a large head which occupies the whole upper part of the field down to an almost straight cross line (fields 1, 2, 5, fig. 268). Under it are the body (field 3) and in the lower border the tail and hips (field 4) of the animal. It may be noticed that there are always two tail joints, although in other cases the use of a single tail joint for birds and a double tail joint for sea mammals is fairly consistent. Fields 6, 7, and 8 are used in various ways. They are not essential parts of the animal represented, although field 6 may be utilized for the purpose of showing parts of the back, and field 7 may be utilized for a representation of the fore arms. In this style we may distinguish, in the wide center, a central stripe, consisting of the elements numbered 6, 2, 3, 4 and two lateral stripes 5, 1, 7, and 8. Generally these sections interlock. In a few specimens, the outer limits of field 3 are carried down to the lower border so that they form a continuous broad line with the outer limits of field 4.

Examples of this type are shown in figs. 202 and 269. In these the animal figure in the center appears very clearly. It will be noticed that the large eyes of the animal have always a cheek design attached to them. These appear also in fig. 203, a blanket belonging to the same class, the lower part of which is, however, much less distinctively body and tail belonging to the large head. The reduction of field 7 and its extension to the lower margin is rare in other specimens. In fig. 202 field 7 is occupied by the raised hands of the animal, while in fig. 269 _a_ it is occupied by a wing design. The rectangular frame surrounding the body in fig. 269 _b_ is an exceptional feature which I have seen only in one other modern blanket.

A sub-type may be distinguished in which the lower part is treated differently (fig. 270 _a_). The two eyes of field 4 are of the same size as those of field 1. In this way a more symmetrical impression is produced, but at the expense of the unity of the animal form. This treatment lends itself to a sharper separation of the fields 5, 1, 7, 8 against the fields 6, 2, 3, 4 so that the whole central field seems to be divided into three sections (see fig. 204). Fig. 270 _a_ is decidedly influenced by the second type of blanket; the four eyes being approximately of the same size and symmetrically arranged around a central face.