Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation
The article examines the work of two First Nations artists active along the Northwest Coast during the assimilation era (1867-1951): Frederick Alexie and Mathias Joe. Although they were by no means the only Northwest Coast artists active during this period, I have selected them specifically because...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt6790k279 2023-06-18T03:40:38+02:00 Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation Hawker, Ronald W. 2001-03-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6790k279 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt6790k279 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6790k279 CC-BY-NC American Indian Culture and Research Journal , vol 25, iss 2 Frederick Alexie Mathias Joe non-traditional sources of inspiration article 2001 ftcdlib 2023-06-05T18:01:32Z The article examines the work of two First Nations artists active along the Northwest Coast during the assimilation era (1867-1951): Frederick Alexie and Mathias Joe. Although they were by no means the only Northwest Coast artists active during this period, I have selected them specifically because they are not normally discussed in the plethora of books and articles on Northwest Coast art published since 1947. Neither, for example, appear in the pivotal 1980 catalogue The Legacy, the who’s who of historic and contemporary Northwest Coast artists. They did, however, receive Euro-Canadian attention during their lives and shared a willingness to produce work drawing on what might be called non-traditional sources of inspiration. Through their creations, these men also addressed Native and non-Native publics about the central issues of land, education, and First Nations status in Canadian society. In these ways, they disrupt the paradigm commonly applied to Northwest Coast art that privileges objects produced solely for ceremonial use and sees the history of Northwest Coast art as one of a “classic”mid-nineteenth-century climax, early-twentieth-century “decline,” and mid-twentieth-century “renaissance.” This outdated, European-derived model fails to account for the complex political and social circumstances that informed both the production and reception of Northwest Coast objects during the era of assimilation and undervalues the ways in which indigenous arts contributed to the public assertion of and debate over Indian policy in Canada. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations University of California: eScholarship Canada Indian |
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University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
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language |
unknown |
topic |
Frederick Alexie Mathias Joe non-traditional sources of inspiration |
spellingShingle |
Frederick Alexie Mathias Joe non-traditional sources of inspiration Hawker, Ronald W. Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation |
topic_facet |
Frederick Alexie Mathias Joe non-traditional sources of inspiration |
description |
The article examines the work of two First Nations artists active along the Northwest Coast during the assimilation era (1867-1951): Frederick Alexie and Mathias Joe. Although they were by no means the only Northwest Coast artists active during this period, I have selected them specifically because they are not normally discussed in the plethora of books and articles on Northwest Coast art published since 1947. Neither, for example, appear in the pivotal 1980 catalogue The Legacy, the who’s who of historic and contemporary Northwest Coast artists. They did, however, receive Euro-Canadian attention during their lives and shared a willingness to produce work drawing on what might be called non-traditional sources of inspiration. Through their creations, these men also addressed Native and non-Native publics about the central issues of land, education, and First Nations status in Canadian society. In these ways, they disrupt the paradigm commonly applied to Northwest Coast art that privileges objects produced solely for ceremonial use and sees the history of Northwest Coast art as one of a “classic”mid-nineteenth-century climax, early-twentieth-century “decline,” and mid-twentieth-century “renaissance.” This outdated, European-derived model fails to account for the complex political and social circumstances that informed both the production and reception of Northwest Coast objects during the era of assimilation and undervalues the ways in which indigenous arts contributed to the public assertion of and debate over Indian policy in Canada. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hawker, Ronald W. |
author_facet |
Hawker, Ronald W. |
author_sort |
Hawker, Ronald W. |
title |
Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation |
title_short |
Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation |
title_full |
Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation |
title_fullStr |
Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Transformed or Transformative? Two Northwest Coast Artists in the Era of Assimilation |
title_sort |
transformed or transformative? two northwest coast artists in the era of assimilation |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6790k279 |
geographic |
Canada Indian |
geographic_facet |
Canada Indian |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
American Indian Culture and Research Journal , vol 25, iss 2 |
op_relation |
qt6790k279 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6790k279 |
op_rights |
CC-BY-NC |
_version_ |
1769005832971747328 |