FEA Newsletter
February 2009
Totem Poles and Tourism:
The Creation of a Northwest Coast Icon
A lecture by Aldona Jonaitis, Ph.D
February 22, 2009 – 10 a.m.
Marin Cultural Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael, CA 94903
(Please note: this lecture is scheduled to take
place on site an hour before the doors open at the
25th Annual Marin Art of the Americas Show on
Sunday, February 22.)
This talk will describe how the encounters
between the tourism industry and Northwest Coast
Native people contributed to this proliferation of
totem poles and resulted in the pole becoming the
icon of the entire region.
Before their first contact with Europeans and
Americans in the late 18th century, some Northwest
Coast Native people carved crest images on poles
that stood inside their large cedar plank houses. A
few groups also erected large poles in front of their
homes. The introduction of metal tools led to an
increase of indigenous carving, including totem
poles. By the 1930s, totem poles stood in numerous
communities from Alaska to Puget Sound.
The characteristic figures on totem poles are
symbols comparable to family crests. [For this
reason, some historians prefer the term Crest
Poles]. The figures illustrate historical or mythical
events that occurred in a house's past. If the event
involved several houses, those houses may share a
crest.
The pole's owners display their crests on the pole
to establish and make public their claims to vested
rights and privileges. They were exclusive property,
(continued on page 2)
Heraldic Pole, ca. 1920-30
Artist unknown, Kwakwadawakw (Kwakiutl), British Columbia,
Canada
Wood, polychrome. 59" tall – Brant Mackley Gallery, Santa Fe,
NM
The top figure represents a thunderbird, the bottom figure a bear.
The bear is holding a potlatch hat ornament. This may be based
on a heraldic pole in front of the house of Nimpkish Chief
Tlahgoglass, or Tlah-Co- Glass, Alert Bay, on Cormorant Island,
off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.
(continued from page 1)
and were jealously guarded. Each carved illustration
on the poles serves multiple purposes: besides
commemorating the dead and establishing ownership, they also familiarize youths with their histories.
•••
Art historian Aldona Jonaitis received her Ph.D.
in art history from Columbia University in 1976. An
expert in Northwest Coast Native art, she has published several books including Art of the Northern
Tlingit (1986), From the Land of the Totem Poles:
Northwest Coast Art at the American Museum of
Natural History (1988), Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring
Kwakiutl Potlatch (1991), The Yuquot Whalers’
Shrine (1999), and Art of the Northwest Coast
(2006). Currently at press is The Northwest Coast
Totem Pole: An Intercultural Biography, co-authored
with Aaron Glass. She was on the faculty and
served as an administrator at the State University at
Stony Brook from 1975-1989, then became Vice
President for Public Programs at the American
Museum of Natural History where she stayed for four
years. Currently she serves as Director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks
and Professor of Anthropology at the University of
Alaska Fairbanks.
! A LETTER FROM FEA’S PRESIDENT !
Dear Friends of Ethnic Art Members,
The de Young Museum’s invitation to all FEA members to attend a very special Reception on Saturday
night, February 14, is a sign of the superb working relationship between our two organizations. Friends of
Ethnic Art and the de Young Museum are two long-lived institutions that are working hard – and very
effectively – to provide you, the art-loving community, and the public at large, with great opportunities to view,
experience, and learn more about ethnic art.
We are proud to support the de Young with co-sponsorship of this Reception, and we are delighted that
all FEA members are invited. When you received your invitation from the de Young, you were benefitting from
our mutual admiration society. Please tip your hats to the curators hosting this event: Kathleen Berrin,
Christina Hellmich, Diane Mott, and Jill d’Alessandro. (If you have not received an invitation in the mail from
the de Young and wish to attend the 2/14 Reception, contact our Membership Chair Jo Floyd at
[email protected] or (415) 864-3260.)
In this Newsletter you’ll find announcements for several upcoming FEA events. The first, scheduled at the
Marin Art of the Americas Show on Sunday, February 22, is set at 10 a.m. before the show opens. Aldona
Jonaitus will give us a must-see slide lecture on Northwest Coast Totem Poles., after which many of our
members will enjoy attending the 25th annual Marin show. Later, in the spring, we’ll drive past apple orchards
to the Sebastopol home and collection of an FEA member who has explored, written books about, photographed, and collected indigenous art in North America’s most primitive wild west: the Sierra Madre. You’ll
see artifacts and photos of the remote Tarahumara Indians, and the mountains that drove Bogart and John
Huston crazy.
In this Newsletter you’ll also find reviews of two excellent past FEA lectures; whether you were able to
attend them or not, reading the reviews by Margaret Rinkevich and Winfield Coleman are an exciting learning
– or relearning – opportunity. Lastly, toward the back of the newsletter we have taken the liberty of printing
announcements of tribal art-related events of potential interest to our members: art fairs (at which FEA will
be represented), musical performances, auctions, and museum exhibitions.
How do we do it? With dedicated volunteers who share an interest in the subject matter and in meeting
people with similar interests. For example, FEA member Carole Paxson was such a helpful volunteer that she
is now our newest Board member. The FEA Board of Directors is a varied and interesting group of enthusiastic individuals united by their love of ethnic art. (They’re a fun bunch, besides.) Join in and help us plan
and execute another year of superlative events!
Dave DeRoche, President, Friends of Ethnic Art
[email protected]
FEA Newsletter – February 2009 – Page 2
P.O. Box 192430, San Francisco, CA 94119 – www.friendsofethnicart.org
The 2008 Elizabeth and Lewis K. Land Memorial Lecture
The Lord of Ucupe: The tomb of a Moche high-ranking individual
at Huaca el Pueblo, Zaña Valley, Peru
A lecture by Dr. Steve Bourget
University of Texas, Austin
November 8, 2008
Reviewed by Margaret Rinkevich
The 2008 Elizabeth and Lewis K. Land Memorial
Lecture at the de Young Museum shed amazing light
on a major archeological discovery in the coastal
desert of Northern Peru. Dr. Steve Bourget’s field
season unearthed a patrician burial of celebrated
individuals. The Huaca el Pueblo site dates from
390 to 420 CE and was christened the Lord of Ucupe
by the local population.
Spared from looters, this Middle Moche funerary
chamber was placed in an Early Moche structure and
contained the bodies of four individuals: three males
and one female with a five-month old fetus. Most of
the material culture accompanied the male body, a
man in his thirties who had been bundled in textiles
and encrusted with regalia of diadems, masks and
crowns. His body was covered in a tunic and a long
train made of metallic plates. No fewer than 170
gold and gilded copper regalia were enshrined with
this luminary.
Meticulously layered atop the so-called Lord of
Ucupe were precious insignia that included two
ceremonial shields, seven crowns, two funerary
masks and eleven V-shaped diadems. These headdresses were one of the most visible and emblematic
elements worn by dignitaries in pre-Columbian
society. Significantly, one mask stylistically resembles the Early Moche period while the second shares
some affinity with the Middle Moche material and is
quite similar to other masks found at Sipán.
In addition, the team recovered silver disk ear
ornaments placed on his chest and in his hands,
along with a stunning gold neck collar with incrustations of turquoise and spondylus seashells bearing
eight large silver beads. Each bead depicts an individual wearing a visor headdress. Other items produced from the site included six ceremonial war
clubs and a rattle that had never been seen outside
the iconography of the Moche pottery.
Alongside the main individual was another male
in his late twenties who was buried with vessel offerings. The third burial was that of a young pregnant
woman who was tightly wrapped. Her funerary
trousseau included a crown, a llama and three ceramic vessels, two of which were in the shape of owls.
The fourth burial was another man placed in a contorted position directly beneath the main deceased
male.
Much of the regalia and pottery recovered has
elaborate zoomorphic iconography that is not limited
to owls, octopuses and other tentacled seacreatures.
As both plants and animals were
endowed with profound religious symbolism, the
question and answer portion of the lecture reflected
the pervasive use of animal motifs. Within the
greater Moche political system, Bourget speculated
that the ruling autocrats may have employed these
animals and the El Niño weather occurrence to
bolster their reign and legitimize the divine and
sacredness of their leadership.
The splendor found at Huaca de Pueblo is significant in Moche archeology because, to date, it is the
only center that exhibits a complete sequence of
Early, Middle and Late cultural material in the northern region. The Lord of Ucupe tomb site dates to
this transition period between Early and Middle
Moche, and both stylistic traditions are well represented and perhaps intentionally denoted. Bourget is
tasked with establishing the first complete chronological and stylistic sequence at a given site in the
Moche region based on architectural features and
material culture.
Note: For readers interested in further information on the dig, see the website below.
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/arh400/quinoweb/index.html
FEA Newsletter – February 2009 – Page 3
P.O. Box 192430, San Francisco, CA 94119 – www.friendsofethnicart.org
California Indian Baskets and Charles Wilcomb
A Talk by Dr. Bruce Bernstein
Executive Director, Santa Fe Indian Market
Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum, September 12, 2008
Reviewed by Winfield Coleman
Charles P. Wilcomb was probably California’s first
in the area, and he immediately began collecting
professional curator. From 1894 to 1905, he was curbaskets, participating in the “basket craze” of the
ator at the Memorial Museum (now the de Young). He
1890s. Almost all his baskets were obtained directly
was curator at the Oakland Museum from 1909 to
from native peoples; but he also bought and sold
1915. From early on, he expressed a keen interest in
baskets on the side. A systematic thoroughness
the American Indian baskets.
imbued all of his collections.
Baskets, for many
Wilcomb’s collection
people, define the Caliwas celebrated in his day.
fornia Indians.
Their
Sixteen plates of his
rarity resulted from the
baskets are found in Otis
many tragic chapters in
T. Mason’s classic AboCalifornia Indian history.
riginal
American
Entire cultures were
Basketry; and much of
wiped out, and peoples
the text was ghost-written
reconsolidated.
Rarity
by Wilcomb.
and beauty may go hand
The 1894 Midwinter
in hand, but they are not
Fair, in Golden Gate
identical; the issue can be
Park, San Francisco, was
confusing.
the first American-sponWilcomb collected
sored world exposition
baskets between 1890
h e ld w es t o f t h e
and 1903. His collection
Mississippi River. It was
included such diverse
an unprecedented suctypes as a boat-shaped
cess, and its most
Bottleneck basket
“doctor’s basket,” a three- Yokuts, ca. 1900
enduring legacies are the
r od , c oiled basket Collected by Charles Wilcomb
Japanese Tea Garden
decorated with shells and California State Parks Museum, Sacramento
and the de Young Musequail topknots.
Some
um. Wilcomb was hired
baskets were covered entirely with the feathers of
as curator, and his extensive collection of aboriginal
mallards and meadowlarks, and decorated with clamrelics and natural history formed an important aspect of
shells laboriously cut into beads. A basket from
the new museum. Wilcomb, badly in need of money to
Sonoma County, ca. 1850, was made before the area
support his family, offered his entire personal collection
was Americanized, and so affords a glimpse into preto the museum, which refused to buy it. The collection
contact design. The pattern, perhaps representing
included Klamath, Pomo, Paiute, and Navajo baskets:
woodpeckers and moths, was picked out in white
900 baskets in all. But the Board of Commissioners
beads—which were then a luxury item. Another basket
only wanted his Colonial kitchen collection, not the
was collected ca. 1825 from the Sasoomi Bay people,
baskets. Another issue seemed to be controversy
who were wiped out by smallpox around 1830.
regarding the museum obtaining the personal collection
Born in New Hampshire in 1865, Wilcomb at a
of a curator. Wilcomb did manage to give his orniyoung age collected birds’ eggs, coins, shells,
thology collection to San Francisco in 1904, but in that
minerals, and Indian artifacts – thousands of pieces in
same year, the Park Commissioner sent him a curt
all. In 1888, he moved with his collection to Visalia,
note asking him to remove his basket collection. By
CA, a small town in the Central Valley, where he
1905 his connection with the museum was terminated.
served as a druggist. There were many Indian people
He was a very active collector and dedicated every
FEA Newsletter – February 2009 – Page 4
P.O. Box 192430, San Francisco, CA 94119 – www.friendsofethnicart.org
third month to that activity. As early as 1902, he was
spending half of his monthly income of $80 on baskets.
Most of his collecting took place in the south Central
Valley, among the Yokuts and Paiutes; and in the north
among the Maidu and the Pomo. This involved
traveling great distances under the most difficult
circumstances, by train, stage, horseback, or on foot,
sleeping on the ground or in shacks with paper walls,
and interacting with people with whom he had no
common language and who often were skittish and
uneasy. His collection, remarkable in its comprehensiveness, is testimony to his powers of persuasion.
Wilcomb’s collection itself made a long journey,
going first to a Pittsburgh collector; but happily, eventually finding a home with the California State Parks
Museum (2505 Port Street) in Sacramento. (Phone:
916.375.5901).
Although there are four basic basket weaves
employed by California Indians, the majority of baskets
are made either by twining or coiling. The methods,
materials, the number or rods used, and the foundation
are characteristic for each group. Even the side
worked on can vary; for example, the Yokuts basket
trays were worked on the inside face. Designating the
weaving groups as tribes can be misleading: a
language group did not necessarily form a polity; and
those groups whose range was separated by the
Sierra, such as the Maidu, might be characterized by
certain traits and designs on the western side, other
traits on the eastern side. Characteristics also
changed when groups were reconsolidated.
Some baskets were used for cooking. When the
basket was put in water, the interstices closed up, and
it became watertight, enabling it to contain food to be
cooked. Hot rocks were dropped in the basket, and
moved around with sticks, to prevent burning the
basket. It took about ten minutes to bring the water in
a basket to a rolling boil by this method
A marked characteristic of most baskets was the
inclusion of intentional mistakes. Perfection was deliberately avoided. Metal awls replaced the aboriginal
awls of bone or cactus spine after the 1880s and 90s.
Tin can lids were used to size material, and red wool
yarn was adopted for decorative effects. Even in this
ancient art form, change came as the artists adapted
to new conditions.
Did Wilcomb ever influence weavers? Not really.
But another way to answer that question is to
acknowledge that weavers knew what White people –
collectors – liked. Baskets produced in the 1890s were
much more complex; those produced after 1900 were
much simpler.
Wilcomb kept notes on his pieces, but did not
record names. Why not? Probably in order to protect
his sources. Other determined collectors were in the
field at this time, including Henry Floyd, a crazed Englishman, and Grace Nicholson. Yet he knew the work
of many weavers on sight. And he went to great
lengths to secure individual baskets, One very rare
treasure basket by the Nomaki, just south of the Wintu,
was made around 1850; Wilcomb ferreted it out. It is
the only remaining basket from the group, and to
behold it causes sadness, but also excitement. Wilcomb also collected a minimum of five baskets from
the Ohlone, in a weaving style unlike any other, using
sedge and Equisetum, but twining. Wilcomb was not
always successful, however. Only five “coin baskets,”
based on the Spanish reales, have survived, all of
them made by just two women. Wilcomb failed to get
one.
In the end, we have a very slim understanding of
the material. We know so little about what was aboriginally produced, or why, or what the symbolism was.
One of the most frequently asked questions about
baskets is, how much time did it take to produce one?
The correct answer is: a lifetime. Knowledge began to
be acquired from elders at a young age, but learning
continued for years. Materials had to be harvested at
certain times and places, aged, and then dyed through
laborious processes that could only be mastered
through long experience. When all the materials had
been gathered or traded for – which might take years
– it could take a skilled worker six months to weave a
large basket.
During that time, she was still
constrained to gather foodstuffs, cook meals, and tend
to children. The finished product is a life made
manifest.
In 1908, the museum asked Wilcomb to come
back, and in 1909, he did come back, but to found the
Oakland Museum. He plunged into his new job with his
usual enthusiasm, and put his mark on the museum.
But the long years of arduous collecting had taken its
toll on his health. In 1915, he died, bankrupt.
PLEASE NOTE:
All events listed in the FEA newsletter are subject to schedule changes.
Please call ahead to confirm date, time, and price of admission.
FEA Newsletter – February 2009 – Page 5
P.O. Box 192430, San Francisco, CA 94119 – www.friendsofethnicart.org
SAVE THE DATE:
MAY 3, 2009 – 3 P.M.
FEA COLLECTION TOUR AND RECEPTION
Gene and Sybil Boudreau will generously open
their far North Bay home to FEA members for a tour
of their acclaimed collection of Tarahumara and Turkana Tribe objects. On view will be over a thousand
traditional craft items personally collected on site by
the Boudreaus from the Tarahumara Indian tribe in
the Sierra Madre of northwest Mexico and the
nomadic Turkana tribe of Northwest Kenya. Objects
include blankets, pottery, jewelry, weaponry, clothing,
utensils, and carvings.
Gene has spent many years collecting – in fact,
this is his second (!) Tarahumara collection, the first
having been donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
His interest in the Tarahumara sprang from his
pursuit of geological inquiry in one of the ‘wildest’
places on the continent, south of the border in the
Sierra Madre of northern Mexico. When Gene began
investigating the old Spanish gold and silver mines of
Chihuahua and Sonora, he became as intrigued by
the indigenous people of the mountains as he was
with the geology and became a scholar of both.
The bulk of his original collection was donated to
the Smithsonian in the1990s, about which the Director of the National Museum of Natural History stated,
“Our curatorial staff considers your collection…to be
the most important private collection of twentieth century materials from Northern Mexico in existence.”
The Eugene H. Boudreau Collection more than doubled previous holdings by the Smithsonian.
Happily, Gene has reconstituted his collection by
continuing to collect. He has also written four books
on the Sierra Madre including “Chubasco: A Novel of
the 1910 Mexican Revolution.”
Please RSVP for this event by April 12 so that we can send you directions and a map.
Send your name, address, and number in your party to: [email protected]
LECTURES AND STUDY GROUPS AT THE SF MUSEUMS
February – June 2009
Note: schedules may change. Please check with the museums for correct dates, etc.
Cost: $3.00 for member of FAMSF, $4.00 for non-members.
! Shields of the New Guinea Highlands
Thursday, February 12, 10 a.m ., de Young Museum, Koret Auditorium
Chris Boylan, Collector & Owner of Chris Boylan Oceanic Art, Sydney, Australia.
! Sacred Spaces in Oceanic Art
Thursday, February 12, 1:00 p.m., Koret Auditorium
Christina Hellmich, Curator, Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art and Curator, Oceanic Art, FAMSF
! AOA Study Group
Wednesday, February 25, Koret Auditorium
! Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Film, 2002, 172 minutes.
Thursday, April 30, 9:30 a.m., Koret Auditorium. Based on an ancient Inuit (Canada) legend around Igloolik (“place of
houses”) in the eastern arctic wilderness at the dawn of the first millennium. Evil in the form of a mysterious, unknown
shaman enters a small community of nomadic Inuit and upsets its balance and spirit of cooperation.
! Reading Mesoamerican Glyphs
Thursday, May 7, 10 a.m., de Young Museum, Mesoamerican Galleries
Timothy King, PhD., Stanford University. Study Group sessions to follow.
FEA Newsletter – February 2009 – Page 6
P.O. Box 192430, San Francisco, CA 94119 – www.friendsofethnicart.org
! Spirits, Ancestors, and Elders: Indonesian Art in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF)
Thursday, May 21, 10 a.m., Koret Auditorium
Steven Alpert, Author & Lecturer on Indonesian Art.
! AOA Study Group
Wednesday, May 27, Koret Auditorium
! Art and Power in the Central African Savanna
Thursday, June 18, 10 a.m. – noon, Koret Auditorium
Constantine Pedritis, Ph.D
Curator of African Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST
! San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show
February 13 – 15, 2009
Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion
Preview Gala February 12, 6 – 9 p.m. to benefit Textiles and the Art from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (AOA) at the
de Young
Admission: $150; Regular Show Admission Fri. – Sun.: $15; www.caskeylees.com
! Dragon Covers: Mysterious Aberrations of the Li of Hainan
Saturday, February 14, 10 a.m .
Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum
The Textile Arts Council presents Dragon Covers: Mysterious Aberrations of the Li of Hainan, with Lee Chinalai, co-owner
of Chinalai Tribal Antiques of New York. In conjunction with the Tribal Arts and Textile Show at Fort Mason, a fascinating
study of an isolated minority Chinese weaving tradition. Ms. Chinalai and her husband Vichai, are noted scholars and have
written widely on Asian textiles. Free to Textile Arts Councils members, $5 for museum members and students, $10
general admission. No additional museum admission required. (415) 750-3627 tac@ famsf.org www.textileartscouncil.org
! Bonhams & Butterfields Auction
Ancient and Tribal Art
Monday, February 16, 2009
previews: February 13 – 14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; February 15, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.; February 16, 10 a .m. – noon
The auction of African, Oceanic, Pre-Columbian, and Native American art is timed to coincide with the annual CaskeyLees’ Tribal and Textile Arts Show held in San Francisco at Fort Mason and just prior to KR Martindale’s Show of the
Americas in Marin. Culled from private collections and estates, the sale includes a diverse array of masks, carvings, a
selection of war shields from various cultures, gold and silver jewelry, textiles, beadwork, baskets and pottery – ranging
from highly collectible to very afffordable. Highlights include a fine Kota reliquary figure from the Estate of Sherl K.
Coleman in Chicago (est. $12/18,000), Two fine Dan masks from European collections (est. $6/8,000 and
$15,000/20,000), a diverse selection of war shields from Melanesia, Indonesia, Southern and Central Africa, fine preColumbian gold jewelry and ceremonial implements, a Mayan stone altar or marker (est. $20/40,000), and Native
American art of all sorts, offering over 175 pieces of Southwest jewelry from the Estate of Lynn Trusdell, New Hope, PA.
! The 25 th Annual Marin Show Art of the Americas
February 21-22, 2009
Marin Center & Embassy Suites, San Rafael CA. Show admission: $10 info@ kfmartindale.com or (310) 822-9145
! Gam elan and Balinesian Dance Event:
Sekar Jaya performs SERASI
Saturday, February 21, 2009, 8 pm
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
500 Castro Street, Mountain View CA
The Bay Area's acclaimed gamelan troupe, Sekar Jaya, specializing in the music and dance of Bali, celebrates thirty
years of artistic exchange with Bali at this concert performance. Arranged by Master artists-in-residence Dewa Putu
Berata, and Emiko Saraswati Susilo.
Tickets by Phone: (650) 903-6000, or online at www.mvcpa.com
Admission: $24 / $20 / $12 Sekar Jaya Fundraiser
FEA Newsletter – February 2009 – Page 7
P.O. Box 192430, San Francisco, CA 94119 – www.friendsofethnicart.org
! Auction of Asian Art Works
March 28, 2009, 1 p.m.
Berkeley City Club, Durant Avenue
Auction includes fine pieces from Indonesia, India, China, Japan, Nepal, and Tibet. A special short performance of
Balinese music and dance, immediately following the auction. 100% of proceeds from auction will support Gamelan Sekar
Jaya, a non-profit organization. Fair market value of donations are fully tax-deductible.
(510) 655-1227
! Arts of the Islamic World from Turkey to Indonesia
through March 1, 2009
Tateuchi Gallery
! Timbuktu to Cape Town
Through March 22, 2009
Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University – www.museum.stanford.edu or (650) 723-4177
! The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan
February 20–May 10, 2009
Lee, Hambrecht, Osher Galleries
Asian Art Museum
www.asianart.org
(415) 581-3500
! Traje de la Vida: Maya Textiles of Guatemala
Through August, 2009
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley
www.hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu
OUT OF TOWN
! The Essential Art of African textiles: Design Without End
Until March 22, 2009
Rockefeller Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
www.metmuseum.org
Friends of Ethnic Art
P. O. Box 192430
San Francisco, CA 94119-2430