latin american art || chiefly feasts

Chiefly FeastsChiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlach by Aldona JonaitisReview by: Allen WardwellArt Journal, Vol. 51, No. 4, Latin American Art (Winter, 1992), pp. 91-93Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/777289 .

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Chiefly Feasts ALLEN WARDWELL

Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Pot- lach. Edited by Aldona Jonaitis. Seattle: University of Washington Press with Ameri- can Museum of Natural History, New York. 300 pp.; 132 color ills., 86 duotones. $60.00

Exhibition schedule: American Museum of Natural History, New York, October 18, 1991-February 23, 1992; Royal British Co- lumbia Museum, Victoria, June 3-Novem- ber 29, 1992; Houston Museum of Natural Science, February-September 6, 1993; Na- tional Museum of Natural History, Washing- ton, D.C., October 29, 1993-March 6, 1994; Seattle Art Museum, May 19-August 14, 1994

t is generally acknowledged that the American Museum of Natural History in New York has the finest collection of

Northwest Coast Indian art in the world. It was formed mostly at the end of the nineteenth century and is the result of the vision of a group of anthropologists and philan- thropists who recognized that much of the material would be irrevocably lost if it could not be quickly gathered. Franz Boas was foremost among these anthropologists. His great determination and powers of persua- sion galvanized the museum's administration and its supporters. In addition, his knowledge and appreciation of the various cultures, his disciplined methodology, and the amazing scope and quality of his publications assured the museum preeminence in the study of the cultures of the Northwest Coast. Boas's years at the museum from 1896 to 1905 marked a time of unprece- dented activity in collecting, research, and publication in this field.

With his departure, however, the Northwest Coast collections of the Ameri- can Museum of Natural History ceased to claim the attention and full curatorial su-

pervision they deserved. It is therefore grat- ifying to note the recent, if overdue revival of interest that is being given to this great resource by the museum and its staff. Much

credit for the turnabout goes to Aldona Jonaitis, a specialist in Northwest Coast art who had studied and published various as- pects of the collection long before she was appointed vice-president for public pro- grams in 1989. Among her publications is the definitive illustrated history of the collection and people who formed it, From the Land of the Totem Poles.1'

Jonaitis followed this work with a tho- rough investigation of the Kwakiutl collections relating to the potlatch ceremony, which had been collected by Boas and George Hunt, his indispensable man in the field. The result of this research is the exhibition "Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch," which was held at the museum this past fall and winter, and is now traveling to various museums in the United States and Canada. A team of scholars and various Kwakiutl older people (who don't like to be referred to as elders) was assembled to advise, research, select, and write about the potlatch arnd the objects that were associated with it. Past misconceptions have been corrected, and the collections of the American Museum of Natural History have now been interpreted from the perspectives of today's native people and current anthropological theory.

The potlatch was developed on the Northwest Coast as a way of maintaining and enhancing the status of families through the display of inherited privileges. It was accompanied with oratory, storytell- ing, dance, feast giving, and the display of boldly designed and complex works of art. Among the privileges granted to the potlatch givers were the rights to perform certain dances and the use of the paraphernalia associated with them. Distribution of large quantities of goods and gifts at the end of the ceremonies further validated the position and prerogatives of the host family. Having survived a period of repression, the potlatch is openly practiced today by the Kwakiutl. A major theme of the exhibition and its catalogue is to describe the metamorphoses of the recent potlatch ceremony as well as its surviving original elements.

The white man's arrival on the North- west Coast caused population loss from dis- ease, the influx of exotic goods, and the suppression of tribal warfare. Each of these factors contributed to more elaborate and lavish potlatch performances. Declining population caused there to be more titles and privileges than there were families to claim them. Availability of new goods brought about increased material wealth, and the ending of warfare encouraged an increasing competitive emphasis to come into the ceremonies as a substitute for ac- tual combat. Therefore, during the short time just prior to and including the re- searches of Boas and Hunt, potlatches were held with greater frequency than before. The amount of goods distributed was of larger quantity, and the gifts themselves were more elaborate than they had ever been. This situation gave rise to sensational and inaccurate descriptions of the ritual that appeared in the press at the time. Cer- tain of these misconceptions were main- tained in Ruth Benedict's Patterns of Culture of 1934,2 and the popular understanding of the potlatch has long been influ- enced by her account.

In order to provide an accurate histori- cal context for the potlatch and redress bi- ases and misinterpretations of the past, it was necessary for Jonaitis and her team to examine the Boas/Hunt correspondence at the American Museum of Natural History and the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Information recorded in the field when the objects were collected was combined with the myths and texts recorded by Boas and Hunt. This was then related to the specific works themselves. Invaluable assistance was provided by the Kwakiutl who not only collaborated with representatives of the museum on Van- couver Island, but sent delegations to New York to inspect works first hand and tell what they knew about their use and iconography.

The catalogue consists of six chapters. Jonaitis, under whose administration the entire project was carried out, writes a per-

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FIG. 1 Kwakiutl, Feast Dish in the Form of Two Wolves, Quatsino, British Columbia; wood, pigment, and bone; 65? inches long. American Museum of Natural History, New York.

sonal account of her experiences with the Kwakiutl people. She tells of how she and her colleagues were able to respond to the request that the Indians wished to be por- trayed as they are today rather than as de- scendants of a once unspoiled and more vibrant culture, as they have so often appeared in previous studies. Wayne Suttles follows with descriptions of Kwakiutl potlatches as they were performed in the nineteenth century. He notes that by the time outsiders had begun to study the potlatch, it was already acculturated. We can therefore only make educated guesses as to what the nature of the ritual was in precontact times.

The history of the potlatch is then traced by Douglas Cole, who concentrates on its moment of expansion and its ultimate decline under the suppression of the white man. The strictures of American and Cana- dian law rendered the potlatch extinct among the Tlingit and Haida, and only the Kwakiutl, who went underground with it, resisted successfully these pressures. Cole presents cogent justifications for some of the white man's actions. He notes that certain potlatch practices concerning the annul- ments of marriages, enactments of canni- balism, and the outright giving away of large amounts of property ran counter to the ethics of the newly introduced European culture.

Gloria Cranmer Webster, the great granddaughter of George Hunt, recounts the triumphant renaissance of the tradition. She tells of its slow revival after 1951 when the Canadian government ceased to prohibit its performance, and of its evolution to the present-day ceremonies, which are held ev- ery year at Alert Bay. As it has endured

since prehistoric times, the nature of the goods given away has changed. The animal furs, hides, and cedar bark mats of prehistoric times were replaced in the nineteenth century by flour biscuits, Hudson's Bay blankets, and various household objects. Today, items of glass and plastic, food of all kinds, money, crocheted articles, and pil- lows are given away. A potlatch now lasts for only a day and requires less preparation time than previously. The old motivations for its performance nonetheless exist. Tradi- tional dance cycles are today accompanied with recently made masks and other paraphernalia that are carved and painted in the established Kwakiutl style.

A fine tribute to the contributions of George Hunt is given by Ira Jacknis. Hunt was partly Tlingit but grew up among the Kwakiutl and knew the language. However, he emerges here as far more than simply a native informer and interpreter. With Boas's training, Hunt was able to make phonetic transcriptions of myths and provide excel- lent documentation for the objects he collected. He became the greatest collector of Kwakiutl objects of all time, and Jacknis correctly refers to him as a native anthro- pologist.

The last chapter by Jonaitis and Judith Ostrowitz recounts the most extraordinary discovery that was made during the course of research for the exhibition. Peter Macnair of the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria was called on as a consultant to help select objects for the exhibition. As he began to work with the New York material he soon became aware that a large group of masks and other objects that had been collected by Hunt at Hopetown in 1901-2 had

all belonged to a single dance cycle that told the story of the hero Siwidi and his visit to the Undersea Kingdom. Fortuitously, Mac- nair had been collaborating with Chief Tom Willie of Hopetown, who today owns the privileges that enable him to perform the Siwidi dances. Macnair had helped com- mission a group of masks made by contemporary Kwakiutl carvers to be worn in Chief Willie's Siwidi performances, and suddenly he discovered a set that had been used by the chief's ancestors at the turn of the century.

It turned out that supporting documentation existed in the collection records. Some of it, in the original Kwakwala language, had been set down by Hunt, but this had been largely ignored until now. When Chief Willie and his wife came to New York as part of an advisory delegation, "In an oration that deeply impressed both Kwaki- utl guests and museum personnel [he] rose from his seat and recited his own version of this compelling legend in Kwakwala" (p. 251). This remarkable event emphasizes the importance of consultation with the Native Americans of today when objects from their heritage are being studied and considered for exhibition.

To return momentarily to the catalogue, Ostrowitz and Stacy Marcus are to be commended for their lucid and informative entries on the hundred odd objects that are illustrated. They give up-to-date information on the use and significance of major object types, and these texts will provide a basic reference to Kwakiutl art for future scholarship. A minor quibble has to do with the placement of this material in the book. For reasons of design, the entries and photographs of objects have been interlarded with the running text. The person who wishes to read the book through will find the text frequently interrupted by six or more pages of photographs and entries.

There are only a few minor errors in the text, and these in no way compromise the scholarly contributions made by this publication. On page 11, for example, describ- ing some of the potlatch features that were criticized by whites, Jonaitis notes "the host's extravagant distribution of gifts to his

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FIG. 2 Kwakiutl, Transformation Mask Representing Siwidi, Hopetown, British Columbia; wood, pigment, cedar bark, and rope; 29V2 inches high. American Museum of Natural History, New York.

guests and the occasional deliberate distribution of valuable property." Here we can assume that "deliberate destruction" was intended. Also footnote 17 (p. 222) of the Jacknis text does not appear among the notes at the back.

In New York the exhibition itself was designed for the general public, and it em-

phasized the components and continuity of the potlatch. The first of several sections dealt with the role and position of chiefs and showed the emblematic art that is associated with them, including headdresses, masks, and carved figures. There were also groups of objects relating to marriage, the accumulation of wealth, and feasts (fig. 1). Several sections showing objects employed in the winter tseka and tla'sala ceremonies followed. The centerpiece of the exhibition was the group of sculptures that told the Siwidi legend. As the story of his visit to the Undersea Kingdom was recounted on an audio tape, a spotlight picked out objects that illustrated specific events in the dance. One of them, a mask, represents Siwidi himself (fig. 2). These spectacular and important works were thus displayed in the context from which they had been removed for almost a century.

To demonstrate the manner in which the potlatch has survived, the display ended with a section on contemporary perform-

ance. A number of pieces carved by the well-known Kwakiutl artists Beau Dick, Doug Cranmer, and Richard, Henry, and Tony Hunt were shown. Most of these were loaned by the Royal British Columbia Mu- seum. Each example provided a fine il- lustration of the present-day vitality and

quality of Kwakiutl ceremonial art. Accom-

panying this was a case showing the nature of the gifts that are given away nowadays. There was also a visitor-activated video screen that showed the way in which some of the dramatic transformation masks could

open to reveal other forms inside. The move- able parts of certain monster masks were

similarly shown. Field photographs and ex- tended texts and labels were helpful as well.

Presumably at the request of the Kwakiutl, there was little glass or plexiglass used in this installation. In an innovative open de-

sign, most of the objects were protected electronically and shown in large, roomlike areas behind simple barriers.

In sum, this exhibition and its cata-

logue are textbook examples of the way in which everyone can benefit from a carefully considered and implemented plan of inter- action between a museum collection, its staff, and the native people whose art is

being shown and studied. The American Museum of Natural History wisely chose to work with one of its great strengths. Another

important factor that contributed to the suc- cess of this venture is that the potlatch art of the Kwakiutl was always made to be ad- mired by its people. Its public display con- fers status and privilege upon its owners, and the Kwakiutl are justifiably proud of these great objects, their dramatic appear- ance, and the stories that accompany them.

With such an understanding of tradi- tional values as was shown here, an exhibition of this essentially public art is remarka- bly well suited for museum exposure in

today's politically charged climate. Certain other displays of the sacred Indian objects that have been given in the past simply could not be mounted now because the Na- tive Americans who use them do not wish such things to be seen by outsiders. Now that they know the way, we hope that Jonaitis and her colleagues will continue to show and elucidate other creations of indigenous peoples in a manner that is acceptable to them.

Notes 1. Aldona Jonaitis, From the Land of the Totem Poles (New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1988). 2. Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934).

A LLEN WARDWELL is an independent curator who

specializes in the art of native peoples. He is writing a book on art made for use by Indian shamans of the Northwest Coast.

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