Northwest Coast Indian Art Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a classic, and is invaluable for the serious student of Pacific Northwest Coast artwork. Note, however, that I emphasize the word "serious." If you are more of a beginner or casual observer, this book should be third on your list behind "Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast" by Hilary Stewart and "Learning by Designing Pacific Northwest Coast Native Art, Vol. 1" by Gilbert and Clark.
Although the book is easy to read and very well written, it has a decidely academic tone to it. Mr. Holm studied large numbers of authentic examples, and draws conclusions about patterns.
For example, he points out that an ovoid within another ovoid (an "inner ovoid") is always placed either vertically centered OR closer to the top than the bottom. If it is placed closer to what appears to be the bottom, then it is because the artist is telling us that that particular part of the artwork is actually upside down.
He then backs this up with data based on his researches. In other words, he "reverse engineered" the unwritten rules of how to do this type of artwork.
But his focus is on details and small parts, not on the larger picture of how these elements are used by an artist to convey a message or depict something. There is almost no information on the myths and legends that the artwork is based on, nor on ways to discern between the various animals.
Note that I do NOT say this as a criticism -- it is not a bad thing that the book does not contain such info! Plenty of other books do. This book has a specific purpose, which is to analyze the elements of the artform, and this book is unquestionably the best one on that topic. In fact, it is the ONLY one that goes into this level of detail.
If you want to know why the Raven is often depicted with the Sun in his beak, this book is not for you. If you want to look at a drawing or totem pole and know which is a beaver and which is a bear, this book won't be much help. But if you want to know how and when and why to use blue as a tertiary color, or how wide a black formline should be at the top versus the bottom, this book is the one you want.
If you can only buy one or two books on this artform (or even if you can buy more), start with the two I listed above. Then buy this one. It is a great book and worth buying, and once you have an understanding of the bigger picture, the undertsanding of the details provided by Holm is truly fascinating.

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"NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART is a very beautiful book and it is also an important contribution to the fields of art and anthropology, Its most distinguished feature is the author's sensitive yet scientific approach in coming firmly to grips with elements of art which often have been considered intangible".--THE BEAVER.--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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