Chiefly feasts : the enduring Kwakiutl potlatch /

Chiefly Feasts, a catalog of the traveling exhibit of that name, is filled with perfect photographs of exquisite Kwakiutl potlatch artworks. However, the book is much more than a catalog; authoritative essays provide ethnographic, historical, biographical, and contemporary contexts for the objects on display, and give meaning to the continuing tradition of the potlatch in Kwakiutl society. Editor Jonaitis's essay on the genesis of the exhibit raises many points about exhibiting native peoples' artistic heritage in museums. Some of these points are undoubtedly valid, such as the need to involve native peoples, whenever possible, in the documentation of artworks, or to recognize the continuity of native artistic expression over time. It is foolish to dichotomize native art into "traditional" versus "acculturated, thus touristy" categories. However, the editor seems a bit too willing, in theory at least, to downplay scholarship in favor of native opinion. The text tends to get lost amid the numerous and lengthy captions. The writing is good, the bibliography adequate, but the index is a bit skimpy for a book of this size. Advanced undergraduates.-D. Lonergan, Northern Illinois University

This striking catalogue accompanies a traveling exhibition of boldly designed Kwakiutl ceremonial objects which recently opened at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The potlatch, a festive gathering marked by the lavish distribution of gifts to guests as a sign of the host's status, is central in the tradition of the Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island and the mainland opposite. Ritualistic simulated cannibalism was a feature of some potlatches, which led to the Canadian government's outlawing of the ceremony in 1884. The Kwakiutl continued to potlatch furtively until the ban was rescinded in 1951. Dramatic masks, symbolic wall paintings, headdresses, feast dishes and blankets are among the objects reproduced, together with archival and contemporary photographs attesting to the persistence of the potlatch tradition. Essays by scholars discuss Kwakiutl ritual dance, analyze the social significance of potlatch and reveal how anthropologist Franz Boas, the museum's curator from 1895 to 1905, acquired a wealth of potlatch objects with the help of his chief informant, George Hunt, a half-English, half-Tlingit Native anthropologist who was raised in a Kwakiutl village. Jonaitis is author of Art of the Northern Tlingit. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

This book accompanies an exhibit of the art of the Kwakiutl Indians of Northern Vancouver Island and the mainland at the American Museum of Natural History. The fascination of the potlatch to our acquisitive culture should broaden interest in this book and its excellent text. The quality of the museum's Kwakiutl collection and the expert gathering of its key portions for the exhibition and this book were made possible more than a century ago as Franz Boas and George Hunt began collecting objects from the enduring cultural tradition of the Kwakiutl. It remains their masks, however, that have at once an artistic finesse and a ritual presence that make this book a beautiful catalog of the Kwakiutl. Recommended for academic, museum, and public libraries.-- David Bryant, Belleville P.L., N.J. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.