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Unknown Maker, Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)

Hat

Maker

Unknown Maker, Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)

Culture

Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl), Native North American

Title

Hat

Year

late 1800s

Medium

  • spruce root,
  • paint; two- and three-strand twining

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Spruce root,
  • paint; two- and three-strand twining

Materials

paint, spruce root

Geography

Vancouver

Dimensions

Height: 17.8 cm (7 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

44.152

Type

  • Costume Accessories

Publications

  • Books

Selected Works

Exhibition History

Blankets and Baskets
Weavings from the American West
Jul 02, 2004 – Oct 10, 2004

Label copy

The Kwakiutl probably learned the art of making painted hats from their northern neighbors, the Haida. The hats’ imagery is also often derived from the Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian cultures. The figure seen here may represent a sea monster. The head, with its prominent nostrils and mouth, is placed at the front of the hat, with the body depicted along each side of the crown.

Museum Works of Art Fund 44.152

Form, Pattern, and Function
Design in American Indian Art
Dec 04, 1992 – Jan 24, 1993

Label copy

Northwestern peoples made unadorned basket hats in this shape to serve as rain hats whiles fishing, but painted versions were used as ceremonial costume for potlatches and other important social occasions. In the precontact period the motifs on the painted hats represented clan symbols and served as instant identifying marks for thosed who wore them. Toward the end of the nineteenth century when hats were began to be made for sale, they were made without clan symbols. As in this hat the traditional form was retained but patterns became more and more abstract, until it became difficult to tell just what was being depicted. Looking down at the pattern on the hat from the top, we see some aquatic bird or animal, and on the top of the cone, a star, perhaps the signature of an individual artist.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
Hat, late 1800s
Spruce root, paint; two- and three-strand twining
Height: 17.8 cm (7 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 44.152

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Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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