Effigy Pole
Effigy
Poles are especially characteristic of cemeteries on the lower Kuskokwim
River and Nelson Island, Alaska. These poles were fastened with separate
pieces of wood-carving such as masks; resembling the human face, carved
human heads, beavers transfixed with arrows, fish, and boats with men
in them, all variously painted.
Throughout Eskimo Alaska, a person was thought to have a spirit that lived
after death, therefore this spirit needed its customary possessions which
were always deposited with the body. On the Kuskokwim, the people displayed
the objects in conspicuous and often artistic ways on posts and scaffolding.
These cemeteries now exist only in a few photographs and drawings and
in the words of a few writers; almost all observers of these cemeteries
bemoaned the neglect that invariably toppled the monuments over onto the
Tundra.
24" high
Price:
$680
