HAIDA TOTEM POLESAlthough Northwest Coast arts have a
spiritual dimension, they are often more important as expressions of
social status. Haida house frontal poles, displaying totemic emblems of
clan groups, strikingly express this interest in prestige and family his-
tory. Totem poles emerged as a major art form about 300 years ago. The
examples in FIG. 32-13date to the 19th century. They stand today in a
reconstructed Haida village that Bill Reid(1920–1998, Haida) and his
assistant Doug Cranmer(b. 1927, Kwakiutl) completed in 1962. Each
of the superimposed forms carved on these poles represents a crest, an
animal, or a supernatural being that figures in the clan’s origin story.Additional crests could also be obtained through marriage and trade.
The Haida so jealously guarded the right to own and display crests that
even warfare could erupt over the disputed ownership of a valued crest.
In the poles shown, the crests represented include an upside-down
dogfish (a small shark), an eagle with a downturned beak, and a killer
whale with a crouching human between its snout and its upturned tail
flukes. During the 19th century, the Haida erected more poles and
made them larger in response to greater competitiveness and the avail-
ability of metal tools. The artists carved poles up to 60 feet tall from the
trunks of single cedar trees.32-12War helmet mask, Tlingit, Canada, collected
1888–1893. Wood, 1high. American Museum of Natural
History, New York.
This naturalistic wood war helmet mask may be a portrait
of a Tlingit warrior or a representation of a supernatural
being. The carver intended the face’s grimacing expres-
sion to intimidate enemies.32-13Bill Reid
(Haida), assisted by
Doug Cranmer
(Na ̄mg ̄s), 19th-
century-style Haida
houses and totem
poles, 1962. Courtesy
University of British
Columbia, Museum
of Anthropology,
Vancouver, Canada.
Each of the super-
imposed forms carved
on Haida totem poles
represents a crest,
an animal, or a super-
natural being who
figures in the clan’s
origin story. Some
Haida poles are
60 feet tall.North America 8651 in.32-13AREID, The
Raven and the
First Men,
1978–1980.