Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-08-29
AN ESKIMO ARTIST.
A Scientist Discovers Work of One Up
in Alaska.


in Alaska
About twenty years ago, while inciden-
tally engaged in procuring chronological
objects for the Smithsonian Institution,
l noted among miscellaneous Eskimo
carvings from the Nushagak district OF
Alaska the presence of sundry articles
wanting in the Journalism which, COM
bined with truth to nature, character
ICES Eskimo carvings of animals IN gem
erak These special articles were small,
three or four inches in length at most,
for the single figure, and comprised
birds, dogs, seals, foxes, men driving a
sledge with a team of five Eskimo dogs,
and dance houses or Kashimi, of which
the roof could be lifted off, revealing III
the interior set Of dancers in the mid
die and an audience in various pastures
on the benches against the walls. The
figures were cut from the soft fine
grained white spruce wood of the coun-
try, and were rarely touched with color.
These figures were artistic to a sur
prising degree; the attitudes of the dogs
in team differ each from the others;
the spirit and naturalness of the ex-
preston of each figure surpassed any
thing have ever seen OF native origin.
Truly, here was the work of real art
list free from conventionallsm.
For years l endeavored to find out
the individual carver, but with no sue
cess, learning only that the carvings
came from one of the purely native Els
kimo villages near the Nushagak river.
These articles with the decline OF the
trade in furs had become part of the
traders commerce and were sold as
.curios." Specimens of the work OF
the particular artist | have reference to
are to be found in the museum estab-
lished by the late DR.. Sheldon jackson
at Sitka, in the collection given to the
University of California by the Alaska
Commercial company some years ago;
and in the collection of the National
museum at Washington there are some
remarkably fine pieces, a few of which
are tinted with native pigments.
Two years ago a friend was appointed
to an official post in the Nushagak dis
trict and before he started / explained
what I wished to know and begged him
to search for me. The first year no
important data were obtained. his
year, however, received a letter of
which an extract follows:
''Since my return here this spring ]
have made some more inquiries about
the carver you spoke of. Acting upon
your suggestion, have interviewed sew
eral cid women, and from one | learned
that the man you refer to doubtless was
named Constantine Ky-yuk-suk. He
was a resident of Ekuk, village twelve
miles below Nushagak proper By re-
ferring to his name | have been able
to find others who have heard their
parents tell stories of the old man.
These stories are to the effect that he
was an old man at the time he did his
carving. He was looked down upon by
all his people because he would sit
around and white through the summer,
instead of putting up fish. He was re-
garded as little bit crazy by all.
When asked why the little old wOm-
an who gave me his name, said it was
because he did not make his animals
right. She said his seal and walrus
looked exactly like these animals, but
they were not like the pictures and carv-
ngs his forefathers had made, and so
they were not considered equal to what
any of the other natives could make.
It seems that he whitfield merely for
his own amusement and he worked both
wood and ivory. The Russian, Cassin,
at Nushagak, who was in the old trad
ing post there does not remember the
man as distinct from the other natives.
He says all the natives used to make
carvings. / endeavored to find out
when the carver died, but as none of
the natives in this section are able to
figure years yet, / could learn nothing
more definite than "a long time ago."
The natives here are the least progress
siye ones / have seen. They still live
in underground huts and eat rotten fish.
Artists the world over will recognize
the fate of the innovator, in the attitude
Of his fellows towards the carver, who
would rather carve than put up fish,
and broke away from the conventions Of
his forefathers in art.-William III. Dali
in New York Evening Post.