Hamatsa--Qagyuhl – Historic Print
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
This historic photograph of Hamatsa--Qagyuhl brings a moment of history to your wall. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
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Hamatsa--Qagyuhl
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Hamatsa is the name of the most sacred and dramatic dance society among the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) peoples of British Columbia, and this portrait by Edward S. Curtis shows a dancer in the regalia of that ceremony. The Hamatsa, or "cannibal dancer," initiation was central to the winter ceremonial season, and its performers wore elaborate headdresses and costumes that marked their spiritual role. Curtis, who worked among the Kwakwaka'wakw in the early twentieth century, documented such ceremonial figures for his multivolume survey The North American Indian, where this image appeared in volume 10. Its title, Qagyuhl, identifies the individual as a participant in the ceremony rather than a generic type.
| Created / published | c1914 November 13. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Genre | Portrait photographs 1910-1920.Photographic prints 1910-1920. |
| Notes | J197419 U.S. Copyright Office. Title from: The North American Indian. Curtis no. 3490. Forms part of: Edward S. Curtis Collection (Library of Congress). Published in: The North American Indian / Edward S. Curtis. [Seattle, Wash.] : Edward S. Curtis, 1907-30, v. 10, p. 182. |
| Subjects | Indians of North America--Clothing & dress--British Columbia--1910-1920. Kwakiutl Indians--Clothing & dress--1910-1920. Ceremonial dancers--British Columbia--1910-1920. Headgear--1910-1920. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,140 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-128904 |
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