Formline art
also: Formline design
Formline is the design system at the heart of the Indigenous art of the Pacific Northwest Coast - Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and neighboring peoples. Its defining element is the formline: a continuous, swelling-and-tapering black line that organizes whole surfaces into flowing designs built from ovoids, U-forms and S-forms. The system is ancient, carried on totem poles, house screens, masks, bentwood boxes, hats and Chilkat weavings, with red and sometimes blue-green filling secondary forms. Each nation and clan has its own conventions and crests - Raven, Eagle, Killer Whale, Bear - rendered as stylized, interlocking creatures that balance positive and negative space edge to edge. In the twentieth century artists such as Bill Reid, Robert Davidson and Nathan Jackson renewed formline in prints, sculpture and jewelry, carrying it into contemporary art worldwide.
Defining characteristics
- Continuous formlines that swell and taper, never mere outlines
- Ovoids, U-forms and S-forms as the basic building units
- Primary black design with red (and sometimes blue-green) secondary elements
- Bilateral symmetry and meticulous positive/negative balance
- Stylized crest animals - Raven, Eagle, Whale, Bear - filling the surface edge to edge
- Design adapted to each object: poles, screens, masks, boxes, weavings, jewelry
Key figures
- Charles Edenshaw (1839-1924) — Haida master carver and goldsmith of the classic period
- Bill Reid (1920-1998) — Haida sculptor and broadcaster who revived formline for a global audience
- Robert Davidson (b. 1946) — Haida carver and printmaker renewing the tradition
- Nathan Jackson (b. 1938) — Tlingit carver, painter and teacher
Example works
- The Raven and the First Men — Bill Reid (1980)
- Spirit of Haida Gwaii — Bill Reid (1991)
Sources
- Formline art - Wikipedia encyclopedia