Stikine division of Tlingit
Bear Screen
Northwest Coast: Tlingit
Native American, North American Indian, Tlingit
Circa 1840
This screen is perhaps the most important crest of the Shakes clan. The figure of a squatting bear with a doorway through her vagina is frontally presented, with arms crooked at the elbow so that her hands face palms forward just below her cheeks. The elbows nearly touch her bent knees. The ears (with tendants of hair on the outer edges), head, arms, hands, and legs are all red and without outlines, as are the organs of the body, which are depicted in X-ray style. The features of the face, the outline of the body, and the feet are all in black. Small, squatting figures of bears occupy each of the ears as filler designs. The face is carved slightly in bas-relief, the technique being highlighted by the black eyebrow, black-outlined eyes, black nose, and widespread mouth with black lips. The teeth, though carved, are unpainted. Small anthropomorphic faces fill in the pupils and nostrils. More conventionalized black faces with features in natural wood occupy negative space in the palms, elbows, and knees. Similar conventionalized faces are seen at the top, each side, and in the middle of the trunk of the bear-wife's body. These serve as a frame for her internal organs.
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