Haida Argillite Carvings - Understanding Stylistic Phases - Marius Barbeau

Marius Barbeau

A Canadian ethnographer named Marius Barbeau was one of the first to analyze the art extensively. Barbeau believed that argillite carving had been created through the Haida’s exposure to whalers' scrimshaw during contact with European and Euro-American traders. However, as later researchers have noted, the art of scrimshaw was not introduced to the Haida until approximately 20 years after the start of argillite carving. Barbeau also believed that the argillite carving only began to progress into a new phase around 1870, when more traditional themes began to replace the Western oriented styles that had dominated argillite carving until that point. In his research Barbeau overlooked the earliest argillite carvings which made use of entirely traditional images.