Curator & Collector

Slightly altered image of an ovoid figure taken from
Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast

The shape shown above, now conventionally termed an “ovoid,” is the basic art shape of the First Nations of the northwest coast. As Hilary Stewart notes in Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast, this is essentially a rectangle that has had its top pulled up. The bottom line experiences a pull-up of pressure too, as do the sides. The exact angles and proportions need not be identical to the ovoid shown above.

Ovoids may be heads, eyes, and other shapes in the First Nations art of the northwest coast. Additionally, ovoids may be placed within ovoids, so that a black shape would be inside the white space of another black shape. Usually, the main form lines are black, with secondary lines the colour red.

The present banner of this blog, introduced here, shows an ovoid used as an eagle’s head.