Formline art

The end of the 19th century also saw large-scale export of totem poles, masks and other traditional art objects from the region to museums and private collectors globally.

A tenuous link to older traditions remained in artists such as Charles Gladstone (Haida), Stanley George (Heiltsuk) and Mungo Martin (Kwakwaka'wakw).

The mid-20th century saw a revival of interest and production of Northwest Coast art, due to the influence of artists and critics such as Bill Reid, a grandson of Charles Gladstone, and others.

Reid developed his understanding of Haida formline by studying ethnographic museum collections, and by making sculptures and serigraphs.

[4] In 1975, American anthropologist Edmund “Ted” Carpenter invited Reid and Holm to co-author Form and Freedom: A Dialogue on Northwest Coast Indian Art, a book documenting the pair's discussions about more than one hundred Northwest Coast art objects.