Tlingit artist, House partition, about 1850. Wood and paint; 67 x 168 x 1 in. Denver Art Museum: Purchase from Henry Moses, 1939.140.1

height: 67 in, 170.18 cm; width: 168 in, 426.72 cm; depth: 1 in, 2.54 cm

Native Arts

Indigenous Arts of North America

These panels (along with 1939.140.2) illustrate the important story of how raven taught the Tlingits to fish. Painted by a master artist, the layout and execution of the profile raven figures exhibit the strict rules of the Tlingit formline style at its finest. Notice the flowing, rhythmic movement of the black lines as they alternately expand and taper from the head and the beak to the wings and the talons.

Private owner, Sitka, Alaska, before 1938; purchased by [Henry Moses], Hoonah, Alaska, 1938; purchased by the Denver Art Museum, February 4, 1939

• "Arts of the Raven", Vancouver Art Gallery, June 14-September 24, 1967