The Sound of the Drum: The Sacred Art of the Anishnabec

James Pritchard is a history professor at Queen’s University and
author of Louis XV’s Navy, 1748-1762: A Study of Organization and
Administration.

The author’s background as an artist and student of fine art and anthropology fit her well for the task she has undertaken. She has produced an excellent study. This is a comprehensive introduction to, and critical analysis of, modern Ojibwa-Cree graphic art; it combines brief biographies of 27 artists with an art historian’s approach to their work in particular, and to the contemporary development of graphic art among the aboriginal people of the Canadian Shield in general. Four brief chapters present a four-fold categorization of the artists as Pioneer, Northwestern Ontario, Manitoulin Island, and Variationist painters, organized by time, geography, and style. These allow readers to combine an introduction to the artists as persons with four additional, interspersed chapters containing an analytical, critical framework based on sources, style, iconography, and aesthetics. This arrangement, together with an introduction, summary, and afterword reveals the author’s fieldwork, involvement, and sensitivity, as well as her scholarship.

It is Southcott’s contention that only a wide variety of criteria can adequately account for the astonishing development of this contemporary art form. It is, she argues, “the pent-up expression of a highly poetic and artistic people who live under social, economic and cultural restraints.” Anishnabec art evolved from two older art forms (sacred birch bark scrolls and rock paintings), oral traditions, a perceived need to preserve ancient but dying knowledge, and a desire for artistic expression. Hence the author focuses upon the relationship between mythic thought and iconography and individual artists’ modes of expression. Although strongly eclectic, influenced by all that the artists have seen, including European art, Cree-Ojibwa art retains unique qualities informed by its roots in a hunting culture and conveying a non-European system of thought. Its creators have bridged two cultures, and the significance of their work will continue to grow and enrich both.

The publishers also deserve credit for their presentation. The double columns of text, on pages with wide margins, are accompanied by numerous drawings and photographs set close by the discussion. Thirty-eight high-quality coloured plates are placed conveniently in the middle of the book and allow easy reference. This work will enhance the library of anyone interested in contemporary Canadian art and the struggle of Canada’s native people for self-respect and dignity.