Premières Nations. Arts and Cultures of the Northwest Coast of America

Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, 37, quai Jacques Chirac

Across nearly 1,800 kilometers of coastline and through about forty languages, the First Nations of the Northwest American have made their art a sacred language, populated by spirits and totemic figures. The Northwest First Nations developed, without agriculture or writing, complex sedentary societies based on the abundance of natural resources: salmon, candlefish, marine mammals and vast cedar forests. This wealth enabled an elaborate way of life and original thought. Their art, deeply linked to their worldview, stages…