Image Coming Soon

Moon Dancing

1987

Native American, Quinault/Isleta Pueblo, 1946 - 2019

Marvin Oliver was a consummate artist, exuberantly experimenting with materials, composition, and imagery while honoring the traditions of Northwest Coast Native art. With his recent passing, the art world lost a champion of Indigenous art and culture. Oliver is credited with nurturing the revival of Northwest Coast formline art and the art of his Coast Salish ancestors and blending it with his own distinctive, innovative creations. He was a master of many media—wood, glass, bronze, works on paper—and he shared his knowledge with art students at the University of Washington for more than forty years.

This print is an example of Oliver using color tinting and embossing to enhance the visual complexity of his silkscreen prints. Raven—trickster and culture hero—is naturalistically depicted with his luxurious plumage. His reflection is rendered as Northwest Coast formline designs embossed into the paper.

Serigraph

20 x 27 in. (50.8 x 68.6cm)

Gift of Simon Ottenberg, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2005.119

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, S'abadeb - The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists, Oct. 24, 2008 - Jan. 11, 2009 (Victoria, B.C., Royal British Columbia Museum, Nov. 20, 2009 - March 8, 2010).

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM