Item 15 (MAN-104) - Lecture for Anthropology 304 “Deep Meanings in NWC Art” February 6, 1976

Item is an audio recording of a lecture given by Wilson Duff in his Anthropology 304 class, entitled “Deep Meanings in Northwest Coast Art.” Duff reports on the results of his research into the meaning of images in Northwest Coast Art and states his belief that works of art make statements. For Duff, the content reveals what the statement is about – the subject- and the structure and relationships, or “armatures,” communicate “what is being said about it” (Side A, 00:04:20). Duff argues that content has both literal and metaphoric meaning, used by artists to make statements at a deeper level. This lecture, the last in a sequence on Northwest Coast Art, was the precursor to a talk given at the Northwest Coast Studies Conference at Simon Fraser University in May 1976 with Bill Holm, who would speak on “Form in Northwest Coast Art.” Lecture is recorded on both Side A and Side B.