Bark Canoes: The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney

The definitive reference to indigenous peoples' watercraft around the world.

Tappan Adney (1868-1950) was an artist, writer, ethnographer, historian and modelmaker of unparalleled ability. He tirelessly documented the cultures and languages of vanishing native cultures. His most enduring legacy is the extraordinary 110 birchbark canoe models he handbuilt to exacting standards. The models, now held at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, were built to ensure future canoe builders had exact reproductions for reference.

These historically accurate, 1:5 scale models were meticulously researched, and traditionally constructed using the identical materials of the originals. Many are based on canoes that were the last example of their type. Before such a canoe disintegrated, Adney measured and recorded its dimensions, consulted with native builders and studied historical photographs and paintings.

The canoe models are organized into eight distinct groups:

• Maritimes
• Eastern Woodland
• Northwest
• Lower British Columbia
• Fur Trade
• Amur Valley
• Asia
• South America

Each canoe model is beautifully photographed and accompanied by captions that outline the craft's origins, uses and technical details. Adney's amazing technical drawings for the models are also included.

An extensive introduction covers Adney's life and provides information about native model builders, canoe decoration and fur trade heraldry.

Bark Canoes is the definitive reference to indigenous -- and ingenious -- watercraft used around the world.

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Tapan Adney (1868-1950) created an extraordinary collection of meticulously researched museum quality traditional canoe models. This book is an illustrated guide to these models, including Adney's drawings and with an introduction to his life.

Bark Canoes The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney is a beautiful hard cover text celebrating both the life of Tappan Adney and the heritage of the bark canoe. Published in association with the Mariners' Museum of Newport News, Virginia, the book provides color photographs of 110 historically accurate canoe models of the native peoples of Northern North America. Representing over 20,000 hours of work by Mr. Adney, the canoes are appropriately decorated and often include the paddles and other accessories like fishing spears, all at precisely 1 to 5 scale.Each of the beautiful color photographs includes a complete narrative providing full descriptions, dimensions, historical background, design and material information as well as usage. The canoes are ordered by geographic region of original use and style and represent the Great Lakes area to the far north. Not to be overshadowed by the canoes, the biography of Mr. Edwin Tappan Adney reveals a remarkable man of many talents. Born in the United States and living much of his life in Canada, Mr. Adney worked as a journalist, an illustrator and other diverse endeavors while maintaining an interest in the native peoples, their languages and the craft of canoe building. Included in the text (with revised captions) is an original article on "How to Build a Bark Canoe." There are a number of his sketches as well as other published articles which really provide a wonderful overall picture of the art of canoe building and its place in the development of North America from a travel and trade perspective.Bark Canoes The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney is recommended for academic and public libraries. The text is not only of interest to maritime enthusiasts but also those interested in Native Peoples, history, art and crafts.Environmental ScienceReviewer: Kay Plesca, Consultant, kayp621@aol.com Copyright 2004 E-Streams Reviews.