加拿大原住民图腾柱雕刻艺术的审美意蕴

On the Aesthetic Implications of the Canadian Aboriginals’ Totem Pole Carving Art

加拿大西北沿岸原住民的木雕艺术成就卓越,而图腾柱的雕刻艺术尤为突出。它把原住民传统的故事、传说、神话、民俗通过动物和超自然神灵以及人物等形象表现得惟妙惟肖,具有寓教于美的审美功能,同时充分体现了原住民对自身民族文化的传承,表达了他们集美观与实用于一体的审美追求和尊崇动物、敬畏生命的审美理想。

Canadian first nations have great achievements on wood craft, while the art of carving totem poles is really exceptional. It vividly represents the first nations’ traditional stories, legends, myths and folklores with the images of animals, supernatural spirits and human beings. It has the aesthetic function of educating through beauty. Meanwhile, it fully embodies the first nations’ inheritance of their own national culture, the aesthetic pursuit of combining beauty with utility and the aesthetic ideal of respecting animals and revering life.