Alaska is recognized as one of the major world centers of native art and expression. In the 18th century certain areas of Alaska were the most densely populated areas of the New World. Once the native people had made the necessary adaptations in clothing, housing, transportation and hunting, they were able to live without hardship. With an abundant and unfailing food supply and density of population, the far northwestern area became one of the highest centers of cultural development north of Mexico. Art was its primary manifestation, an art remarkable for its richness and variety of expression. This exhibition catalog of the National Gallery of Art presents the high artistic achievements of the Native Peoples of Alaska. Materials for the exhibition were drawn from collections from all over the world. Both major ethnic divisions of the native population, the Eskimo-Aleut and Indian, are represented. The 289-page volume contains fifteen color plates, hundreds of black and white photographs, maps showing the areas from which the artifacts have come, and essays by important scholars in the field of cultural anthropology on the culture and art of the Eskimo, Athabascan, and Tlingit. (Author/DS)