Ship figureheads have been around since people first set out to sea. Skilled maritime wood carvers create figureheads to appease a blend of superstition and self-promotion. Often in the form of elaborate wood carvings, they were meant to embody powerful spiritual forces to protect the ship. Also they symbolically show how sailors believed that a ship was not just a thing but an actual living being. This thought also ties in with the idea that in order to find its own way the ship needed to have eyes. These are incredible works of art which are often less considered in this modern age; however there were artists working alongside ship-builders over a long stretch of history - and still are to a limited degree.  No ship went to sea without its eyes.

Figurehead of the Falls Of Clyde - the only surviving fully-rigged, four-masted sailing ship left in the world - built 1878, Port Glasgow, Scotland. This ship was originally a full-rigged ship designed for global trade, later re-rigged as a Bark. This tall ship permanently moored in Honolulu Harbor at the Hawaii Maritime Center.

You may tend to think of figureheads as a prelude to hood ornaments - which are also being seen less frequently these days.  The figurehead on a ship at first was not just mere adornment, they were meant to represent matters important to seafarers.  In Ancient Egypt, for instance, figureheads were perceived to offer protection and vision, in the form of holy bird figures mounted on the prows. Roman ships often made show of their elite fighting capabilities by having a carving of a centurion in place. Phoenicians used the heads of horses as an embodiment of swiftness and Greek ships had boar heads to represent ferocity to frighten possible attackers.

Northern Europeans often decorated their long ships with a serpent figurehead. Some ships also had dragons, dolphins, or bulls. These were meant to fend off enemy ships along with their enemy's guardian spirits. Alternately ornate as opposed to fearsome, the swan became very popular in the 13th century; it was thought to imbue the ships with grace and mobility.  The figurehead carvers created for the seafarer a symbol of good luck carved and painted to represent a guard against being lost or otherwise compromised at sea.

The bow of the Kalmar Nyckel, a replica built in 1997 of the 1625 ship that carried the Swedish settlers that established New Sweden in 1628, now the modern city of Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Originally mounted on or carved directly onto the stern of the ship, figureheads were changed to the bowsprit following the forecastles taking their place above and protruding out from the ships' stern for a brief period in the middle ages. 17th century warships often had more elaborate designs to denote the relative importance of the ships, sometimes depicting a scene not just a roaring lion for example. In the late 18th century carvings came to represent the name of the ship which proved practical in the manner that many sailors could not read. Feminine forms usually bare-breasted rose in popularity due to sailor superstition that a naked woman would calm a storm at sea.


The industrial changes from sail to steam and from wood to iron in ship technology brought on the gradual decline of the use of figureheads. In the twentieth century ships began to have medallions or shields with figures as side-supports. The loss of the bowsprit, which was just above the usual placement site of a figurehead, is cited as a leading cause for the disappearing figureheads.

Eagle figurehead from the USS Lancaster, circa 1880 John Haley Bellamy, carver

In looking over figurehead carvings on ships from ancient times to today, we see much has changed. Some smaller modern ships and yachts will have figureheads according to the desire of the builder or owners. These tend to serve as decorative flourish that conveys a sense of prosperity and pride. Depending on who you ask, the use of a figurehead may just as well hearken back to demonstrating the spirit of the ship and serve to bolster the identity of the ship and its crew.

Ship figurehead of Belva Lockwood

The figureheads of ships of bygone days are now shown as wood art sculptures on display in nautical museums such as the exhibit of the East India Hall in the Peabody/Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, USA.  One could argue that in this way, past all the other meaning and purpose intended for figureheads, that they even serve as lasting symbols of ships similar to the purpose of graveyard statuary. 

The art form is not entirely lost and has its own particular facets of construction and problems unique to carvings in wood of this size - imagine working with a 14 ft., 3-ton block of wood to be carved in a way that will display properly at a 45 degree angle!  Maritime wood carvers today find themselves commissioned to make figureheads for replica ships and often apply their skills into making smaller versions of figureheads, even desk-top sized ones. Coat of Arms and even totem-poles are other types of wood carvings created with their specialized talents, and they often are called upon for restoration work.  

Jack Whitehead - one of the
 great maritime carvers of the 20th century.

"Of all the objects made by man, the ship almost achieves a life of its own. When considering a figurehead, therefore, it is important to remember the ship that bore her. The ships have gone, but these wooden angels remain to tell their tales to those who care to listen." - Martin Jeffery, Ship Carver 

images used are public domain or © their respective owners. 

This article will cover the basic question about the nature of art, just what is it? Does art record beauty or truth? Does it imitate reality or does it express more than nature itself? Does it create fantasy? Does one need to be skilled to create art? 

Scene at an art gallery, how does this art speak to you?
The intent is to embody seasons with still-life presentation.

French artist Marcel Duchamp's "ready-made" series was neither the first nor the last time that supposed art would cause controversy and stir debate on what constitutes the criteria by which an object can be called "art." As this is but only one modest-length article I can only touch on the definition of art, and hopefully not oversimplify it.  Defining art is a subject that delves into the very heart of creativity, and to do so we will need to look back in history to see how much art has changed.

All through the centuries art includes human agency. After all keep in mind that the word art is related to artificial, which means produced by humans. From the days of cave-dwelling prehistoric people art has been an integral part of our lives. Though we may need art to enhance the enjoyment and meaning in our lives, we do not use it to survive physically. 


The 11-12th century definition of art according to Oxford English Dictionary is: "Skill at doing anything as a result of knowledge and practice". This means that the painter who embellished the Book of Kells would have the notion that an artist and craftsman were one and the same. It was not until the Age of Enlightenment, 1700-1800, where the attitude about art started to change. Art started to be considered as the use of skills to produce beauty. New standards of taste and elegance were introduced and the status of the artist was thus elevated.

Illustration from the Book of Kells, a 1200 year old book.

By the 19th century people started to embrace the idea that art was not just meant to please but to aspire towards perfection. While this was a clear reaffirmation of the importance of skill in the creation of beautiful works of art, ideals were also being established imbuing artists as prophetic conduits of new cultural concepts. This ideal is known as the Avant Garde movement in which the artist was considered a member of a sublime class with the power to shape the minds of people with their art. This added to the creative powers of artists to allow them their own answer to "What is art?" The artist was now allowed, even expected, to take liberties with established techniques, subjects and ideas of the role art plays. 

With the rise of democracy and the middle class art became accessible to more people and so those that had not much exposure before were learning of art and becoming patrons. Modernism in the later 19th century brought forth such movements as impressionism, expressionism and symbolism. The visual language of Modernism is a product of the industrial revolution. The urge to embrace the new realities and materials of the industrial age was a common urge of the masses and through literature, art and design these feelings were expressed. Much of the modernist movements have been attempts to adjust the mind of society at large to the industrial innovations taking place all around.

In keeping with human nature there is present then and now a resistance to change and a tendency towards nostalgia and tradition. In visual arts there is a taste for classic decorative details, realism in painting, and a general preference for the elaborate. This is a stark contrast with the modernist simplicity and retreat from realism. The emphasis on form also resulted in attention to the materials used, and the visual qualities they offer.

Since then many types of artistic expression previously deemed unconventional have entered into culture. This would explain why things are considered art even though artists' intentions are very different and materials used are without any discernible expectations or limitations. What motivates artists could be any of the following: to beautify, express, illustrate, mediate, persuade, record, re-define reality and redefine art. And still yet there are those that make it just because they feel the urge to make art and the process makes them happy, a sort of self-therapy.

Competing answers are typically given to the inquiry of "What is Art?", indeed, as the title of this article announces forthright it is a subjective matter. There is disunity in the classes of artworks not to mention the differing concepts of Universal versus Western traditions and institutions. Answering the question of what makes art art is always flawed and incomplete due to such factors. 

Still, there are definitive responses which stand on their own as earnest attempts to explain as much as possible and capture what unity that there is to capture. What do you think art is?  Was there something left out here in this article that you feel merits attention?  Please feel free to comment below, because this is a subjective inquiry that is good for us to keep talking about in the art community.

Art is as you choose to see it.

© Rebecca H Knight, images and media used are public domain or © their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Art History Renaissance to 20th Century