James was a bold pioneer in color use and figure composition, sometimes using green, orange or yellow in addition to the traditional black, red and blue-green. He innovated new combinations and arrangements of figures that were unique in his time and which influenced every succeeding generation of artists in the Kwakwaka'wakw style, from Mungo Martin to Henry Hunt and beyond, limbs of the James family tree. James nearly always signed his work, which no historical artists had done and few of his contemporaries chose to emulate.

Steven C. Brown

References: For a comprehensive study of the artist’s life and work see Ronald W. Hawker, Yakuglas’ Legacy: The Art and Times of Charlie James (University of Toronto Press, 2016). For illustrations of three mid-size poles by the artist see Audrey Hawthorn, Kwakiutl Art (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1988), p. 77. See also Steven C. Brown, Native Visions: Evolution in Northwest Coast Art from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century (Seattle: Seattle Art Museum / Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1998), p. 148. For other examples of wooden model totems by the artist see First Arts Auctions, December 2020, Lots 56 and 78.