Description
Kwakiutl Totem
Date:1920-30
Dimensions: 14 ¼ Tall with a 9 ½” wingspan, base 3 ½” x 3”
Artist: Kwakiutl, Arthur Shaughnessy (1884-1946)
Materials: cedar and trade pigments
- Description: The totem depicts a Thunderbird, bear with a human face peering out through his teeth, who is clutching a seal. Painted in great old and original pigments of red, green and black and yellow. Old inscription on back of the head reads” Made by the Nimpkish Indians Alert Bay BC”. Arthur’s totem pole examples work is rather rare to find examples for sale. He was one of the great carvers of his generation like Charlie James, Mungo Martin and Willie Seaweed who carved ceremonial items as well as items made for sale. There may have once been a small label or plaque glued on the front of the base evidenced by some old glue residue. The totem will make a fine addition to anyone’s collection.
Born in the decade that saw the Canadian government outlaw the potlatch, Arthur Shaughnessy (c.1880-1946) was a Kwakwaka’wakw artist and cultural practitioner. He worked both publicly and underground to preserve and continue Kwakwaka’wakw ways of knowing. Shaughnessy carved small and large-scale totems, storage boxes, masks for ceremonial dance, and ceremonial screens. Because he produced for local use, tourist trade, and for museums, Shaughnessy’s work has entered into wide circulation. Some of his pieces are now held in the permanent collection of museums including the Seattle Art Museum and at MOA. Shaughnessy was one of the first artists to carve many small-scale totem poles for sale in the tourist trade. However, as part of a Canadian government crackdown on illegalized ceremonial activity in 1922, Shaughnessy was arrested for his carving. After his release from prison, Shaughnessy continued to carve prolifically and finished his commission pieces for museums and others. Shaughnessy’s work influenced other artists; including Emily Carr who made several sketches of Shaughnessy’s totem poles after a 1930 expedition to sketch on the Northwest Coast
