Charles Edenshaw

Charles Edenshaw

Charles Edenshaw , with the Haida Idɨnsaw , (* around 1839 in Skidegate on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands); † 1920 , probably on September 12, in Masset , British Columbia ) was a chief of the Haida and is considered their most important carving artist. He was also the most important role model for Bill Reid , but also for John Marks, Isaac (Ben) Chapman and Daniel Stanley (Skilgoldzo), the grandson of Simeon Stiltla, a famous artist on Haida Gwaii. His work revolves around the myths of the Haida, such as the raven.

Life

Slate totem pole model , 41.3 × 8.3 cm, around 1890, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Idɨnsaw came from the Haida and was born into a traditional family that had produced a number of hereditary chiefs. The Haida are made up of two moietys . Marriage was only allowed between them, not within the Moietys. The two Moietys in turn split into 22 and 23 lineages, respectively. The children stayed with the maternal lineage. Idɨnsaw's father was called K'łajangk'una and belonged to the Nikwən Qiwe Lineage of the Raven Moiety, his mother Qawkúna of the Sdəłdás Lineage to the Eagle Moiety. She was the only sister of Chief Albert Edward Edenshaw . Charles spent his early years in Kiusta on the north coast of Graham Island in the northwest of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Probably from his father he learned to carve canoes. Around 1853 they moved a little east to the village of Kung, where the family stayed until around 1880. He survived the catastrophic smallpox epidemic of 1862 .

Argillite bowl from Edenshaw

At about 14 years old, when he was sick, Idɨnsaw began to work argillite and silver. Argillite has been carved by the Haida since the 1820s at the latest. B. to make tobacco pipes. According to the Anglican priest Charles Harrison, who served in Masset, he was the first to work precious metals. Nothing of these early works has survived, or at least cannot be assigned to him. Of the six totem poles that were previously assigned to him, only four are from him, two are from his uncle Eda'nsa.

In the 1870s he carved two stakes for Chief Skidegate, one of which was a house stake, the other was made in 1879–80 for one of the chief's deceased wives. Between 1878 and 1881 Charles carved a commemorative totem pole for Qwa'Kuna that John Robson had erected. Before the potlatch was banned (1885), he took part in such a giveaway ceremony with strict rituals at least ten times, the ceremonial name - N¿ngkwigetklałs (they gave ten potlatch celebrations for him) - which he received on the occasion of his parents' last potlatch, at least suggests it. On that occasion, he was tattooed on his chest and back, hands, arms and legs. Frogs, sea wolves and eagles were depicted, recalls his daughter Florence Edenshaw Davidson.

According to tradition, he was brought in by his uncle Eda'nsa (Albert Edward Edenshaw) at the age of 18 or 19. He was the hereditary chief of the lineage of Charles' mother. His uncle had married a second time in 1865 and Charles later, around 1873, married K'woiy¿ng, the new wife's cousin. With K'woiy¿ng he lived alternately in Kung, Yatza and Masset. Shortly after 1880, the couple inherited a house in Masset from another uncle's widow. On December 27, 1885, the two were baptized in Masset, taking the names Charles and Isabella. Immediately afterwards they were married again, this time in church. By this time Charles Edenshaw was already so successful that he no longer had to fish or hunt. His most productive phase spanned the three decades from 1880 to 1910. Due to his ancestry, he rose to chief in 1885 (Chief Eda'nsa). Despite the ban on central ceremonies such as the potlatch by the Canadian government, Edenshaw worked on his style and was described by Charles Frederick Newcombe in 1902 as "the best living carver in wood and stone".

The couple traveled extensively and sold their artwork in Port Essington , Fort Simpson , Victoria and Juneau , Kasaan , Klinkwan and Ketchikan in Alaska . Charles' wife Isabella made baskets and worked part-time in a canning factory. After the children left the house, he was able to work in their home in Masset. His works include totem and house stakes, boxes, bowls and drums, but also canoes, ritual masks and wooden headbands. These works of art were intended for sale. He also painted his wife's baskets and hats. His symbol was a star with four points, each of which is two-colored. He made silver and gold jewelry only for the rituals of the Haida; they were not for sale. The same applied to benches, cradles and stone grave monuments. This is less clear in other of his works, such as carved walking sticks.

Most of it was sold through George Cunningham's shop in Port Essington , where well-known collectors also traveled, including Charles Newcombe . Of the eight children of the two Edenshaws, five had died by 1896. That year her son Robert drowned, he had been a promising blunder. The next year a daughter was born and Florence was baptized, but the parents were disappointed that it was not a son. But for the father it was the rebirth of his mother. Two more daughters were born, one of whom, however, died early.

In 1897 Edenshaw met the ethnologist Franz Boas in Port Essington . He gave him the materials and drawings that Boas published in his work Primitive art in 1927 . The designs of tattoos he gave him were published by John Reed Swanton of the American Museum of Natural History in New York . In 1901 Edenshaw made models of eight totem poles, two house models and a canoe for him. Swanton received a mask through his cousin Henry Edenshaw in 1901.

Charles Edenshaw's works are widely scattered today. They are mainly located in the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago , the Burke Museum in Seattle , the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, the Canadian Museum of Civilization near Ottawa and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England .

Edenshaw belatedly achieved world fame with the 1927 exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, which later adorned the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris . Marius Barbeau brought his exceptional position and the art of carving as a whole to the public's attention through his Haida carvers and Haida myths from 1957. In 1967 the Arts of the Raven exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery , with 66 objects, was exclusively dedicated to Edenshaw.

The best study was performed by Bill Holm in 1981 . He highlighted Edenshaw's artistic development and distinguished it from contemporary art, such as that of his stepfather John Robson. After 1910 Edenshaw's eyesight diminished noticeably. According to his great grandson Robert Charles Davidson, he is said to have said: "When I come back, I never want to carve again."

literature

• Frank M. Appleton: The life and art of Charlie Edensaw. In: Canadian Geographical Journal 81 (1970) 20-25.
• Bill Holm: Will the real Charles Edensaw please stand up ?: the problem of attribution in northwest coast Indian art. In: Donald N. Abbott, Wilson Duff, Marnie Duff (eds.): The World is as Sharp as a Knife: an anthology in honor of Wilson Duff , Victoria 1981, pp. 175-200.
• Alan L. Hoover: Charles Edensaw and the creation of human beings. In: American Indian Art Magazine 8 (1982-83) 62-67.
• Alan L. Hoover: Charles Edenshaw: his art and audience. In: American Indian Art Magazine 20 (1994-95) 44-53.
• John R. Swanton: Contributions to the ethnology of the Haida. Leiden / New York 1905, reprinted New York 1975.
• Susan Jane Davidson Thomas: The life and work of Charles Edenshaw: a study in innovation. Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 1967.

Web links

Commons : Charles Edenshaw  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Charles Edenshaw . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Online exhibition of the Canadian Museum of Civilization

Remarks

1. ^ He is considered "One of the most talented and influential of all Northwest Coast artists" ( Charles Edenshaw in American Museum of Natural History ).
2. ↑ A box that was assigned to him for a long time does not come from him, but from John Robson, his stepfather (see Examples of Argillite Carving - Clam Shell Box ).
3. ↑ Casket and hat by Isabel Edenshaw ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Painted woven hats
5. ^ Franz Boas: Primitive art. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1927.
6. ↑ One of these models is here to see another here ( Memento of 20 November 2009 at the Internet Archive ).
7. ^ Figural Group, Argillite