Lot 18
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST, NUU-CHAH-NULTH
Model Canoe with Two Figures, c. 1880

carved and painted wood, 5 x 26.75 x 5.5 in (12.7 x 67.9 x 14 cm)

Provenance
Skinner Auctions, 1986; John Molloy Gallery, Santa Fe, 1987;
Curtright Gallery, Olympia, WA (their handwritten label affixed to the underside); A Vancouver Collection.

The hull design of this canoe model is representative of the dominant canoe type of the Pacific coastal areas from western Vancouver Island and south to the Columbia River. Hence it is usually identified as the Nuu-chah-nulth or Chinook canoe type, and it was perfectly adapted to the waters of that long shoreline between one group and the other. These canoes were employed for resource hunting and general travel, with specific characteristics incorporated for various purposes, from fishing and sea mammal hunting to large vessels for inter-village travel in groups.

This model exemplifies the type in the proportions of the hull and the refinements of the bow and stern. The snout-like extension of the bow was broken at some point long ago. Painted designs are composed of flowing abstract elements in a striking blue trade-pigment (Reckitt’s Blue), also applied to sections of the gunwale tops between the carved figures and the ends. The sculpture and painting both point to a c. 1880 creation attribution.

Sculpted in one unit with the canoe itself, the two figures represent the work of a skilled and patient artist who worked to impress his clientele. Their bodies and arms are carved apart from the hull and their hands clasp the gunwales. The two fellows are composed somewhat stoically, not illustrating any particular occupation at sea. Similar models exist with figures illustrating marine resource occupations from fishing or sealing to whale hunting, including as many as eight occupants, a full whaling crew, with each figure poised in their traditional roles as crewmembers; skipper at the stern, paddlers, line handlers, lancer and harpooneer. The two figures here might be taking a break from fishing or seal hunting, typical occupations for this relative size of vessel.

Steven C. Brown

Some have suggested that Nuu-chah-nulth canoe models of this configuration might depict a type of spirit journey, with a shaman sitting in a trance at the rear of the boat while the watchman focuses on the horizon.

References

For a Nuu-chah-nulth or Makah canoe model with two similarly posed figures, c. 1860-80 see 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. 65. For a similar canoe with three figures see Sotheby’s American Indian Art Auction, NY, May 2015, Lot 162.