JIM MACKAY (DOWEKYE-KYIHLAS) (c. 1890 - c. 1945), HAIDA, SKIDEGATE / PRINCE RUPERT
Model Totem Pole, c. 1930
argillite, 20 x 4.5 x 4 in (50.8 x 11.4 x 10.2 cm)
unsigned.

Provenance
Private Collection, Toronto.

This is a medium large (20”) argillite pole with a large girth for its height. The girth accommodates an exceptional level of detail with numerous subsidiary figures. Four primary figures run from top to bottom: an eagle with folded wings; a whale with pectoral fins on the sides and an upturned tail; a large bear or perhaps more likely the sea monster Gonakadeit, known in Haida as Konankada; and an image of Bear Mother at the bottom. The whale beneath the eagle has a human figure with head, arms and legs protruding from its mouth, and the head and forelegs of a frog appear beneath the human’s head with its legs spanned across the wide tail of the whale.

A human head with tucked arms protrudes beneath the whale’s tail, its chin resting on Konankada’s forehead. Konankada is depicted devouring a whale with only its pectoral fins, body and tail visible; Konankada’s forefeet slip under the pectoral fins to grasp the whale just above its wide tail. The Bear Mother, seated in classic hocker pose, simultaneously embraces two bear cubs, their forelegs draped across hers. A frog is perched between the bear cubs head down, supported on its forelegs, its hind legs folded up above itself.The sculpted figures and the formline design embellishments are all rendered in classic Haida style. The pole sits on a rectangular base with chamfered edges, and the back of the pole is flat.

Steven C. Brown

Jim Mackay, one of the leading argillite carvers of his generation, was the brother of Louis Collison (Collinson) (1881-1970), and Amos Watson. Mackay worked for years as the captain of a salmon fishing schooner out of Prince Rupert. Sadly, he eventually gave up carving, but not before he had created some exceptionally fine works.

References: Marius Barbeau discusses Jim Mackay’s life and work in some detail in his book, Haida Carvers in Argillite, (Ottawa: Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources / National Museum of Canada, 1957), pl. 155-162, p. 141-6. A Mackay pole very similar to this example and equally impressive, in the collection of the Museum of Northern British Columbia in Prince Rupert, is illustrated and discussed in Leslie Drew and Douglas Wilson’s book, Argillite: Art of the Haida, (Vancouver: Hannock House Ltd., 1980), p. 276.