Lot 86
RAYMOND STEVENS (1953-1981) HAIDA / NISGA'A
Split Eagle Bracelet, 1978
engraved testing 22kt gold, 2.5 x 2 x 0.375 in (6.3 x 5.1 x 1 cm), 16 grams
signed and dated, "R. Stevens 1978";
with various small engraved ‘doodles’ and signed again inscribed, "R. Stevens / 22KT

Provenance
An Ottawa Collection.

Raymond Stevens was born in 1953 in Prince Rupert, raised in Skidegate on Haida Gwaii, and schooled in North Vancouver. In 1955, he was adopted by master carver Bill Reid and Mabel Stevens, but he would return to Haida Gwaii where he studied argillite carving with Rufus Moody and later with his stepfather Billy Stevens. After studying goldsmithing at the Central School of Design in London, England, Bill Reid set up a studio in Montreal where he would remain for three years. Raymond joined Reid in Montreal, and learning from him, began to seriously carve jewellery. He found a strong market for his work, and even received government commissions. Stevens was a skilled craftsman and sought to replicate the tight crosshatching used by Haida masters such as Charles Edenshaw. This Split Eagle, with an elongated beak and feather details, features his skill in tight cross-hatching on a narrow bracelet. Stevens enjoyed playing with designs on the insides of bracelets; these included doodle-like drawings such as the charming ones he included here, along with his signature. His work is included in the collections of the UBC Museum of Anthropology and was featured in the 2006 exhibition Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Stevens died tragically in 1981.

Gary Wyatt

References: For a silver cuff bracelet by the artist see Daina Augaitis et al., Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art, (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery / Douglas & McIntyre, 2006), cat. 124, p. 153.