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Carved and painted wood Potlach figure in Western dress - Donald Ellis Gallery

Welcome Figure

Kwakwaka'wakw
Alert Bay, British Columbia

late 19th century

wood, paint

height: 54 ½"

Inventory # N1517

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acquired by the Audain Foundation, now at the U'mista Cultural Society, Alert Bay, BC


This figure representing a chief or his speaker, can be seen in two photographs likely taken by George Hunt for Franz Boas, at the marriage potlatch of Charlie Nowell at Alert Bay, in 1900 (Royal British Columbia Museum photographs PN 1078 and PN 1079 – See: Chiefly Feasts, Jonaitis, plates 1.4 and 3.23)

PROVENANCE

Acquired approximately 25 years ago by Don Krake, Los Angeles, CA, in an antiques store in Southern California
Jim Flury, Seattle, WA 

PUBLISHED

Donald Ellis Gallery catalogue, 1997, pg. 8

RELATED EXAMPLES

Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin, (IVA 1119) – See: Donnervogel und Raubwal, Indianische Kunst der Nordwestkuste Nordamerikas, Haberland, Hamburg, 1979, pl. H-32

Provincial Museum, Victoria, BC, No. 1851 – See: Art of the Northwest Coast Indians, Inverarity, University of California Press, 1950, pl. 246

Box of Daylight, Holm, University of Washington Press, 1984, fig. 196

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