262 William Ronald (Bill) Reid w 1920 – 1998
Haida Bear Canoe (Model) and Haida Bear Paddle carved and painted cedar wood sculpture, 1984 12 1/2 x 92 1/2 x 16 1/2 in, 31.8 x 234.9 x 41.9 cm Prov e n a n c e
Elizabeth Nichol’s Equinox Gallery, Vancouver Peter and Joanne Brown Collection, Vancouver, acquired from the above in 1984 L ite rat u r e
Doris Shadbolt, Bill Reid, second edition, 1998, page 112 Bill McLennan, Curator Emeriti, Pacific Northwest, Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, personal communication, 2008 Martine J. Reid, editor, Bill Reid and the Haida Canoe, 2011, page 76, and Lootaas and Haida Bear Canoe Model (unpainted) reproduced pages 74 – 75 Haida artist Bill reid expressed awe for the traditional Haida canoe and what it represents culturally, symbolically and aesthetically. Hence, the Haida canoe played a major role within Reid’s artistic development and practice. He was convinced the canoe played a primordial role in the evolution of Northwest Coast art. Reid saw the canoe (which he associated with the formline ovoid) as the source of distinctive Haida and other northern Northwest Coast art forms. He declared, “Western art starts with the figure; West Coast Indian art starts with the canoe.” 98
Reid’s insight into, and passion for, the quintessential Haida canoe compelled him to experiment with canoe making, culminating in the building of Lootaas (Wave Eater), a 17 metre (50-foot) ocean-going canoe commissioned by the Bank of BC for Expo 86. Reid considered Lootaas, the first canoe of that size to be created in nearly a century, to be one of his greatest accomplishments. Reid’s monumental sculptures took several years to evolve from their conception to small-scale maquettes to completion, and Lootaas was no exception. After methodically studying several canoes in museums and unfinished canoes in the forests of Haida Gwaii, reading critically the literature on Northern-style canoes and listening to native elders’ memories of canoe making, Reid worked out the design and construction challenges of Lootaas by making a series of sketches and smaller canoes before he and his team built the vessel. In his Granville Island studio in 1984, Reid carved this 2.5 metre (8 ¼-foot) Haida canoe, patterned after a similar canoe that was on loan to the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology from the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, QC). He referred to his canoe model as “a grandchild-size” Haida canoe. This elegant model Haida canoe was carved (but not steamed) from red cedar, which Reid called “that perfect substance for all material and aesthetic needs.” By the time the canoe was finished, however, the grandchild had outgrown the little boat, so it was painted with a traditional Haida Bear design and sold to Peter Brown, which provided support for the larger canoe project.