Canoe Breaker: Southeast Wind’s Brother
Date2010
Maker
Robert Davidson
First Nations, Haida, born 1946
Label TextAccording to Haida oral traditions, Canoe Breaker is one of ten brothers of Southeast Wind, who is responsible for the turbulent weather on Haida Gwaii.
Southeast Wind is in the form of a killer whale. The [white] ovoid actually separates the lower teeth from the upper teeth in the mouth. And the top shape would be the tail and this U-shape could be the pectoral fin and dorsal fin. When you see the killer whale in their world we see them as killer whales but when…they go into their dwelling [below the sea] they will take off their skins and hang it near the door..so that’s why…human attributes [are] mixed in with what a killer whale looks like.
Object number2013.35
ProvenanceThe artist
Photo CreditPhoto: Kenji Nagai
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Robert Davidson: Abstract Impulse, Nov. 16, 2013 - Feb. 16, 2014 (New York, New York, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Apr. 12, 2014 - Sept. 28, 2014). Text by Barbara Brotherton. No cat. no., pp. 26, 88-89, 101, reproduced pl. 17 [no object number when published].Credit LinePurchased with funds from The MacRae Foundation, Native Arts of the Americas and Oceania Council, and Ancient and Native American Art Acquisition Fund
Dimensions60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)
MediumAcrylic on canvas
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