Sea Raven
1960
Henry Speck
First Nations, Kwakwaka'wakw, Kwakiutl, 1908 - 1971
Henry Speck was a hereditary chief and traditionalist during the fraught time of the Canadian potlatch ban (1885–1951), when First Nations people were jailed and their potlatch regalia confiscated if they were caught enacting their ceremonies. Speck and many others nonetheless continued potlatching. He was also a visual artist, carving totem poles and houseposts, working in watercolor painting, and making prints. His graphic work reached a wider audience when in 1939 his paintings came to the attention of Austrian surrealist artist and writer Wolfgang Paalen, who published one of his paintings in the journal DYN.
Silkscreen
25 x 19 in. (63.5 x 48.3 cm)
Gift of R. Bruce and Mary-Louise Colwell
2018.29.124
Provenance: [Pacific Editions Limited, Victoria, British Columbia]; purchased by Bruce and Mary-Louise Colwell, Seattle, Washington, Mar. 11, 2002
