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Sea Raven

1960

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

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, INKED! Northwest Coast Silkscreen Prints from the Colwell Collection, Mar. 5 - Dec. 12, 2021.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM