Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, Alberta

Note:

Born and raised in Lax Kwʼalaams (Port Simpson), British Columbia, Frederick Alexcee was the son of Tsimshian mother, and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) father who was employed with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Alexcee carved important ritual objects for use in his Tsimshian community, but also created model poles, canoes, ladles, and paddles for sale, in addition to painting portraits, and highly descriptive paintings illustrating both ceremonial and everyday life on the Coast. Notably two of Alexcee’s paintings were included in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada as early as 1927, where they were exhibited alongside, among others, works by Paul Kane, Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, Edwin Holgate, and A.Y. Jackson.[1]

The configuration of the present work is reminiscent of Kwakwaka'wakw poles at Alert Bay and Gwa’yasdams (Gildford Island). The latter pole carved by Kwakwaka'wakw artist Mungo Martin, was also depicted by Emily Carr in her 1912 painting “Old Indian House” (Vancouver Art Gallery 42.3.51a).

[1] Leah Snyder, Fort Simpson: the historical work of Frederick Alexcee, The National Gallery of Canada, accessed 27 Aug 2024, https://www.gallery.ca/magazine/your-collection/fort-simpson-the-historical-work-of-frederick-alexcee

https://www.waddingtons.ca/art-of-the-model-totem-pole/