Dempsey Bob, “Young Woman With Labret Mask”

Dempsey Bob is widely accepted as the leading carver of British Columbia’s Northwest Coast, and an elder spokesman of Tahltan and Tlingit mainland cultures.

In its 2022 retrospective Wolves: The Art of Dempsey Bob, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection said of his work:

Bob’s carvings blend traditional narratives and iconography with contemporary influences. His exposure to oral histories, songs, and dances from a young age has contributed to his understanding of art and its purpose within the community. Equal parts traditionalist and vanguard artist, Bob acknowledges the lineage to which he is indebted, yet he refuses nostalgia. Instead, he boldly reinterprets the traditional characters and iconography from the age-old stories of his people, at times inflecting those traditional tales with influences drawn from world art. Bob’s work urges a re-examination of humankind’s place in the natural world that is both timely and urgently needed.[1]

Bob, a sculptor of exceptionally light touch and a keen eye for clarity in form, has produced the majority of his known work during his mature period, which focused on transformation imagery, making portrait masks such as the present circa 1973 example exceptionally uncommon. The mask depicts a young woman wearing a cedar bark braid, and abalone labret of the style commonly worn by high caste Northern Northwest Coast women in the early 19th century. Bob has carved the mask in hard alderwood, and skillfully pared back the form to a wafer-thinness.

Bob’s carvings are much sought after, and are rare on the secondary market. Waddington’s is pleased to offer Young Woman with Labret for the first time since its initial acquisition from the artist in 1973.

[1] Wolves: The Art of Dempsey Bob, About the Exhibition, McMichael Collection of Canadian Art, accessed 17 April 2026, https://mcmichael.com/exhibition/wolves-the-art-of-dempsey-bob/

About the auction:

Anchored by Norval Morrisseau’s monumental 1978 canvas, Young Shaman with Powers, our Major Spring Auction of First Nations Art also includes important works by artists Dempsey Bob, Beau Dick, Alex Janvier, Daphne Odjig, Allen Sapp, Robert Charles Davidson, Norman Tait, David Boxley, Klatle-Bhi, Terry Starr, Allan Weir, and others.

Browse the digital catalogue

Please contact us for more information.

Bidding is available May 14 – May 28, 2026.

On view at our Toronto gallery:

 Wednesday, May 20 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Thursday, May 21 from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
 Friday, May 22 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Saturday, May 23 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
 Sunday, May 24 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
 Monday, May 25 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Tuesday, May 26 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Wednesday, May 27 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Or by appointment.