Mungo Martin

The stepson and apprentice of important Kwakwaka’wakw carver Charlie James (Yakudlas) and uncle of Ellen Neel, Martin was active during the potlatch ban period, his life spanning an era of decline, change, and revitalization in Coast art and teachings.

Martin’s contributions are widely acknowledged to have had a direct and profound influence on a generation of Northwest Coast carvers, and students of Kwakwaka’wakw culture, including Henry and Tony Hunt, Bill Reid, Douglas Cranmer, and anthropologists Marius Barbeau, and Wilson Duff among others.

Often remembered for hosting the Wawadit’la opening ceremonies, the first public Potlatch since the government’s lifting of the 1889 potlatch ban in 1951, Martin is equally celebrated for his art.

This frontlet features a representation of a grizzly bear embellished with the figure of a small man on its chest. The absence of rigging to wear the frontlet hints at its use for non-ritual purposes.

Gerald R. McMaster, “Mungo Martin”, The Canadian Encyclopedia, October 1 2007. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mungo-martin#:~:text=Mungo%20Martin%20was%20a%20Kwakwaka,end%20of%20the%20Potlatch%20Ban
Ronald W. Hawker, Yakuglas’ Legacy: The Art and Times of Charlie James (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016)