Charles Edenshaw at the Vancouver Art Gallery until Feb. 2. For more information visit vanartgallery.bc.ca.
Art aficionados now have the chance to literally step into the artwork, and the ornate world of carving, in the latest exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
VAG is currently featuring work by Charles Edenshaw, a Haida artist best known for his intricate and detailed carvings. The show, running until Feb. 2, 2014, is a massive undertaking.
"The exhibition has about 240 works and it's the largest exhibition of Edenshaw's work ever assembled," says Daina Augaitis, chief curator and associate director at VAG. "Given the nature of the collections are really scattered all over the world, I don't know whether there ever will be such a major exhibition. I would venture to say that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to see this much of his work brought together."
All of the artwork is displayed along the meandering walls of an artistic carving.
"We worked with a local designer, Marc Bricault. He came to the table with a wonderful idea which was to shape the walls," says Augaitis. "So if you look at the floor plan from overhead it looks like a carving and there's all these curved walls that kind of emulate the extraordinary quality of the line in Edenshaw's carving. This work is extremely sophisticated and we wanted the presentation to equal that, so it's really quite amazing."
The exhibit has been in discussion since the 1960s, says Augaitis, and explores Edenshaw's work through five different sections: Haida traditions, narrative, style, new forms and legacy. Both Augaitis and Robin Wright, director of the Bill Holm Centre for the Study of Northwest Coast Art and a leading expert of Edenshaw's work, were curators on the show.
"I started working on this I think in the fall of 2010 and basically had already a large database with pieces that had been attributed to Charles Edenshaw over the years," says Wright.
"(Wright) and I got together and thought, well this exhibition is happening in an art gallery so how might it distinguish itself than if it were in a different kind of museum," says Augaitis. "We really wanted to place the emphasis on the esthetic qualities of the work. So for us it was really important to think about, from an artistic perspective, what were the key contributions that he made, what was his legacy? That's how we came up with the different sections for the exhibition."
The sections explore Edenshaw's work including platters, hats, bracelets and argillite poles. Wright says when selecting the pieces for the exhibition, she started with a wish list of more items than the exhibition could show and picked the best examples from there. Wright says they can run into problems if the museums are unwilling to loan, the pieces are not in good condition or the cost of loaning them is too high.
"In this case we tried to get the best examples of the widest possible range of materials," she says. "So everything from wood to argillite to silver to ivory to sheep horn, every possible medium that he worked in so we can have the broadest coverage of his body of work."
Augaitis says Edenshaw's platters are one of his most remarkable creations and each one tells a story.
"They're done with such elegance and such complexity, even how he started creating a bit of perspective," says Augaitis. "Which one sees as kind of being a European notion, but creating this deep space like a foreground, middle ground and a background in the platters, is entirely unique and quite new for him to be doing in the 1900s."
Edenshaw often used the carboniferous shale argillite as material, carving intricate details into poles and platters.
"The fluidity of the line and the deep carving, that's very difficult to do in argillite," says Augaitis.
Some of Edenshaw's work was unsigned, making it difficult to distinguish whether the work was actually his and when it was done.
"It's really complicated because even the works that were taken away at the time, there might have been some notes that would have identified them with Charles Edenshaw," says Augaitis. "But in many times it maybe would say 'this was made by a Haida artist or a Haida carver,' and names at that time were not really attributed nor were any of these pieces signed."
She says that Bill Holm, a leading expert in Northwest Coast art, was instrumental in the '70s in figuring out what work was Edenshaw's. The last section of the exhibit delves into what was Edenshaw's, artists who have copied his work and pieces that were not attributed, letting visitors decide for themselves.
"Bill Holm was really the first one to start looking at how the eyes were depicted and the various U forms," she says. "The last section of the show is to really put forward that question of attribution and to make it clear that these works are unsigned."
Edenshaw's work was gradually influenced by the changes around him, including visitors to Haida Gwaii.
"All of these people would have brought things with them and images with them and different stories," says Augaitis. "It seems like he was very curious about these things and did incorporate them into his artwork. The argillite platters turn into compotes with these legs on them that might have been candy dishes in Victorian homes but they still have the Haida eagles and the ravens depicted in them."
Other traditional items also changed. Spoons once made out of sheep horn were made out of silver, walking staffs traditionally used by Haida chiefs, including Edenshaw himself, were carved into the smaller European walking sticks and the image of the Haida eagle became more Americanized.
"You might think of Haida Gwaii as being fairly off the beaten path but in fact it was very much on the path and that's where Europeans and the Americans were coming by boat," says Augaitis. "In many ways he was quite connected to other ideas and images and things that were going on in different parts of the world. It was important to acknowledge that in the exhibition and to show that he was, in many respects, very modern in that regard."
She says the feedback on the exhibit, including the design, has so far been very positive.
"I think the design is something that we're really proud of," says Augaitis. "We've been working on it for three years, which is quite fast considering that you're working with museums that were in the process of approving loans and then in some cases there needed to be some conservation work on these pieces. The conditions of exhibiting are extremely stringent, it's mind blowing the details for every single work that you have to consider."
A natural paint was even used to prevent too much off gassing, something that could be damaging to the artwork, says Augaitis.
"Even the back story for a project like this is just extraordinarily complex," she says. "It's a production."
Edenshaw pieces were shipped from private and public collectors all over the world including Germany, Scotland and Switzerland as well as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Augaitis says a smaller version of the exhibition will go to the National Gallery of Canada around the beginning of March and then to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection for the summer of 2014.
The exhibition will also feature speaking tours, including one with Wright, throughout January until the exhibition closes, as well as a companion book on sale at the gallery's gift shop.
"It's the only book that compiles the writing on Edenshaw and brings all of the images together," says Augaitis. She says the first run of around 4,000 books sold out, prompting the publisher to print more.
"You could say that he's our Michelanglo, his work is of that order. We always look to Europe for the great masters but in fact we have them here and we have them from a long time ago and we should be acknowledging that," says Augaitis. "I think that's part of what we want to be doing with this exhibition."
