 |
| The "Great Box" [PRM 1884.57.25] |
Great news about the Great Box Project!
In
2009 a group of Haida carvers visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum were inspired,
but also puzzled, by one large chest or box in the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Said
by several master carvers to be ‘in the upper stratosphere of Haida art’
(Robert Davidson, 2012), the box dates from the late 1800s. It would have been
commissioned by a hereditary chief to hold clan treasures such as ritual masks
and dance regalia.
Its
artist demonstrates such a mastery of the formal rules of Haida art that he
plays with these, twisting standard elements, tilting the planes of lines, and
creating an unusually layered and dense integration of multiple elements in the
design.
Gwaai
Edenshaw: Boxes are a good study of Haida formline. They follow a certain
set of conventions and they can easily be compared. It is clear that the
artist was a true master, exceptionally well versed in in the form. This
single box has many innovations that we thought belonged to our modern day
greats—an exciting, and humbling discovery. In addition, there are deviations
from the norm contained in the form line. Examination also pulled up other
quirks of innovation, or execution that were entirely new, some baffling, but
in the context of the overall piece, the only logical conclusion is that we just
don't get it, yet… We need a chance to spend more time with the box,
tracing the lines and following the path that this old master did.
The
Haida group also noted that superb items such as the box are needed at home in
Haida Gwaii to inspire artists to return the level of Haida art to such
standards—impaired by the removal of masterpieces from Haida Gwaii through
colonial policy, and the banning of the potlatch by the Canadian government—and
ensure the art form continues to develop.
Gwaai
and Jaalen Edenshaw, brothers and carvers, wish to return to Oxford and study
the Great Box further. To fully understand it, they wish to carve a new version
of it, following the original design closely but also working their own
understandings into the new one: an inspired, creative response to this piece
which learns from, respects, and goes beyond the historic version.
Learning
by doing is an established way of working for Haida artists, and for non-Haida
carvers as well. While working with the Great Box in 2009, Gwaai Edenshaw noted
‘what a difference it makes to view things tactilely’ as part of the learning
process. Feeling the tilted planes of ovoids and u-forms—standard elements in
Haida art—was helpful in understanding the box’s artist’s (or artists’) mastery
of formal expectations of line and space within Haida art. Carving and painting
a new version of the box alongside the original for reference would be the next
step in reclaiming this mastery of vision and technique.
I am
delighted to say that the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK has
now provided funding through its Impact Accelation Account for Gwaai Edenshaw
and Jaalen Edenshaw to come to Oxford and the project to go ahead. They will
carve a new version of the Great Box, which will return to Haida Gwaii to be an
inspiration for other artists there. The activities on Haida Gwaii will be facilitated by the Haida Gwaii Museum, which will also continue the Pitt Rivers Museum's ongoing relationship with this amazing community resource. We’ll be working with public audiences in
Oxford and holding knowledge-sharing sessions on Haida Gwaii, and making a few
video podcasts about the project process. Exciting times ahead: watch this
space!
