41 × 28.7 in
in
cm
$4,500
This stunning silkscreen print, Sisters of the Underworld, utilizes essential lines, elemental shapes and strong colors to evoke the traditional formline style of the Northwest Coast. Contemporary Indigenous artist Robert Davidson utilizes the distinctive visual vocabulary of formline compositions from the Northwest Coast. Through a contemporary approach to ovoid and u-form shapes, Davidson reinvigorates traditional motifs in a dynamic graphic style to visually explore the abstract principles of form and space. His works visually reference Haida cosmological principles. In particular, in Haida “mythologies,” the underworld refers to the ocean which is ruled by the killer whale. Haida stories explore the themes of transformation and hybrid animals. Throughout many stories, the remarkable powers of the killer whale is prominent. This particular screenprint blends traditional Haida formline style with modernist principles of abstraction and minimalism. Throughout his long career, Davidson has used the silkscreen process of printmaking to explore the abstract principles of form and space through traditional Northwest Coast formline style. His works visually explore philosophical perceptions of structural dualities, the deceptiveness of appearances, and mythic processes of transformation. The current retrospective at the Vancouver Art Gallery, “Guud San Glans Robert Davidson: A Line that Bends But Does Not Break,” is a comprehensive exhibition that demonstrates the longevity, depth, and diversity of Davidson’s practice.
| Medium | Prints |
| Signature | Signed |
| Frame | Unframed |
| Condition | excellent |
| Seller | Gallery |
| Location | Victoria, Canada |
| Provenance | The Artist; Mark Loria Gallery, Victoria, Canada. |
Contemporary artist Robert Davidson is regarded as one of Canada’s most important Indigenous artists. Of Haida and Tlingit Descent, Davidson is a painter, printmaker and master carver. Davidson’s works are explorations of fundamental cosmological principles in formline compositions of Haida art.Following in the footsteps of his mentor Bill Reid, Davidson has been instrumental in the revival of Haida art and culture. Davidson’s work explores the visual language of the Northwest Coast formline tradition through a modernist engagement with the principles of abstraction and minimalism. His style has been described as “contemporary-traditional,” reflecting an overlap of “community-based and outsider-orientated” artistic projects.
Davidson’s Haida name is Guud Sans Glans “Eagle of the Dawn. He was born November 4, 1946 in Hydaburg, Alaska to a particularly notable family of Haida artists.His paternal grandmother is Haida artist and memoirist Florence Davidson. As an infant, his family moved to Old Masset, Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands). When he was 13, Davidson began carving under his father Claude in order to carry on the family tradition.
To complete his education at Point Grey Secondary School, Davidson moved to Vancouver in 1965. The following year, Richardson met Haida artist Bill Reid and began an eighteen month apprenticeship that launched his artistic career. During this time, he also learned the fundamentals of silk-screening, which became an important medium for contemporary Indigenous artists.
Robert Davidson’s artistic career spans over fifty years. He brought attention to pivotal political and environmental issues and is a leading figure in the renaissance of Haida art. Davidson is a founding member of the Rainbow Creek Dancers with his brother and fellow artist, Reg Davidson. He is also one of the founding members of the Haida Gwaii Singers Society, started by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson.
Davidson is a member of the prestigious Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He holds honourary degrees from the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver. His honours include an Inspire Award (formerly, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award) in art and culture, an Order of British Columbia; an Order of Canada, the Governor General’s Award for Visual Arts, the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts, and numerous honourary degrees from universities in Canada and the US.
Davidson’s work is held in a number of private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Canadian Museum of History in Hull, Quebec, the Southwest Museum of Los Angeles, and the Artists for Kids Gallery in North Vancouver.
He currently lives and works in White Rockand in Massett, Haida Gwaii.
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