Small wood totem

I know this totem is at least 15 years old, but beyond that know nothing of it's age or origin. It's about a foot high.

Any thoughts?

 

The style is Tsimshian. It probably dates mid-20th century.

 

I'm wondering if the paint is original or added later. It sure doesn't look right type or colours to me...

 

@Taupou, thanks so much for the info! Now that I know what to search for, I'm finding info and other similar totems.

Wendy, from what I've read and seen today, these colors are typical for NW Coast totems from Canada and Southern Alaska.

 

A couple of the photographs on this page show carvings painted with very similar colors to my totem...

http://www.city.ketchikan.ak.us/departments/museums/totem_photo.html

 

Taupou, two-thirds of the way down this page is a very large totem with colors very close to mine. It seems to have a similar feel to mine although it's much larger and more detailed.

This one was created by a member of the Tlingit tribe, and I'm seeing other items, too, with similar colors that are Tlingit. Do you think it's possible my totem is a Tlingit, too?

http://northtoa.blogspot.com/2010/05/totem-poles-part-2.html

 

I really don't know much about Haida/First Nations art, but I've seen a bit in my area (Vancouver Island). The green colour is much less blue and is a dark, not light, green -- for most of what I've seen. The painting seems to be a bit blotchy. But those are just my observations and I notice in your links, Pat, that the blue/green colour is seen in the Tlingit tribe carvings.

 

Probably the first thing to remember, in trying to identify this, is that this is not a real totem pole...it is a souvenir totem pole. As such, it isn't going to conform entirely to a specific tribal style. It was carved for sale, and most likely based on previous sales, features figures and colors that are more likely to attract buyers. It can't re-create exactly any real totem pole, because that would be copying an art form that is owned by a particular family, who has rights to the image.

That said, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Kwakiutl tribes do share common themes and colors in their style of art. The carved souvenir totem poles usually reflect a "general" style associated with each tribe. Kwakiutl souvenirs are the style with the outspread wings. Haida are associated with the argillite (or now the black resin) columns. Tlingit are known for the wings shown on the example in post #5.

This particular on appears to be based loosely on a pole in the VanDusen Gardens in Vancouver. It is illustrated in Hilary Stewart's book, Looking at Totem Poles. She relates the legend associated with the pole, which features Baboudina, the Chief of the Mosquitoes, the top figure on the pole. He killed a party of hunters, but missed one of the wives, who in turn was able to kill him, cut out his heart, and revive the hunters by swinging Baboudina's heart over them. Baboudina's body was burned, and as the ashes flew up from the fire...they became mosquitoes.

(Just in the interest of accuracy, the preferred name for the tribe is now Gitksan or Gitxsan, rather than interior Tsimshian. I should have used that, but thought more people would be familiar with Tsimshian.)

 

Wendy, yes, a couple of the sites that had good info talked about differences between the three tribes. Apparently the colors differ, as well as the nature of the carvings.

One site said that the traditional Tlingit colors are black, red, yellow, and blue-green, which fits my totem well. Also, I've done more searches and have seen quite a few Tlingit pieces that have similar coloring as mine.

 

Taupou, we cross-posted. Thanks for the additional info. I knew nothing about any of this, and am finding it all interesting. I agree that my piece must have been sold as a souvenir.

Now I just need to identify the animals or spirits represented by the two figures, and if possible, pin the date down more. The top figure clearly is a bird, but it seems like a cross between a raven and an eagle. I'm stumped by the bottom figure. I've been looking at descriptions of the types of figures used, but most sites don't illustrate them.

 

Just an observation...the internet is not a reliable reference when it comes to Native American items. It's quick, relatively easy, but there is no fact check button, and you are more likely to end up with misinformation than with accurate identifications. A couple of exceptions would be MOA, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia's online collection, and the Burke Museum's Online Database. The Burke Museum, part of the University of Washington, has one of the largest collections of Northwest Coast ethnographic material in the U.S.

And sometimes you can read sections of reference books on line. An example, if you search for "Baboudina," you can read the page (page 72) from Looking at Totem Poles, which will confirm that the figure at the top of this pole is actually depicting the mythological figure that resulted in mosquitoes being brought to this world. He isn't a bird. Maybe not exactly a mosquito, either, but sometimes figures on totem poles don't look like recognizable creatures that we are used to encountering. Here's a Tinyurl link to that page:
http://tinyurl.com/kh5b2g3

Bill Holm's Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form is the classic source on the topic. I'd also recommend The Totem Pole, an Intercultural History by Aldona Jonaitis and Aaron Glass.

 

Taupou wrote:
"Just an observation...the internet is not a reliable reference when it comes to Native American items. It's quick, relatively easy, but there is no fact check button, and you are more likely to end up with misinformation than with accurate identifications."

This is true for many types of items. I love the idea of a "fact check button." Maybe that type of thing will be invented some day -- one can only dream!

 

Ah, I see now how my totem is based on the VanDusen Gardens totem. I'm amazed that you identified it so quickly, Taupou! Thank you!

I'm surprised that there are so few references on the web to Baboudina. If that means it's not a common theme for totems, I'm also surprised that a tourist piece would be based on it. Or maybe it's not uncommon, just not mentioned on the web very much?

 

I totally understand about references not always being reliable. Even if we try to be careful in what we use as sources, facts can get distorted so easily when people apply their own interpretations. Kind of like telephone tag in writing.

 

Thanks Taupou for your clarification and for edifying me -- I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention as a child when we were shown "Indian" items (we didn't say "First Nations" way back then!). I'm taking my very young granddaughters to the Royal BC museum next week, so I will look a little more carefully as we go by the First Nations exhibits!

 

The narrowness of the figures (narrower side-to-side than front-to-back) is quite distinctive, and is indicative of the work of the Rudolph family from Angoon.
Here's a photo of James Rudoph: http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cdmg21/id/1601/rec/1
They are Tlingits. This totem probably dates to somewhere around 1920-1930, would be my guess.
As mentioned, when it comes to carvings for souvenir sale, the traditional colors are less important than other details; and identification of the tribes and carvers is not something that can be gleaned from the Internet.
The books mentioned by Taupou are a good staring place; but nothing beats hanging out at the musems mentioned, becoming friends with the curators, attending all their lectures and exhibits; after 15-20 years of this, one may begin to have some knowledge.

 

Thanks, all_fakes, and welcome to the forum.

Is there an organization I could contact to confirm the Rudolph family origin and the date range? I'm at the opposite end of the country, so can't do any in-person exploration, unfortunately.

 

No. There generally isn't, for Northwest Coast Native items. I run some websites for two specific areas, subsets of the Kwakiutl and Tsimshian, but those aren't relevant to this totem.
But I recognize the work of the family.
There is some information on this family in the recent UW Press book "Carvings and Commerce: Model Totem Poles 1880-2010" and you might see if your local library has a copy.
I was a contributor to the book, and to the museum exhibition on which it was based, and have discussed the Rudolph family and their distinctive style (and traded some of their totems) with Christopher Smith of Alaska, recogized as an authority on the Rudolph family. He provided several articles including an index of model totem makers, for the book mentioned. You can check his model totem blog at http://modeltotems.blogspot.com/ for some articles about the Rudolph family, and you might consider posting your question and photos there; I imagine he would be willing to look at photos of your item and could estimate date, specific carver, and value.
I know NW Coast Native wood items about as well as Taupou knows baskets, I guess.

 

Thanks, all_fakes! I'll pursue this and post back if I learn anything additional.

 

Hi Steve,
It's Chris Smith, I just signed up for this site - I agree with you on all of the comments you've had here - I definitely think this is mirroring James Rudolph's style. The only thing I would depart from you on is the date, which I think might be later - 1940s or 50s.

It's good to see you on here!