Born in 1946 in Hydaburg, Alaska, Robert Davidson grew up in Old Massett on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), B.C. The great-grandson of the famous Haida artist Charles Edenshaw, Davidson studied wood and argillite carving with his father Claude Davidson and his grandfather Robert Davidson Sr. Davidson then studied with Bill Reid, the most famous First Nations artist of his generation, in the late 1960s, just when Reid was rediscovering and reinterpreting 19th century Haida stylistic canons. In 1969 Davidson carved and raised a large totem pole for his home village of Old Massett, the first of many poles he has created. Steeped in his artistic and cultural heritage, Davidson has carved for and performed at numerous potlatch ceremonies. A member of the Haida Eagle Clan, Davidson’s Haida name is Guud Sans Glans (Eagle of the Dawn). Davidson has received many public commissions, and awards include induction into the Order of Canada in 1996. Davidson’s works have been acquired by virtually every major art museum in Canada; the Metropolitan Museum of Art owns his Noble Woman Mask of 2001. A superb craftsman, he has mastered every Northwest Coast art medium, and has in recent years begun exploring the more abstract elements of Haida formlines. In his paintings and large-scale aluminum and bronze sculptures, he has succeeded in fusing traditional and post-modern aesthetic sensibilities.

The art of Robert Davidson was the subject of a major solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 1993-94. The concluding words of Aldona Jonaitis’s catalogue essay on Davidson and his art were these: “The optimistic smile of a mask, complementing a strength that inspires a profound and irresistible awe, can stand as a symbol of this contemporary master. Davidson embraces a multifaceted tradition of artists—anonymous as well as named, past, present and future—who powerfully disprove the myth of their disappearance” (p. 23)

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This striking yet serene S’gan Mask is a classic example of a period in which Davidson was eagerly experimenting in a wide range of media: mask-making, relief sculpture, graphics and precious metal jewellery (see Lot 78). Stylistically, with its harmonious combination of carving, painted formline designs, and added elements, it strongly resembles his Dawning of the Eagle Too from 1989 (Eagle of the Dawn catalogue p. 132), and Dawning of the Eagle from 1993 (illustrated on Davidson’s website: www.robertdavidson.ca). See also the somewhat later Redtail Eagle Feathers (1997) illustrated in the Vancouver Art Gallery 2006 catalogue Raven Travelling (fig. 35). The superb workmanship of S’gan Mask extends to the back of the mask, which is carefully hollowed out and fitted with a bite plate as a proper dance mask should be.

References: The life and work of Robert Davidson is widely discussed and published. For the first major publication discussing Robert Davidson’s art and career see the exhibition catalogue by Ian M. Thom, editor, Robert Davidson: Eagle of the Dawn (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery/Douglas & McIntyre, 1993); the present mask is illustrated on p. 141. See also Ulli Steltzer and Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming: The Art of Robert Davidson (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1994). See the essay “Reclaiming Haida Culture” by the artist in the Vancouver Art Gallery catalogue Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2006), pp. 48-55.