Chief Willie Seaweed, who is also known as Hitlamas or Kwaxitola, was born sometime around 1873 in the village of Tigwaxsti, but was raised in Blunden Harbour, British Columbia. Seaweed is widely considered one of the most accomplished First Nations artists from the Northwest Coast, and, along with Haida artist Charles Edenshaw (1839-1920) was among the earliest individual artists to be identified and studied in depth by art historians. Much of this research and work was carried out by the late Bill Holm (1925-2020), who said of Seaweed: “[His] approach to his art was an intellectual one. He was constantly and consciously aware of form in his work. No carved surface or painted line was ever random. Each was planned, with a draftsman accuracy, so that each form took its perfect shape and held a precise, balanced relationship to its brother shapes and to the space around and between them.” [1]

This finely painted candle box probably dates to the 1940s and features a bilaterally symmetrical whale design with a tail that depicts what looks like a bear. There is also a frontally facing eagle design on the front of the candle box. This box features several design elements that Holm identified as diagnostic forms in Seaweed’s work, including perfectly circular eyes created with three eccentric circles (as in the eagle design), ovoid eyes that are angular in their lower corners (as in the killer whale design), and angular split U-forms (seen throughout). [2] This smaller piece by Seaweed was likely made as a gift for a friend or family member.

1. Holm, Bill, Smoky-Top: The Art and Times of Willie Seaweed (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1983), p. 35.

2. Ibid., pp. 35-37.

Christopher W. Smith