First Arts company logo
First Arts
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Spring 2025 | Live Auction
  • Available Artworks
  • Auctions & Exhibitions
  • About
  • SERVICES
  • News & Blog
Menu

Artworks

Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986

FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT

Portrait Mask, 1986
alder wood, cedar bark, and acrylic paint, 9 x 8 x 5 in (22.9 x 20.3 x 12.7 cm)
signed and dated, "FREDA 86".
LOT 47
ESTIMATE: $8,000 — $12,000
PRICE REALIZED: $7,320.00

Further images

  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 1 ) FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 2 ) FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 3 ) FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 4 ) FREDA DIESING (1925-2002) HAIDA, PRINCE RUPERT, Portrait Mask, 1986
Freda Diesing was one of just a handful of First Nations women carving on the Northwest Coast in the 20th century. Along with artists such as Robert Davidson (b. 1946)...
Read more

Freda Diesing was one of just a handful of First Nations women carving on the Northwest Coast in the 20th century. Along with artists such as Robert Davidson (b. 1946) and Bill Reid (1920-1998), Diesing was heavily involved in the 1960s and 1970s revival of interest in Haida and other Northwest Coast art. Diesing also attended, and later taught at, the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art at ‘Ksan in Hazelton, British Columbia. Diesing was a hugely influential teacher and many of her students today are regarded as master artists in their own right. In 2006, three of her former students: Dempsey Bob (Tlingit-Tahltan, b. 1948), Stan Bevan (Tahltan-Tlingit/Tsimshian, b. 1961), and Ken McNeil (b. 1961, Tlingit-Tahltan/Nisga’a), opened the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in her honour.


This elegant portrait mask reflects Diesing’s mastery of knife techniques in creating a smooth and supple finish without sanding on the surface of the alder wood. The mask is sparingly painted in black and red with carved features whose proportions allude to Gitxsan and Tsimshian influences from Diesing’s time at ‘Ksan. The twisted cedar bark rope framing the mask draws your eye back to the center to meet the mask’s gaze, which emotes a serene and calming expression.


Christopher W. Smith


References: For examples of masks by Freda Diesing see First Arts, July 12, 2020, Lots 67- 69, and First Arts, 1 Dec. 2020, Lot 115. See also Peter Macnair et al, Down From the Shimmering Sky: Masks of the Northwest Coast, (Seattle / Vancouver: Univ. of Washington Press, 1998), cat. 156; Daina Augaitis et al, Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art, (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery / Douglas & McIntyre, 2006), cat. 26 (ROM Collection); and Peter Macnair et al, The Legacy: Continuing Traditions of Canadian Northwest Coast Indian Art, (Victoria: BC Provincial Museum, 1980), fig. 71. Robin K. Wright’s Northern Haida Master Carvers, (Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 2001) discusses Diesing’s work and illustrates a portrait mask, print, and totem pole, pp. 323-326. See also Mary Anne Barbara Slade, Skilquewat: on the trail of Property Woman: the life story of Freda Diesing, PhD Dissertation, University of British Columbia, 2002.
Close full details

Provenance

Private Collection, Philadelphia, PA; 
A Vancouver Collection.
Share
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email

FIRST ARTS PREMIERS INC.  
Nadine Di Monte   |    647-286-5012   |    info@firstarts.ca 

Ingo Hessel  |    613-818-2100   |    ingo@firstarts.ca

The main office of First Arts Premiers Inc. is located on the ancestral and traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat, the original owners and custodians of this land.  Today, it is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.

 

 

 

Join Our Mailing List

 

JOIN

 

 

 

Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Send an email
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2025 First Arts
Site by Artlogic

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences
Close

Join our mailing list

Join

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.