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Artworks
PROBABLY THOMAS MOODY (1877-1947) HAIDA
Model Totem Pole, c. 1920-1930argillite, 12.25 x 2.25 x 2.25 in (31.1 x 5.7 x 5.7 cm)
unsigned.12 1/4 x 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in
LOT 143
ESTIMATE: $2,500 — $3,500Further images
A slender and elegant argillite pole that, although unsigned, is probably by Haida artist Thomas Moody, the patriarch of the multigenerational family of Haida argillite carvers. The pole features, from...A slender and elegant argillite pole that, although unsigned, is probably by Haida artist Thomas Moody, the patriarch of the multigenerational family of Haida argillite carvers. The pole features, from the top: an eagle grasping a descending seal, a raven, a human head wearing a hat, and a wolf holding what looks like its cub. The slender profile, cross hatching on the beak of the raven, and the unusual way that the raven’s wings are decorated with rows of u-forms at 45-degree angles make it very likely to be the work of Moody. [1]
1. For comparable pieces by Thomas Moody, see Leslie Drew and Douglas Wilson, Argillite: Art of the Haida, (Vancouver: Hancock House Ltd., 1980), p. 254.
Christopher W. Smith
References: For a discussion of the artist and his work see Marius Barbeau, Haida Carvers in Argillite, (Ottawa: Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources / National Museum of Canada, 1957; repr. 1974), pp. 104-107.Provenance
A Vancouver Collection.
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