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Haida artist Bill Reid's acclaimed sculpture, The Raven and the First Men, is displayed in this gallery, alongside four exhibit cases featuring a selection of Reid's smaller masterworks in gold, silver, argillite, and wood.

Category: Visual Arts Events
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What:

Type | Other
Audience | All Ages

Schedule of Events

Date Venue Description
21-May-13 to 21-May-14 Museum Of Anthropology Don't let the name scare you, you don't even have to know what anthropology means to enjoy this place. 

Profile

With the assistance of several other artists, Reid created his massive sculpture out of a giant block of laminated yellow cedar. Depicted is a moment in the ancestral past of the Haida people when Raven, a wise and powerful yet mischievous trickster, has just found the first humans in a clam shell on the beach, and is coaxing them out of it.

The Raven and the First Men was commissioned by Walter and Marianne Koerner, and unveiled by HRH the Prince of Wales in 1980. Members of the Haida Nation were also present to celebrate the work, bringing the sand at the base of the sculpture from the beach where Raven is said to have made his discovery.

During his lifetime (1920-1998), Reid drew much from the traditions of his predecessors, including Charles Edenshaw (ca. 1839-1920), becoming internationally renowned for his extraordinary imagination and technical skill. He continues to inspire new generations of Northwest Coast artists - including Robert Davidson and Jim Hart - who are now masters in their own right.