Bill Reid And Beyond

A fresh perspective from Haida leaders, art and cultural historians, anthropologists and artists on the lasting legacy of the famed Haida artist Bill Reid.

According to eminent French anthropologist Levi-Strauss, Reid "brought Northwest Coast art to the world scene, into dialogue with the whole of mankind." In this artistic biography, Karen Duffek gives an account of Bill Reid's life and work and of his role as artist, innovator, and ambassador of Haida art. After describing the processes by which Reid came to reconstruct the formal rules of a complex artistic tradition, Duffek focuses on his mastery of new techniques, particularly in making jewellery, techniques which others now emulate. In the key chapter "Beyond the Essential Form," she uses Reid's own categories of his work as "copies, adaptations and explorations," to give a candid appraisal of his artistic achievements -- from massive poles to gold boxes, from intricate bracelets to the great bronze Killerwhale statue.

Part biography, part art history -- a thoroughly engaging look at one man’s life and his phenomenal influence on the world of contemporary art. Bill Reid was at the forefront of the modern-day renaissance of Northwest Coast Native art; but his art, and his life, was not without controversy. Like the raven -- the trickster and principal figure in countless Haida myths -- Bill Reid reinvented himself several times over. Born to a partly Haida mother and a father of German and Scottish descent, his public persona as a Haida Indian seems to have been as much a product of journalists, art patrons, museum curators and others in the non-Native establishment as of Bill Reid himself. It is clear that Reid’s art arose from the tension that existed between his Native and white artistic perceptions. Award-winning biographer and cultural historian Maria Tippett became intrigued by this enigmatic figure who referred to his own early works as “artefakes,” yet to this day continues to inspire new generations of Northwest Coast artists, including Robert Davidson and Jim Hart. But she questions whether Reid’s status as the architect of contemporary Native art is fair and accurate, given that artists such as Mungo Martin had been keeping the tradition alive since the beginning of the twentieth century. Most controversially, she explores how Reid brought a sensibility formed through his white heritage to the reinvention of Native art. By asking difficult questions about Reid’s life and work, and by analyzing the works of other Native artists since the beginning of the twentieth century, Tippet gives the reader the defining portrait of Bill Reid -- one of Canada’s most enigmatic and beloved artists. Bill Reid’s work can be found in private and public art galleries and museums all over the world. The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia houses the famous The Raven and The First Men and many smaller masterworks. The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, a monumental bronze sculpture over four metres high, is on display at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The British Museum, the Musée de l’Homme in Paris and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa also hold impressive examples of the work of this extraordinary and imaginative artist.

Few twentieth-century artists were catalysts for the reclamation of a culture, but Iljuwas Bill Reid (1920-1998) was among them. The first book on the artist by an Indigenous scholar details Reid's incredible journey to becoming one of the most significant Northwest Coast artists of our time. Born in British Columbia and denied his mother's Haida heritage in his youth, Iljuwas Bill Reid lived the reality of colonialism yet tenaciously forged a creative practice that celebrated Haida ways of seeing and making. Over his fifty-year career, he created nearly a thousand original works and dozens of texts, and he is remembered as a passionate artist, community activist, mentor, and writer. Reid was often said to embody the Raven, a trickster who transforms the world. He followed in the footsteps of his great-great-uncle, master Haida artist Daxhiigang (Charles Edenshaw), engaging with a culture whose practices were once banned by the Indian Act and producing symbols for a nation. His iconic large-scale works now occupy sites such as the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Reid's legacy is a complex story of power, resilience, and strength. In Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work, acclaimed scholar Gerald McMaster examines how the artist made a critical inquiry into his craft throughout his life, gaining a sense of identity, purpose, and impact.

This collection brings together contemporary Indigenous knowledge holders with extraordinary works of historical Northwest Coast art. The photographs and commentaries speak to the connections between tangible and intangible cultural belongings; how "art" remains part of Northwest Coast peoples' ongoing relationships to their territories and governance; Indigenous experiences of reconnection, reclamation, and return; and critical and necessary conversations around the role of museums. Residence: Vancouver, B.C. Print run 3,500.

Over his lifetime, Bill Reid created many historic pieces of art including the large bronze sculpture The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, nicknamed the Jade Canoe and displayed at the Vancouver International Airport, and The Raven and the First Men, a yellow cedar carving. Both are featured on the Canadian $20 bill. In addition to the immense praise for his artwork, Reid received the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1994. He continued to create stunning sculptures up until his death in 1998. Bill Reid Collected features the largest chronological collection of memorable works of Reid’s career in full-color photographs and images to date. Along with an introductory essay by Dr. Martine J. Reid, this collection pays tribute to one of Canada’s most renowned First Nations artists.