Description (Physical description)
Expertly carved model totem pole which accurately reproduces details of the wooden poles, e.g. the hollowed out rear of the pole. The creatures depicted are a beaver at the top,wearing a " skil" property hat and holding what appears to be a portrait mask and the crosshatched beaver tail, and a bear below whose tongue joins the upside down body of a human.The pole has at one time been broken but has been repaired.; Good
Event Date 1959
Author: maa

Context (Related Documents)
The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.;
The style and subject matter of this object conforms to those of the Third Period of argillite carving, 1865-1910. The types of object are traditional objects, such as miniature bent boxes, standing figures of shaman, narrative totem poles, and mythic scenarios. The time period corresponds to when Haida culture was in disarray due to prolonged contact with European culture, and as a result the argillite carvings represent aspects of traditional culture which were previously denied to outsiders because their indigenous significance was waning. The carvers were producing an image of Haida culture in miniature that was indicative of the trade in ethnographic objects and the characterisation of Haida traditional culture in terms of the " exotic other" (G.Crowther).
(The time periods of argillite carving are derived from Carol Sheehan' s Pipes That Won' t Smoke; Coal That Won' t Burn; Haida Sculpture in Argillite, 1981, Glenbow Museum: Calgary, and Peter Macnair and Alan Hoover' s The Magic Leaves, 1984, British Columbian Provincial Museum: Victoria.);
Event Date 1/10/1992
Author: maa

Loan (Exhibition)
Displayed in 'Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy', an exhibition by Bruno Latour and Peter Wiebel at ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe (2005). The mask was included in the section 'Transforming Things Art and Politics of the Northwest Coast' curated by MAA's senior Curator Anita Herle.
Event Date 2005
Author: maa

Context (Display)
Part of the CUMAA old exhibition, removed from display 20.08.1986.
Event Date 2008
Author: ashleigh griffin

Context (Display)
Part of the MAA exhibition 'Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination, Andrews Gallery, MAA, 10 March 2009 – 6 November 2010 and exhibited as part of the 'Extending Bodies' section
Caption noted 'The crest designs depict transformation between beaver, bear and human forms'. Here, A, Elliott, M and Empson, R, 2009. Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination. University of Cambridge. p. 75.
Event Date 31/3/2020
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
Provenance of Haida Gwaii added due to Haida attribution.
The Northwest Coast Collection was re-catalogued and photographed by Dr. Gillian Crowther in 1992. The revised database records were reproduced in her ‘Catalogue of the Northwest Coast Collection: Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’, 1992, revised 2nd edition 1996.

Event Date 31/3/2020
Author: rachel hand