GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The raven is a ubiquitous figure in the art and mythology of the cultures of the Northwest Coast. According to legend, at the beginning of time an old man kept the sun and all the other treasures of the world in a box. Raven was born to this man's daughter, and he gave his grandfather great joy. Raven asked for his grandfather's possessions as playthings, and he received them one by one. Finally, he requested the sun and opened the Box of Daylight, and as soon as he received it, he changed from boy to raven, flying away with the sun in his beak. The skies flooded with sunlight scorched Raven's feathers, turning them from white to black. Raven dropped the sun in the sky where it benefited the entire world.
Here, the main figure of a raven is surrounded by a crouching figure and masks. The purpose of this handsome carving of walrus ivory remains unclear—it has been described as a knife handle or a cup—but it most certainly would have conferred considerable esteem upon its owner. Compositionally it is related to spoons fashioned from horn and to figures carved from argillite. Both materials were readily available to the Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of British Columbia. The tusk of the walrus, however, had to come from Inuit country, several hundred miles to the north, presumably as an object of trade. Only then could it have come to the Haida master who transformed it into an image of radiant beauty.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Raven and crouching figure and masks (1977.28.McD)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 58.
- Jay Gates, "Raven and crouching figure (1977.28.McD)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 201.
- Anne R. Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 49.
- Carol Robbins, Label text [1977.28.McD], A. H. Meadows Galleries.
NOTES
Haida, 19th century (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 10/15/13.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Haida: AAT: 300017606
Northwest Coast Native American styles: AAT: 300017594
Northwest Coast North American styles (Pre-Columbian): AAT: 300016902
Geography
Canada (nation): TGN: 7005685
British Columbia (province): TGN: 7005735
Queen Charlotte Islands: TGN: 1010228
Process/materials
ivory (material): AAT: 300011857
shell (animal material): AAT: 300011829
mother of pearl: AAT: 300011835
inlay (process): AAT: 300053850
inlay (decorations): AAT: 300256033
carving: AAT: 300053149
polishing (finishing): AAT: 300053867
walrus ivory (material): DMA
shell inlay (decorations): DMA
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
sculpture: AAT: 300047090
ceremonial objects: AAT: 300234117
knife handle (components): DMA
knives (cutting tools / cutting equipment): AAT: 300024668
handles: AAT: 300024927
hilts: AAT: 300037119
ceremonial knives (ceremonial weapons): AAT: 300253581
vessels (containers): AAT: 300193015
cups (drinking vessels): AAT: ID: 300043202
ritual vessels: AAT: 300265801
figures: AAT: 300189808
man: AAT: 300025928
sitting (seated): AAT: 300263970
animals: DMA
birds (animals): AAT: 300266506
birds (motifs): AAT: 300375751
geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764
masks (costume): AAT: 300138758
faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798
linear forms: AAT: 300234452
myth: AAT: 300201023
mythical or legendary beings: AAT: 300375725
supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947
deities: AAT: 300343850
trade (function): AAT: 300061886
ravens (birds): AAT: 300250089
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1927: Sidney Burney (1876/77-1951), London [1]
1927-d. 1939: Harry G. Beasley (1881-1939), Chislehurst, Kent, England, purchased from the above [1], [2], [3], [4]
1939-d. 1974: his wife, Irene M. Beasley, by inheritance (d. 1974) [3]
1974-1975: her daughter, Alison Nielson-Wood, by inheritance [3]
1975-1977: John Wise Ltd. (John and Nora Wise), New York, purchased from the above [2], [3], [4]
From 1977: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., purchased from Shango Galleries (John A. Buxton), Dallas [2], [5], [6], [7]
[1] The main source for this provenance is correspondence between Sarah Stolte, Dallas Museum of Art McDermott Graduate Curatorial Intern for Arts of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, and Jim Hamill, The British Museum, Centre for Anthropology, Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (dated February 12, 2010, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is existing provenance information in TMS and Acquisition Worksheet (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[3] Harry G. Beasley's private collection (1895-d. 1939) was transformed into a private museum, the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum, in 1928. After Harry Beasley's death in 1939, his wife, Irene Marguerite Beasley, distributed most of the collection by 1944. Following her death in 1974 their daughters sold what was not of interest to them at the Palmeira Auction Rooms, Hove, England, March 03, 1975. The main source for this provenance is Hermione Waterfield and J. C. H. King, "Harry Geoffrey Beasley," in Provenance: Twelve Collectors of Ethnographic Art in England 1760-1990 (Paris: Somogy Art Publishers, 2006): 79-91. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[4] The main source for this provenance are two letters from Alison Nielson-Wood to Nora Wise (dated December 29, 1974 and August 06, 1975, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[5] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated May 31, 1977, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[6] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
[7] Works of art given or purchased by The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization, are placed in the custody of the DMA for the purpose of public display on the premises of the Museum or in other recognized art galleries or museum. The title to all works of art purchased (or otherwise acquired) by the McDermott Art Fund remains with the Fund.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
- 253363324: UMO. [Caption] Common Raven (Corvus corax), Cypress Provincial Park, British Columbia. Source: Clayoquot (own work), Wikimedia Commons, accessed: April 27, 2015, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Raven_Cypress_Provincial_Park.JPG.
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1977.28.McD
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General Description
The raven is a ubiquitous figure in the art and mythology of the cultures of the Northwest Coast. According to legend, at the beginning of time an old man kept the sun and all the other treasures of the world in a box. Raven was born to this man's daughter, and he gave his grandfather great joy. Raven asked for his grandfather's possessions as playthings, and he received them one by one. Finally, he requested the sun and opened the Box of Daylight, and as soon as he received it, he changed from boy to raven, flying away with the sun in his beak. The skies flooded with sunlight scorched Raven's feathers, turning them from white to black. Raven dropped the sun in the sky where it benefited the entire world.
Here, the main figure of a raven is surrounded by a crouching figure and masks. The purpose of this handsome carving of walrus ivory remains unclear—it has been described as a knife handle or a cup—but it most certainly would have conferred considerable esteem upon its owner. Compositionally it is related to spoons fashioned from horn and to figures carved from argillite. Both materials were readily available to the Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of British Columbia. The tusk of the walrus, however, had to come from Inuit country, several hundred miles to the north, presumably as an object of trade. Only then could it have come to the Haida master who transformed it into an image of radiant beauty.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Raven and crouching figure and masks (1977.28.McD)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 58.
- Jay Gates, "Raven and crouching figure (1977.28.McD)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 201.
- Anne R. Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 49.
- Carol Robbins, Label text [1977.28.McD], A. H. Meadows Galleries.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Haida, 19th century (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 10/15/13.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Haida: AAT: 300017606
Northwest Coast Native American styles: AAT: 300017594
Northwest Coast North American styles (Pre-Columbian): AAT: 300016902
Geography
Canada (nation): TGN: 7005685
British Columbia (province): TGN: 7005735
Queen Charlotte Islands: TGN: 1010228
Process/materials
ivory (material): AAT: 300011857
shell (animal material): AAT: 300011829
mother of pearl: AAT: 300011835
inlay (process): AAT: 300053850
inlay (decorations): AAT: 300256033
carving: AAT: 300053149
polishing (finishing): AAT: 300053867
walrus ivory (material): DMA
shell inlay (decorations): DMA
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
sculpture: AAT: 300047090
ceremonial objects: AAT: 300234117
knife handle (components): DMA
knives (cutting tools / cutting equipment): AAT: 300024668
handles: AAT: 300024927
hilts: AAT: 300037119
ceremonial knives (ceremonial weapons): AAT: 300253581
vessels (containers): AAT: 300193015
cups (drinking vessels): AAT: ID: 300043202
ritual vessels: AAT: 300265801
figures: AAT: 300189808
man: AAT: 300025928
sitting (seated): AAT: 300263970
animals: DMA
birds (animals): AAT: 300266506
birds (motifs): AAT: 300375751
geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764
masks (costume): AAT: 300138758
faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798
linear forms: AAT: 300234452
myth: AAT: 300201023
mythical or legendary beings: AAT: 300375725
supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947
deities: AAT: 300343850
trade (function): AAT: 300061886
ravens (birds): AAT: 300250089
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1927: Sidney Burney (1876/77-1951), London [1]
1927-d. 1939: Harry G. Beasley (1881-1939), Chislehurst, Kent, England, purchased from the above [1], [2], [3], [4]
1939-d. 1974: his wife, Irene M. Beasley, by inheritance (d. 1974) [3]
1974-1975: her daughter, Alison Nielson-Wood, by inheritance [3]
1975-1977: John Wise Ltd. (John and Nora Wise), New York, purchased from the above [2], [3], [4]
From 1977: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., purchased from Shango Galleries (John A. Buxton), Dallas [2], [5], [6], [7]
[1] The main source for this provenance is correspondence between Sarah Stolte, Dallas Museum of Art McDermott Graduate Curatorial Intern for Arts of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, and Jim Hamill, The British Museum, Centre for Anthropology, Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (dated February 12, 2010, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is existing provenance information in TMS and Acquisition Worksheet (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[3] Harry G. Beasley's private collection (1895-d. 1939) was transformed into a private museum, the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum, in 1928. After Harry Beasley's death in 1939, his wife, Irene Marguerite Beasley, distributed most of the collection by 1944. Following her death in 1974 their daughters sold what was not of interest to them at the Palmeira Auction Rooms, Hove, England, March 03, 1975. The main source for this provenance is Hermione Waterfield and J. C. H. King, "Harry Geoffrey Beasley," in Provenance: Twelve Collectors of Ethnographic Art in England 1760-1990 (Paris: Somogy Art Publishers, 2006): 79-91. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[4] The main source for this provenance are two letters from Alison Nielson-Wood to Nora Wise (dated December 29, 1974 and August 06, 1975, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[5] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated May 31, 1977, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[6] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
[7] Works of art given or purchased by The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization, are placed in the custody of the DMA for the purpose of public display on the premises of the Museum or in other recognized art galleries or museum. The title to all works of art purchased (or otherwise acquired) by the McDermott Art Fund remains with the Fund.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS