House Screen Board Item Number: DC5.1-2 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Replica house front boards, painted in red and black; reconstruction of images from a section of a Tsimshian house screen in the MOA collection. Image shows the pair of boards mounted together (DC5.1 and DC5.2).
Narrative
Painted by Lyle Wilson in 1989 (museum commission), based on the design found on a Tsimshian house board dated c. 1800-1840. This board replicates a small portion of a large painted house screen that, in the mid-1800s, fronted a lineage house at Lax Kw’alaams, a Tsimshian village on the northern BC coast. Decades after the house boards entered the museum collection, it was discovered that light raked across the surface of the boards, combined with high-contrast photography, revealed an elegant painting at least two hundred years old. This painting is one of several contemporary reproductions based on the old house screen boards. (See Nb7.342 for a complete reconstruction of the whole painted house front.)
Item History
- Made by Lyle Wilson (Maker) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during 1989
- Owned by Museum of Anthropology before 1989
- Received from Museum of Anthropology (Funding source) during 1993
What
- Name
- House Screen Board
- Identification Number
- DC5.1-2
- Type of Item
- board
- Material
- red cedar wood and paint
- Part A
- height 366.0 cm, width 72.4 cm
- Part B
- height 365.76 cm, width 101.6 cm
- Overall
- height 366.0 cm, width 174.0 cm, depth 2.7 cm
Who
- Culture
- Tsimshian
- Creator
- Lyle Wilson (Maker)
- Previous Owner
- Museum of Anthropology
- Received from
- Museum of Anthropology (Funding source)
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
When
- Creation Date
- during 1989
- Ownership Date
- before 1989
- Acquisition Date
- during 1993
Other
- Condition
- good