Nanasimget and Killer Whale Item Number: 3675/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Carved wooden sculpture of whale, painted on a rounded, rectangular painted base with a tall dorsal fin. The fin has two carved and painted humanoid figures carved and painted on the sides of the fin, with their hands are carved, as if holding onto the edges. Mainly painted black, with red and pale blue design elements.
Commissioned by the donors in 1987. Davidson first did sketches, then carved an unpainted yellow cedar maquette, then spent 3 months carving the large red cedar sculpture. The work was shown in the 1993 “Eagle of the Dawn” exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery (as well as in the catalogue, p. iii). It was also later loaned to Reed College, Portland, OR in 1998 for the “Expanding the Circle: The Art of guud san glans, Robert Davidson” exhibition, and published (p. 32-35, with sketches and maquette photos) in that catalogue.
The work relates to a Haida legend Nanasimget and the Killer Whale Chief (sometimes called Nanasimgit and his Wife).