Charles Edenshaw
Encyclopedia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He is known for his woodcarving, argillite carving, jewellery, and painting.
Background
Edensew (the name also spelled Edensaw, or Edenso from the Haida chiefly name Idɨnsaw) was born at the Haida village of SkidegateSkidegate
Skidegate is a Haida community in Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southeast coast of Graham Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and is approximately west of mainland British Columbia across Hecate Strait...
, on Haida Gwaii, located 27 miles off of the coast of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
Canada. His father was K'łajangk'una of the Nikwən Qiwe lineage of the Raven moiety. His mother, whose lineage identity he followed in the Haida matrilineal system, was Qawkúna (later Mrs. John Robson) of the Eagle moiety's Sdəłdás lineage, of which Charles eventually became chief. He spent his early years at Kiusta and Yatza in the northwestern Charlottes. His Haida name was Da.a xiigang or Tahaygen, alternatively spelled Tahayren and Tahayghen. He learned from his uncle, the Eagle chief Albert Edward Edenshaw. In 1884 he was baptised with his English name, which derived from Scotland's Bonnie Prince Charlie.
In addition to the chiefly name Idɨnsaw, he also held the titles Skɨl'wxan jas ("Fairies Coming to You as in a Big Wave"), Dahʼégɨn ("Noise in the Housepit"), Nəngkwigetklałs ("They Gave Ten Potlatches for Him").
Artworks
He produced many commissioned works, including for the American Museum of Natural HistoryAmerican Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
. His work is in many museum collections, and he served as consultant to many anthropologists. His works include bentwood boxes, rattles, masks, totem poles, and staffs, and he worked in wood, argillite
Argillite
An argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. The argillites grade into shale when the fissile layering typical of shale is...
, gold, and silver. His work was collected by the anthropologists Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
and John R. Swanton
John R. Swanton
John Reed Swanton was an American anthropologist and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethnohistory...
.
He is specifically credited for advancing gold and silver engraving in traditional formline design.
Family
Edenshaw's marriage to Isabella Edenshaw (Yahgujanaas) was part of a long pattern of intermarriage between these two prominent Haida lineages. Together they parented four daughters (in chronological order), Emily (White), Agnus (Yeltatzie), Florence (Davidson), and Nora (Cogo).Through his daughter Emily, Edenshaw is great-grandfather to the contemporary artists Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a visual artist, and creator of Haida manga, from Delkatla in Masset on Haida Gwaii.His work is exhibited in Japan, Korea, England, and Canada. In addition to works on paper, mulberry bark, canvases and metal sculptures Yahgulanaas continues to publish books...
, Jim Hart and Lisa Hageman Yahgulanaas. Edenshaw's daughter was the matriarch Florence Davidson
Florence Davidson
Florence Edenshaw Davidson was a Canadian First Nations artist from the Haida nation who created traditional basketry and button-blankets and was also a respected elder in her First Nations community, the Haida village of Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia.She was born in Masset on...
, and, through Davidson, he is great-grandfather to her grandchildren, the artists Reg Davidson
Reg Davidson
Reg Davidson is a Canadian First Nations carver and a member of the Haida nation.He was born in 1954 at the Haida village of Masset on the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia. His parents are Claude and Vivian Davidson and, through Claude, he is the grandson of the Haida artist and...
, Robert Davidson
Robert Davidson (artist)
Robert Charles Davidson, CM, OBC , is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. His specialties are in carving , sculpture and painting....
, and Isabel Rorick.
Further reading
- Blackman, Margaret B. (1982; rev. ed., 1992) During My Time: Florence Edenshaw Davidson, a Haida Woman. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- Harris, Christie (1966) Raven's Cry. New York: Atheneum. (Revised edition, Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre, 1992.)
- Macnair, Peter L., Alan L. Hoover, and Kevin Neary (1984) The Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art. Vancouver, B.C.: Douglas & McIntyre.