signed and inscribed “No. 27” in the lower margin; titled on a label on the reverse
4.5 × 4.5 in (11.4 × 11.4 cm) (image size)
Auction Estimate:$7,000 - $9,000
Sale date:December 1, 2022
Price Realized
$10,200
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
William Garrison Whitford
By descent to the present Private Collection, Montana
Literature
Rosalind Pepall & Brian Foss, “Edwin Holgate”, Montreal, 2005, page 70, similar work reproduced page 57
During the summer of 1926, Edwin Holgate visited the Skeena River in B.C. with Marius Barbeau and A.Y. Jackson, creating a series of works from “Totem Poles, No. 1” to “Totem Poles, No. 5”.
As Rosemarie Tovell notes: "Created soon after his return in 1926, the three-colour wood engraving “Totem Poles, No. 1” captures the setting of the Gitxsan and Tsimishian villages along the Skeena: the ramshackle dwellings and lone villager are offset by the impressive totem poles and looming mountains". What makes these works so compelling, as Tovell continues, is that they are "celebrations of the richness of their culture and its art."
