Lot 166
Joe Peters Jr. (First Nations / Canadian, Kwakwaka'wakw / Kwakiutl / Kwagiulth, 1959-1994). Bear Head Mask. Painted wood mask with copper tongue and bear fur and claws, 1989. Signed with year on top of custom stand (part that is inside mask). A magnificent bear mask by First Nations artist Joe Peters Jr., carved from red and yellow cedar and adorned with painted hues of emerald, scarlet, marigold, black, white. Thick bear fur surrounds the head as a slender copper tongue protrudes from the gritted teeth. A wooden skull with a horse hair coiffure is mounted on top of the mask, while a pair of more petite wooden skulls, each crowned by a bear claw flank the head. The bear is one of the most important animals of the Kwaikutl. Masks such as this one were worn in the Tlasula ceremony, which dramatizes the original acquisition of a crest animal by the ancestors of the Kwagiutl. Size: 13.8" W x 16" H (35.1 cm x 40.6 cm); 18.8" H (47.8 cm) on included custom stand.
Joe Peters Jr. was a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations and came from Alert Bay, a modest village on an island near Vancouver Island. He began carving when he was only six years old. While for the most part, he was self-taught, Joe also learned from his grandfather Jack James as well as carver Dwayne Simeon. In addition, he worked at the Arts of the Raven workshop in Victoria, British Columbia with Tony Hunt and John Livingston. Among Joe's influences were Kwakwaka'wakw artists Beau Dick and Russell Smith. Sadly, in 1994, Joe was hospitalized in Comox on Vancouver Island against his will and diagnosed with a "complex post-traumatic personality disorder." He was then discharged against his family's wishes. Two weeks later on August 3rd, he set fire to a home near Courtenay and stabbed the owner. The police cornered him in the woods and shot him to death after he threatened them with a knife.
Provenance: private Don Phelps collection, owner Todos Santos Trading Post, Alamo, California, USA, before 2000
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#180368
- Condition: Signed with year on top of custom stand (part that is inside mask). Intact and excellent.
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