Skip to main content
Exhibition History"The 45th Annual Winter Antique Show," New York, NY, January 12, 1999 – January 25, 1999.
"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
"American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, May 9, 2017 - October 8, 2017.
"American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection," Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY, October 13, 2018 - December 31, 2018.
"American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection," Mitchell Gallery, St John's College, Annapolis, MD, February 28, 2020 - April 26, 2020.
ProvenanceCollected by Dorr Francis Tozier of the U.S. Revenue Service on Vancouver Island before 1909; Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (6/8791), New York City; Wolfgang Paalen, Mexico City, Mexico, (probably collected by) probably collected by 1941; Ralph C. Altman, Los Angeles, California; Taylor Museum (3973), Colorado Springs, Colorado 1951
BibliographyPaalen, Wolfgang. "Totem Art." DYN 4-5, (1943): 7-37; p.28-29.
Covarrubias, Miguel. El Arte Indigena de Norteamerica: Exposicion Celebrada en el Museo Nacional de Antropologia del xx de marso al xx de abril de 1945. Mexico: Fondo de Cultural Economica, 1945, p. 53, pl. 15.
Altman, Ralph C. "Northwest Coast Indian Art" Los Angeles: Altman Antiques, ca. 1950, cover & fig. 4.
Gunther, Erna. Indians of the Northwest Coast. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1951.
Wardwell, Allen. Yakutat South Indian Art of the Northwest Coast. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1964, pp. 48-49, fig. 103.
Harner, Michael J. and Albert B. Elsasser. Art of the Northwest Coast. Berkeley: University of California, 1965.
University of California, Los Angeles. Ralph C. Altman Memorial Exhibition. Los Angeles: Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology, 1968, p. 23, fig. 97.
Feder, Norman. "The Malaspina Collection." American Indian Art Magazine 2, no. 3, (Summer 1977), p. vxi, cat. no. 31 (not ill.) .
Walker Art Center. American Indian Art: Form and Tradition. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1072, p. 124, cat. no. 213 (not ill.).
Coe, Ralph T. "Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art." Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery of Art. 1977. First Published in London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976, p. 145, fig. 321.
Wingert, Paul S. American Indian Sculpture: A Study of the Northwest Coast. New York: J.J. Augustin, 1949, p.67, #1.
Covarrubias, Miguel. The Eagle, the Jaguar, and the Serpent: Indian Art of the Americas. North America: Alaska, Canada, The United States. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954, p.XII.
Christensen, Erwin O. Primitive Art. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1955, fig.73.
Burland, Cottie. North American Indian Mythology. Feltham, Middlesex, England: Hamlyn House, 1968 [new edition], p.27.
Seldis. Henry J. "Ralph Altman Memorial at UCLA." The Los Angeles Times, Sunday May 26, 1968, p.46.
"The Living Magic of Indian Art." Reader's Digest, December 1977, p.174.
Cowling, Elizabeth. "The Eskimos, the American Indians and the Surrealists." ART HISTORY, Vol.I, No.4 (December 1978):484-500.
Stewart, Hilary. Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1984, p.83.
Winter, Amy. "The Germanic Reception of Native American Art: Wolfgang Paalen as Collector, Scholar, and Artist." European Review of Native American Studies, Vol.6, No.1, (1992): 17-25.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.72.
Winter, Amy. "Wolfgang Paalen, "DYN" and the American Avant-Garde of the 1940s." Ph.D. Diss. City University of New York, 1995, pp. 77 &357, fig.11.
Penney, David W. Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord. Paris: Terrail, 1998, pp.187-188.
"Folk art in an armory.." The Magazine Antiques (January 1999):32.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.1, pp.326-327.
Jacknis, Ira. The Storage Box of Tradition: Kwakiutl Art, Anthropologists, and Museums, 1881-1981. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002, pp.263-264.
D'Ambrosio, Paul, ed. "Tenth Anniversary of the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 1995-2005." Special issue, Heritage: The Magazine of the New York State Historical Association 20 (2005), back cover.
Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 129.
Fognell, Eva. "Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection." American Indian Art Magazine 36, no. 4 (Autumn 2011): 76-85, p. 79, fig. 6.
Murdock, Michelle, ed. 50 at 20: Masterpieces of American Indian Art from the Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2015, p. 27.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 348.
Culture
Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
Potlatch Figure
Date1880-1895
DimensionsOverall: 50 × 13 1/2 × 15 in. (127 × 34.3 × 38.1 cm)
Overall (Mounted): 50 1/4 × 18 × 18 in. (127.6 × 45.7 × 45.7 cm)
Object numberT0162
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThis potlatch figure represents a chief delivering a speech or may portray his stature in relation to other chiefs. Such figures affirmed a chief’s claims to hunting and fishing rights and his privileges to own prestigious masks and rattles. The figure wears a cedar bark head-ring and holds a copper, an item of wealth and chiefly status. His raised index finger may imply his elevated status.Exhibition History"The 45th Annual Winter Antique Show," New York, NY, January 12, 1999 – January 25, 1999.
"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
"American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, May 9, 2017 - October 8, 2017.
"American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection," Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY, October 13, 2018 - December 31, 2018.
"American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection," Mitchell Gallery, St John's College, Annapolis, MD, February 28, 2020 - April 26, 2020.
ProvenanceCollected by Dorr Francis Tozier of the U.S. Revenue Service on Vancouver Island before 1909; Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (6/8791), New York City; Wolfgang Paalen, Mexico City, Mexico, (probably collected by) probably collected by 1941; Ralph C. Altman, Los Angeles, California; Taylor Museum (3973), Colorado Springs, Colorado 1951
BibliographyPaalen, Wolfgang. "Totem Art." DYN 4-5, (1943): 7-37; p.28-29.
Covarrubias, Miguel. El Arte Indigena de Norteamerica: Exposicion Celebrada en el Museo Nacional de Antropologia del xx de marso al xx de abril de 1945. Mexico: Fondo de Cultural Economica, 1945, p. 53, pl. 15.
Altman, Ralph C. "Northwest Coast Indian Art" Los Angeles: Altman Antiques, ca. 1950, cover & fig. 4.
Gunther, Erna. Indians of the Northwest Coast. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1951.
Wardwell, Allen. Yakutat South Indian Art of the Northwest Coast. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1964, pp. 48-49, fig. 103.
Harner, Michael J. and Albert B. Elsasser. Art of the Northwest Coast. Berkeley: University of California, 1965.
University of California, Los Angeles. Ralph C. Altman Memorial Exhibition. Los Angeles: Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology, 1968, p. 23, fig. 97.
Feder, Norman. "The Malaspina Collection." American Indian Art Magazine 2, no. 3, (Summer 1977), p. vxi, cat. no. 31 (not ill.) .
Walker Art Center. American Indian Art: Form and Tradition. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1072, p. 124, cat. no. 213 (not ill.).
Coe, Ralph T. "Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art." Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery of Art. 1977. First Published in London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976, p. 145, fig. 321.
Wingert, Paul S. American Indian Sculpture: A Study of the Northwest Coast. New York: J.J. Augustin, 1949, p.67, #1.
Covarrubias, Miguel. The Eagle, the Jaguar, and the Serpent: Indian Art of the Americas. North America: Alaska, Canada, The United States. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954, p.XII.
Christensen, Erwin O. Primitive Art. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1955, fig.73.
Burland, Cottie. North American Indian Mythology. Feltham, Middlesex, England: Hamlyn House, 1968 [new edition], p.27.
Seldis. Henry J. "Ralph Altman Memorial at UCLA." The Los Angeles Times, Sunday May 26, 1968, p.46.
"The Living Magic of Indian Art." Reader's Digest, December 1977, p.174.
Cowling, Elizabeth. "The Eskimos, the American Indians and the Surrealists." ART HISTORY, Vol.I, No.4 (December 1978):484-500.
Stewart, Hilary. Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1984, p.83.
Winter, Amy. "The Germanic Reception of Native American Art: Wolfgang Paalen as Collector, Scholar, and Artist." European Review of Native American Studies, Vol.6, No.1, (1992): 17-25.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.72.
Winter, Amy. "Wolfgang Paalen, "DYN" and the American Avant-Garde of the 1940s." Ph.D. Diss. City University of New York, 1995, pp. 77 &357, fig.11.
Penney, David W. Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord. Paris: Terrail, 1998, pp.187-188.
"Folk art in an armory.." The Magazine Antiques (January 1999):32.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.1, pp.326-327.
Jacknis, Ira. The Storage Box of Tradition: Kwakiutl Art, Anthropologists, and Museums, 1881-1981. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002, pp.263-264.
D'Ambrosio, Paul, ed. "Tenth Anniversary of the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 1995-2005." Special issue, Heritage: The Magazine of the New York State Historical Association 20 (2005), back cover.
Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 129.
Fognell, Eva. "Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection." American Indian Art Magazine 36, no. 4 (Autumn 2011): 76-85, p. 79, fig. 6.
Murdock, Michelle, ed. 50 at 20: Masterpieces of American Indian Art from the Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2015, p. 27.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 348.
On View
Not on view
