{{Short description|Haida artist (1839–1920)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Charles Edenshaw | image = Charles Edenshaw.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Edenshaw and carvings | birth_name = | birth_date = c. 1839 | birth_place = Skidegate, Haida Gwaii | death_date = {{death date and age|1920|1839|mf=y}} | death_place = | occupation = Artist | spouse = | education = | awards = | known_for = {{Hlist | Woodcarver | argillite carver | jewellery maker | painter}} }}
'''Charles Edenshaw''' ({{circa|1839}}–1920) was a Haida artist<ref name=amnh>[http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/totems/masters/edenshaw.php "Master Artists: Charles Edenshaw."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124101447/http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/totems/masters/edenshaw.php |date=24 November 2009 }} ''American Museum of Natural History.'' (retrieved 3 March 2010)</ref> from Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. He is known for his woodcarving, argillite carving, jewellery, and painting.<ref>HAND TO HAND:The Legacy of Charles Edenshaw DVD 2005 Ravens and Eagles Productions, www.urbanrez.ca</ref> His style was known for its originality and innovative narrative forms, created while adhering to the principles of formline art characteristic of Haida art. In 1902, the ethnographer and collector Charles F. Newcombe called Edenshaw “the best carver in wood and stone now living.”<ref name="EDENSHAW, CHARLES">{{cite DCB |title=Edenshaw, Charles |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/edenshaw_charles_14E.html |volume=14 |first=Robin K. |last=Wright |access-date=22 April 2022}}</ref>
==Early life and family== Edenshaw (whose name was also spelled Edensaw, or Edenso from the Haida chiefly name {{lang|hai|Idɨnsaw}}) was born at the Haida village of Skidegate, on Haida Gwaii, located 27 miles off of the coast of British Columbia Canada. His father was {{lang|hai|K'łajangk'una|italic=no}} of the {{lang|hai|Nikwən Qiwe}} lineage of the Raven moiety. His mother, whose lineage identity he followed in the Haida matrilineal system, was {{lang|hai|Qawkúna|italic=no}} (later Mrs. John Robson) of the Eagle moiety's {{lang|hai|Sdəłdás}} lineage, of which Charles eventually became chief. He spent his early years at Kiusta and Yatza in northwestern Haida Gwaii.
His chiefly name was {{lang|hai|Idɨnsaw}}; his Haida name was {{lang|hai|Da.a xiigang}}<ref name=amnh/> alternatively spelled Da•axiigang ({{lang|hai|Dahʼégɨn}}), and Tahaygen, Tahayren and Tahayghen, meaning “Noise in the Housepit”.<ref name=CMCGoldenAge>{{cite news |url=http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/haida/haaat04e.shtml |title=Artists – Golden Age: Charles Edenshaw |publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization |accessdate=13 January 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ago.net/agoid24961 |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario |title=Charles Edenshaw (Tahayghen). Model Totem Pole |accessdate=13 January 2010 |date=18 March 2009}}</ref> As an infant, Edenshaw was also given the names N∂ngkwigetklałs ({{lang|hai|Nəngkwigetklałs}}) (“They Gave Ten Potlatches for Him”) and {{lang|hai|Skɨl'wxan jas}} ("Fairies Coming to You as in a Big Wave"). His parents were able to potlatch extensively, indicating that they were prosperous and held considerable influence in their community. As was customary, Da•axiigang was tattooed at these ceremonies; his daughter Florence Davidson recalled eagle, seawolf, and frog tattoos on his on his back, arms, legs, chest, and hands. Da•axiigang's father was known as an expert canoe maker; while he died when Da•axiigang was a boy, it is likely that he gave his son instruction in woodcarving.<ref name="EDENSHAW, CHARLES"/>
At age 18, c 1857, Da•axiigang moved to the Haida Gwaii village of Masset to live with his uncle, the Sdast’aas Eagle chief Albert Edward Edenshaw (Eda’nsa) (1810-1894), an ironworker, coppersmith, jewellery-maker, and woodcarver who taught his nephew all of these skills. When Eda’nsa married his second wife, he adopted her niece K’woiy∂ng ({{lang|hai|Yahgujanaas}}); when she came of age, c. 1873, she and Da•axiigang were married. On 27 Dec. 1885, they were baptized, naming themselves Charles and Isabella, after European nobility (as had Albert). They were then remarried in church, which is when Albert gave Da•axiigang the name Edenshaw. The couple settled in a house in Masset.<ref name="EDENSHAW, CHARLES"/> They had eleven children, four of whom survived to adulthood: Florence, Emily (White), Agnes (Yeltatzie), and Nora (Cogo). Through Emily, Edenshaw is great-grandfather to the contemporary artists Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Jim Hart and Lisa Hageman Yahgulanaas. Through Florence, he is great-grandfather to the famed artists Robert Davidson, and Reg Davidson, grandfather to the weaving artist Primrose Adams,<ref name="STONINGTON">{{cite web |title=Primrose Adams Bio |url=http://www.stoningtongallery.com/artistselect.php?fn=Primrose&ln=Adams&artist=118&artType=4&topic=bio |website=Stonington Gallery |accessdate=11 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312072131/http://www.stoningtongallery.com/artistselect.php?fn=Primrose&ln=Adams&artist=118&artType=4&topic=bio |archive-date=12 March 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and great-grandfather to the weaving artist Isabel Rorick.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bonnemaison |first1=Emma |title=A Master Spruce Root Weaver |url=https://www.sfu.ca/brc/online_exhibits/spruce-root-weaving/spruce-root-weaving.html |website=sfu.ca |publisher=Simon Fraser University |access-date=22 April 2022}}</ref> Through his sister, he is also great-great uncle to renowned contemporary artist Bill Reid.
==As an artist== According to Florence, Edenshaw began carving argillite and silver when he was about 14. While the carving of argillite was initiated by other Haida artists as early as 1820, Edenshaw was the first to carve in precious metals. It is assumed that his work pre-1880 included poles, masks, frontlets, chests, and feast dishes, which was the range of Haida art made for ceremonial use. Six full-sized poles were attributed to Edenshaw; two have since been determined to have been the work of his uncle.<ref name="EDENSHAW, CHARLES"/>
By the time of his marriage, Edenshaw was making a living from his art, with his most productive period being 1880-1910. His main workspace was a back yard shed; after his children were grown, he worked in the house. He spent many winters working in Victoria, British Columbia. In the summer months, he and his family traveled to places such as Port Essington, British Columbia, Fort Simpson, Juneau, Alaska, Kasaan, Alaska and Ketchikan, Alaska, where he would create and sell his pieces; Isabella would make and sell baskets and work in the canneries.<ref name="EDENSHAW, CHARLES"/> [[File:Edenshaw's Raven Transformation Mask.jpg|thumb|300x300px|A Raven Transformation Mask, produced by Edenshaw in the 1880s. Now in possession of the Pitt Rivers Museum in University of Oxford.]] Edenshaw's silver and gold pieces were likely made for use by the Haida people, as were carved wooden settees, cradles and tombstones. Everything else was made for sale to outsiders. These carvings included poles, chests, bowls, and platters in wood and argillite, and wooden masks, bentwood boxes, rattles, canes, model canoes and frontlets. He also painted designs on baskets, basketry hats and plaques made for sale by Isabella. George Cunningham’s store in Port Essington sold their work; collectors came to their home.<ref name="EDENSHAW, CHARLES" />
He produced many commissioned works, including for the American Museum of Natural History,<ref name=amnh/> and served as consultant to anthropologists. His work was collected by the anthropologists Franz Boas and John R. Swanton.
In 1927, the National Gallery of Canada produced ''The Exhibition of West Coast Art'', which marked the first time that Edenshaw's work was formally identified as 'fine art'; he was placed in the same rank as Emily Carr, Paul Kane and A. Y. Jackson. The major collections of Edenshaw’s work are at the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, the Canadian Museum of History,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Tepper |first=Leslie |title=The Grand Hall: First Peoples of Canada's Northwest Coast |publisher=Library and Archives Canada |year=2014 |isbn=9780660202792 |pages=52}}</ref> and Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum.
Edenshaw was featured on the Haida Northwest Indian Heritage dollar issued in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.numista.com/4881|access-date=2026-01-05|publisher=Numista|title=Haida dollar - British Columbia}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==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. * Augaitis, Daina; and Robin K. Wright, curators. Hart, James; and Robert Davidson, Haida advisors. Charles Edenshaw. Co-published by the Vancouver Art Gallery and Blackdog Publishing. Vancouver and London, 2013. * Brown, Colin, (2016) ''Entering Time: The Fungus Man Platters of Charles Edenshaw.'' Vancouver, Talonbooks.
== External links == {{Commons category}} * [http://douglasreynoldsgallery.com/charles-edenshaw Douglas Reynolds Gallery (Vancouver, Canada)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109072109/http://douglasreynoldsgallery.com/charles-edenshaw |date=9 November 2014 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Edenshaw, Charles}} Category:1830s births Category:1920 deaths Category:19th-century Canadian painters Category:20th-century Canadian painters Category:19th-century Canadian sculptors Category:19th-century Canadian male artists Category:19th-century First Nations people Category:19th-century indigenous painters of the Americas Category:20th-century First Nations sculptors Category:20th-century Canadian sculptors Category:Canadian male sculptors Category:20th-century Canadian male artists Category:Canadian male painters Category:First Nations jewellers Category:First Nations painters Category:First Nations sculptors Category:Haida woodcarvers Category:Haida male artists Category:Northwest Coast art Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)