Bill Reid and Beyond: Expanding on Modern Native Art

Kathy E. Zimon is a fine arts librarian (emerita) at the University of
Calgary. She is the author of Alberta Society of Artists: The First 70
Years and co-editor of Art Documentation Bulletin of the Art Libraries
Society of North America.

In 1999, a year after the death of Bill Reid, the University of British
Columbia Museum of Anthropology organized a symposium: “The Legacy of
Bill Reid: A Critical Enquiry.” The result is this volume of 18 essays
that explore the ambiguities surrounding the artist and his relationship
to his Haida heritage, and his impact on the “renaissance” of Haida
art.

Among the contributors are those who have written about Bill Reid or
Native art: co-editors Karen Duffek and Charlotte Townsend-Gault; Doris
Shadbolt, Aldona Jonaitis, and Scott Watson; artists Doug Cranmer,
Haawisdii Guujaaw, Ron Hamilton, and Marianne Nicolson; and others who
are curators, historians, or anthropologists, such as Marcia Crosby,
Aaron Glass, and Leslie Dawn. The contributors’ diverse backgrounds
suggest that Reid’s impact went well beyond that of a celebrated
artist—that his Haida ancestry automatically prompts discussion on
issues of identity, authenticity and tradition, interpretation,
modernity, and, of course, Aboriginal politics.

The essays are grouped under four headings: “Expanding the
Understanding of Haida Art,” “Locating Community,” “Revisiting
the Revival,” and “Reconciling Aboriginality and Modernity.”
Often, the essays reveal how much our perception of Native art has
changed over the years; for example, in the 1950s and 1960s,
decontextualizing Native design in order to integrate it with modern
design was a popular idea that is now controversial. Even the assertion,
by as respected an art historian as Doris Shadbolt, that Native objects
were “high art, not ethnology,” is now suspect. Reid’s work, while
clearly drawing on Haida motifs, is not dependent on them, and can be
understood as modern sculpture, but today, in the light of postcolonial
discourse, may be guilty of separating them from their spiritual
significance, and thereby transgressing Native traditions.

This volume, with its many thoughtful perspectives on Bill Reid’s
legacy, is indispensable for those who seek a better understanding of
issues pertaining to Native art and culture in the 21st century, and
will provide readers with a source of argument and debate for years to
come. It is essential reading on Aboriginal issues for all Canadian
collections.