Bill Reid: The Making of an Indian

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.

Maria Tippett is the author of more than a dozen books on Canadian art,
including an award-winning biography of Emily Carr, the artist whose
most compelling subjects were the forests and totem poles of the
Northwest Coast. Here, Tippett attempts to enlarge our understanding of
Bill Reid (1920–1998), Canada’s pre-eminent Native artist, who
claimed many roles in the renaissance of Haida art traditions, including
the carving of totem poles. For this biography, Tippett conducted
extensive research in sources other than Reid’s own words and
writings, because “the multiple identities that Bill Reid created for
himself ... make him an unreliable narrator of his own past.”

Tippett’s thesis is that mixed parentage (a Native mother and white
father) gave Reid a lifelong ambivalence about his Native heritage and
that he repeatedly distanced himself from his Native identity, only to
reclaim it when the use of Haida motifs in his jewellery and sculptures
brought him recognition. She argues that his perfectionist temperament
preferred a contemporary western aesthetic over the mythical meaning,
ceremonial aspects, and authentic methods of traditional Native art. But
it was only by reworking Haida shapes and stories in the context of
large-scale sculpture for public spaces that he created a new, personal
artistic idiom that bridged his two worlds and brought him unprecedented
acclaim. In later life, when Parkinson’s disease curtailed his
physical activity, his works were mostly carved by assistants under his
direction, much like in the ateliers of the old masters of European art.
Although his success inspired Native artists to revive their artistic
heritage, Reid also created controversy when he dismissed the work of
other contemporary Native artists or undervalued their contribution to
his own projects.

At 336 pages, with 72 black-and-white illustrations, 24 pages of notes,
a selected bibliography, and an index, this is a substantial work
recommended for all collections. Nevertheless, Tippett’s biography is
sometimes as ambivalent about her subject as Bill Reid was about his own
life—and may provoke as much controversy as he did.