Login
My List - 0
Help
Search
Search Images
About
Keyword
Browse
Combined
Highlights
Search History
All Catalogs
Search:
Artist Browse
Title Browse
Subject Browse
Object Type Browse
Owner Browse
Refine Search
> You are only searching:
Art Inventories
More Smithsonian Searches
Who else has...
Unknown,
Shotridge, Israel,
Unknown (Native American),
Ethnic -- Indian
Mythology -- American Indian
Outdoor Sculpture -- Alaska -- Ketchikan
Totem pole
Copy
Sculpture
Kat's Bear Wife, (sculpture).
Artist:
Unknown, sculptor.
Shotridge, Israel, sculptor.
Unknown (Native American), sculptor. (copy after)
Title:
Kat's Bear Wife, (sculpture).
Dates:
Late 1930s. Bear carved 1985.
Medium:
Carved red cedar with green, black and white painted figures.
Dimensions:
Approx. H. 35 ft.
Inscription:
unsigned
Description:
A bear tops a totem pole which is bare except for bear tracks. The bear is positioned horizontally on the pole and is looking down. The bear symbolizes the Bear Wife of Kat, a mythological figure who hunted grizzly bears. The pole commemorates the Bear Wife, mourning for her dead husband.
Subject:
Ethnic -- Indian -- Tlingit
Mythology -- American Indian -- Kat's Bear Wife
Object Type:
Outdoor Sculpture -- Alaska -- Ketchikan
Totem pole
Copy
Sculpture
Owner:
Located Totem Bight State Historical Park, North Tongass Highway, Ketchikan, Alaska
Administered by State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks, 3601 C Street, Suite 1258, P. O. Box 107001, Anchorage, Alaska 99510
Provenance:
Formerly administered by United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, District of Columbia 1938-1959.
Remarks:
This pole was copied from a Tlingit pole on Tongrass Island. The bear was replaced in 1985 by Israel Shotridge. Totem Bight State Historical Park is listed with the National Register of Historic Places. In 1938, the United States Forest Service initiated a program in which Native totem poles were restored or duplicated. Native-American sculptors were hired for this work under the Civilian Conservation Corps. Ownership of the site passed from the federal government to Alaska in 1959 when Alaska became a state. IAS files include a brochure from Totem Bight and a Totem Pole Maintenance summary.
References:
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Alaska survey, 1993.
Note:
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Repository:
Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Control Number:
IAS AK000141
Copy/Holding information
Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum
Control Number
Inventory of American Sculpture
AK000141
Add Copy to MyList
Format:
HTML
Plain text
Delimited
Subject:
Email to:
Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382
About
| © 2020 Smithsonian |
Terms of Use
|
Privacy
|
Contact