Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability

CAS Anthropology Collections Database


Catalog Number CAS 0370-1225   CAS 0370-1225; Carved panel
Category Visual Arts
Object Name Carved panel
Culture Haida (Aleut*)
Global Region North America
Country Canada (USA*)
State/Prov./Dist. British Columbia (Alaska*)
County
Other Geographic Data Town: Sitka; Mt. Edgecumbe School*
Maker's Name Andy Kochergin (1934-1965)
Date of Manufacture 1952
Collection Name Elkus Collection (Native American)
Materials Cedar (Cedrus sp.) panel; Varnish
Description Untitled low relief carving on a large cedar panel (2 cedar planks joined down the center) depicting a dogfish (shark) image, shown in bisected, X-ray technique; Image incorporates a human face within the shark's body; This image was copied (albeit as mirror image) after an 1897 drawing done by Charles Edenshaw for anthropologist Franz Boas (originally published in 1905 by John R. Swanton in Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. VIII, Part 1 - Contributions of the Ethnology of the Haida, Plate XXI [reprinted from V, Part 1 of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1905]); Front and sides of panel are varnished, but otherwise panel is in natural unpainted state; Artist's signature, "Andy Kochergin" is written in script in pencil on reverse. NOTE: Andy Kochergin was himself an Aleut, from Alaska and produced this carving of a Haida image while he was enrolled at the Mt. Edgecumbe School in Sitka, AK.
Dimensions (cm) Width = 57.3, Length = 89.0