Robert Davidson (artist)

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Robert Charles Davidson, C.M., O.B.C., D.F.A. (Hon) (born 4 November 1946 in Hydaburg, Alaska), is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. His specialties are in carving (such as totem poles and masks), sculpture and painting.

His parents are Claude and Vivian Davidson and, through Claude, he is the grandson of the Haida artist and memoirist Florence Davidson. He is a member of the Eagle moiety, Ts'ał'lanas lineage. In infancy, he moved to the Haida village of Masset, British Columbia, on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), moving to Vancouver for further education at Point Grey Secondary School in 1965. In 1966 he became apprenticed to the master Haida carver Bill Reid. In 1967 he began studies at the Vancouver School of Art. In 1969 he raised the first totem pole on Haida Gwaii in approximately ninety years.

His younger brother and former apprentice, Reg Davidson, is also a Haida carver.

Today he lives near Vancouver, making annual return visits to Haida Gwaii.

Some of his works were featured at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Kinsman Robinson Galleries have represented Robert Davidson and his artwork for the last thirteen years in Toronto.

The first major public exhibition in ten years, Robert Davidson: The Abstract Edge will be on view at The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (Feb 2 - May 6, 2007) Organized by the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

Robert Davidson to receive the honorary degree Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) during Spring 2007 convocation at UBC along with Canada's chief banker.

[edit] Awards and Recognition

1992 : University of Victoria, awarded Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts.
1995: appointed Order of British Columbia.
1995 : received the Aboriginal Achievement Award.
1996 : appointed Member of the Order of Canada.

[edit] Sources

Blackman, Margaret B. (1982; rev. ed., 1992) During My Time: Florence Edenshaw Davidson, a Haida Woman. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Jensen, Doreen, and Polly Sargent (1986) Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

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.