This artwork depicts the face inside the blowhole of Bill Reid's monumental killer whale sculpture. It is a disk shaped sculpture cast in Bronze under Bill Reid's supervision. On the back is stamped 'BR STUDIO PROOF 1/1 1991'.
‘Skaana - Killer Whale, Chief of the Undersea World’ by Bill Reid is a monumental bronze sculpture unveiled in 1984 outside the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. It is 18 feet tall and is set over a round 20 feet diameter reflecting pool. The sculpture depicts a killer whale, or Skaana in the Haida language, breaching the surface of the water. The breaching whale’s design was inspired by a Haida speaker’s staff that the artist had admired in the Smithsonian Museum. This is an example of traditional Haida art translated into a contemporary medium. Bill Reid dedicated his life to not only mastering the traditional Haida "formline" design but also to revitalizing and reinterpreting it for a new generation. This work stands as one of his culminating achievements.
A plaque on the sculpture reads “Skaana - The Killer Whale known by the Haida to be chief of the world beneath the sea who from his great house raises the storms of winter and brings calm to the seas of summer. He governs the mystical cycle of the salmon and is keeper of all the oceans living treasure”. Haida stories tell of a parallel dimension, a world under the sea inhabited by supernatural beings. Chief of these is the killer whale spirit that lives in an underwater village with longhouses and totem poles. When killer whales return home they take off their whale skins and they look like us. They care for an undersea realm filled with life. They are able to travel between that world and this one. A central theme is that killer whales and humans can transform back and forth.
On the sculpture the body of the whale is adorned with intricate relief carvings, featuring the ovoids, U-forms, and circle shapes characteristic of Haida art. From within the blowhole, a human face peers out. The hooked nose indicates a transformation figure. The Haida believe in the interconnectedness of all beings and the transformative power of the spirit world. The blowhole with the human-like face is one of the most iconic and powerful elements of the sculpture. In Haida mythology, this is the face of the "Chief of the Undersea World" himself. The fact that Reid chose to cast this specific detail as a stand-alone sculpture underscores its profound significance to him. It is a distillation of the larger sculpture's essence—the spiritual and mythical core of the killer whale.
We purchased this sculpture directly from Martine Reid. She is Bill Reid’s widow and is in charge of his estate. The piece was originally shown to us by her agent John Nutter, and he facilitated the sale. John worked with Bill Reid from 1990 until his death in 1998. Bill had a mold at John’s shop that was taken off of the blowhole of the killer whale at the aquarium. He decided to have a bronze casting of it done by the foundry at the Emily Carr Art School in 1991. This piece is a “Bill Reid Studio Proof, one of one, 1991” made under Bill’s supervision. It sat in a crate since that time. George Rammel was Bill Reid’s main fabricator for all of his big bronzes. He recently restored the cast blowhole. It needed to be cleaned and polished.
There were some other blowholes. There was one that was for sale at an auction house recently. The foundry that cast the killer whale sculpture, with Bill’s permission cast some blowholes to give as gifts to their board members. Bill agreed to that, but it was under the stipulation that they not be sold. That’s actually the legal term. “Not be sold” means it can’t be sold until the artist has passed away. It was a series of 10.
This piece is not part of a numbered edition. A "studio proof" is a special, often unique, casting made by the artist for themselves or for a very select group of individuals associated with the work. It is a highly personal piece, and in this case, one that remained in possession of the Reid family. Its "1/1" status and provenance from the artist's estate make it a unique and highly desirable work for a collector. It serves as a miniature, powerful representation of one of Reid's most famous monumental works, celebrating the mystical heart of the "Chief of the Undersea World."
