Haida Lions are Highlight at TEFAF New York 2023

Apollo magazine has highlighted a pair of carved Haida lions as one of the stand-out works from TEFAF New York Spring 2023.

While TEFAF is known for the overall high quality of presentations, the author Helen Stoilas asserts that “it is not enough merely to present beautiful objects with a pedigreed history: making new discoveries and telling forgotten stories are important.” The monumental pair of carved lions on view at Donald Ellis Gallery

While it is widely known that “modern painters such as Picasso and Gauguin are known to have drawn on the work of Indigenous artists in their art,” the author writes, a monumental pair of lions carved by an anonymous Haida artist in the mid 19th century shows that “borrowing from the opposite direction also occurred.” Northwest Coast carvers were sometimes commissioned to produce works for Euro-Canadians. It is likely that the lions were rendered from an early photograph or published illustration.

Alongside an important selection of historical Indigenous art, the gallery also present an extraordinary group of drawings by Cheyenne warrior artist Nokkoist (Bear's Heart, 1851-1882) created during his incarceration at Fort Marion, Florida, in 1876.