Features
Book Explores Emily Carr's First Nations Imagery
Fine art prof documents social and political meanings, struggles of legendary artist's commitment to her work and to First Nations people
BY REBECCA KENDALL
Nearly 100 years after Canadian artist Emily Carr began visually articulating her responses to the cultural expression produced by British Columbia's First Nations, Prof. Gerta Moray, Fine Art and Music, has published Unsettling Encounters: First Nations Imagery in the Art of Emily Carr. It's the first book that closely examines the social and political meanings and struggles of Carr's commitment to her art and to First Nations people.
Moray, who joined U of G in 1989, also raised the $80,000 needed by the University of British Columbia Press to fund the book, which is packed with maps; photographs of Carr, her family and the communities she visited; and nearly 100 colour illustrations of Carr's paintings. The book was financially supported by foundations and sponsors of the arts, says Moray, who will discuss the book as part of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre's brown bag lunch series Nov. 21 at noon.
Carr is regarded as one of Canada's pre-eminent artists and a pioneer in creating a basis for an authentically Canadian art. She's known for her late Post-Impressionist style and her vivid depictions of native American people, carvings, artifacts and settlements.
Although Carr has been the subject of two biographies, many art history publications and countless catalogues, films, plays and books, Moray's book is the first based solely on Carr's commitment to First Nations people and the native art she depicted in her drawings, sketches and paintings. Other books have limited this subject to a chapter or two, says Moray.
“The book fills a gap in Carr's career and tells of her picturing of the northwest coast First Nations people and their cultures. It's an examination of her lifelong relationship with northwest coast First Nations culture.”
As a young woman, Carr, who lived from 1871 to 1945, was drawn to the First Nations communities that dotted the landscape of British Columbia, but settlers in the area found the presence of First Nations people “unsettling.” In response, she wanted to record the achievements of native culture and heritage for the white population, says Moray.
Carr was also motivated to preserve the cultural images because it was believed at the time that First Nations people would eventually be absorbed into the broader Canadian mosaic and not maintain their cultural identity.
Beginning in 1907, Carr visited First Nations villages and was dedicated to capturing the images of the settlements, artifacts and landscapes and putting them on paper to share with others. Her work wasn't appreciated by the settler population, and she couldn't find any government funding for her efforts, says Moray, but she persevered because her commitment was strong.
“People didn't appreciate her work much,” says Moray, who notes that many of Carr's contemporaries found her use of undiluted colours “horrifying” in contrast with the 19th-century Victorian art they were used to.
Fortunately for Carr, artists in eastern Canada were beginning to appreciate the importance of First Nations artwork in establishing a national art movement. In 1927, she was invited to show her work in a cross-Canada exhibition that also featured the Group of Seven. Her work was well-received by the exhibition's audience, and she was quickly catapulted onto the national stage.
Carr's artistic achievements and her interest in First Nations subject matter have long made her a legendary figure in Canadian art, says Moray. Recently, however, her reputation has been challenged by critics who question the moral and ethical implications of her using First Nations art as a basis for her own artwork.
These critics argue that her fame was achieved through an act of cultural appropriation, says Moray, whose research on Carr began in 1986, a time when human rights issues, including native land claims, the forceful relocation of native children to residential schools and the abuses they endured, were starting to be heard in Canada's provincial and national courts.
Moray emphasizes that, although Carr could not wholly escape the racist language and social structures of her time, she was far more interested in and open to First Nations viewpoints and traditions than most of her contemporaries were.
“In her writings, Carr voiced great respect for First Nations people. When you look at how missionaries, Indian Affairs officials and the media were depicting First Nations people, you can see she was trying to create an opposite picture. She saw her work as a civic project to set the record straight in the province and to educate everyone about the great achievements of First Nations people.”