“War Canoes, Alert Bay”
“War Canoes, Alert Bay” is an oil on canvas painting by the Canadian artist, Emily Carr, from 1912. Carr is mostly known for her paintings of the indigenous peoples of Canada’s northwest coast. She was one of the first well-known modernist painters of Canada and was part of Canada’s art movement known as the Group of Seven.
In 1907, on a trip to Alaska with her sister, Carr had a profound encounter with some of the indigenous native peoples. The meeting greatly inspired her, and she dedicated her life to documenting the western Canadian indigenous peoples’ lifeways through painting and writing. This is one of those paintings.
Alert Bay is the name of a village located on Cormorant Island in the traditional territory of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations group on the coast of western Canada. The Kwakwaka’wakw created traditional and beautifully painted dugout cedar war canoes.
In 1908, Carr painted her first version of this image with watercolors. In the piece, several Kwakwaka’wakw canoes are seen lined up in a row on the beach. Several people are gathered together in conversation beneath the tree behind the canoes. In the distance, white trees line the hills in the background. The perspective is striking.
In the 1908 version, Carr paints this scene in a realism art style. After her return from Paris in 1912, she repainted the image using her newly learned techniques. The Fauvism techniques she employed are obvious and include the use of brighter colors and bolder lines to accentuate form.
“War Canoes, Alert Bay” sold for over $1,000,000 in 2000. It was donated to the Audain Art Museum and is now part of its permanent collections.
For more on Emily Carr, please visit her short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
