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Chief Mungo Martin or ''Nakapenkem'' (lit. ''Potlatch chief "ten times over"''), ''Datsa'' (lit. ''"grandfather"''), was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw Aboriginal people who live in the area of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. He was a major contributor to Kwakwaka'wakw art, especially in the realm of wood
sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
and painting. He was also known as a singer and songwriter.


Personal life

Martin was born on 1 April 1884 in Alert Bay or Fort Rupert,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, to parents of the Kwakwaka'wakw
Nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...
. He was the son of Yaxnukwelas, a high-ranking native from
Gilford Island Gilford Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada, between Tribune Channel and Knight Inlet. It has an area of . Turnour Island is to its south, across Tribune Channel; and the entrance to Thompson Sound is to its east. Port Elizabet ...
. His mother was Q'omiga, also known by her English name, Sarah Finlay, who was the mixed-race daughter of a Kwakwaka'wakw woman and a
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
man working with the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
. Martin's father died when he was in his teen years. His mother married ''Yakuglas,'' also known in English as Charlie James. Martin's mother wanted her son to become a woodcarver and song maker, and held rituals to ensure this future.Hawthorn, A. (1955) pp. 257-258 While still young, Martin regularly participated in the rituals, songs, arts, and traditions of the local Kwakwaka'wakw and North Coastal culture. This formed the basis of his knowledge of the Northwest Coast style, and he applied it to design, carving, and painting and lifelong song making. Martin was raised in the
potlatch A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Scienc ...
tradition practiced by the Kwakwaka'wakw, and all aspects of their culture. Martin was a promoter of the culture in his later years, convening with other noted artists, such as Tom Omhid, Willie Seaweed and Dan Cranmer, in order to prepare novices for Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonies. He provided Ida Halpern, a Canadian ethnomusicologist, with 124 songs to help preserve his traditions for new generations. Martin became a commercial fisherman at one point to support himself financially. He would later marry Abayah Martin, also an artist, who specialized in weaving ceremonial curtains and aprons. All his life Martin made songs, sang them and recorded them with the Hawthornes and others. He had an interest in music in general and in folksong. He learned and sang songs from other tribes, such as the
Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...
, which he learned from his relative Bob Harris. The latter had met these other native peoples at the Chicago World Exhibition. Martin also learned Japanese folk songs from other Kwakwaka'wakw who had sailed to Japan on sealing vessels.


Professional life

As a boy Martin had been apprenticed as a carver to a paternal uncle. His stepfather Charlie James, a noted Northwestern artist, was his principal influence in honing his natural talent. Martin developed as one of the first traditional artists to adopt many types of Northwest Coast sculptural and
painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
styles. He carved his first commissioned totem pole in Alert Bay c1900, and titled it "Raven of the Sea." Martin also restored and repaired many carvings and sculptures, totem poles, masks, and various other ceremonial objects. He gained fame for holding the first public
potlatch A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Scienc ...
since the governmental potlatch ban of 1885. He was awarded with a medal by the Canadian Council.''Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics.'' Jeffrey D. Schultz. 2000 Greenwood Press. In 1947, Martin was hired by the Museum of Anthropology at UBC for restoration and replica work. During this time, Martin lived on the university campus, and continued to paint and carve small works during the night. Later, Martin was hired in 1952 by the Royal British Columbia Museum in
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...
, to create works of Northwest Coastal Art as display pieces and examples. The final result was a huge
totem pole Totem poles () are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large t ...
, carved out of cedar, standing 160 feet tall. It was raised in 1956 and remained standing until 2000.Seasons in the Rain. Silver Donald. He also constructed ''Wawadit'la'', a Kwakwaka'wakw "big house", at Thunderbird Park in front of the museum. During this time he and American anthropologist Bill Holm became fast friends and Martin designed a Kwak'waka'wakw big house on the coast in Washington State. Martin was also the designer and principal carver of the famous Totem Pole in Windsor Great Park in the United Kingdom. The Totem Pole was a gift from the people of Canada to HM The Queen in June, 1958. Standing 100 feet high, there is one foot for every year, and marks the centenary of British Columbia, which was named by Queen Victoria and proclaimed a Crown Colony on November 19, 1858. It is now the Pacific Coast Province of Canada. The figures on the pole reading from the top are, Man with large hat, Beaver, Old Man, Thunderbird, Sea Otter, The Raven, The Whale, Double headed Snake, Halibut Man and Cedar Man. Each figure represents the mythical ancestor of a clan. The pole was carved from a single log of Western Red Cedar and weighs 27,000 pounds. It was cut from a tree 600 years old from the forests of
Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; / , literally "Islands of the Haida people"), previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between off the British Columbia Coast, northern Pacific coast in the Canadian province of British Columbia ...
, 500 miles north of Vancouver. When Martin went to work for the museum in Victoria, his son David and his family, and relatives Henry and Helen Hunt(Helen was Martin's wife's granddaughter) and their family joined him in living in James Bay near Thunderbird Park and the focus of the work to be done. His son David, and Henry Hunt, and even Henry's son Tony who was only twelve when the families engaged in this undertaking, became apprentices. Martin trained his son David in his craft but David died in 1959. Henry's sons Stanley Hunt and Richard Hunt are also professional carvers. It's rumoured Martin also instructed the famed Haida sculptor Bill Reid although it's more likely they spent time together on some project at MOA at U.B.C. and the association was then a limited one. Doug Cranmer, who became an artist of some considerable note, a unique approach to his craft added to his knowledge of things traditional placing him permanently on a level of talent Mungo would be proud of, spent time with his old relative too; Doug was the grandson of Martin's wife Abaya'a, and was the son of Martin's first cousin, and so brother, Dan Cranmer. Mungo was also a mentor to the artist Godfrey Stephens, (painter and sculptor) whom he first met in Victoria in the 1950s.


Later work and death

Mungo Martin continued to work on his carvings in his later years. Martin was significant in the Northwest Coastal Art scene for his vast amount of work and actual sculpting. He died on August 16, 1962, at the age eighty-three in Victoria and was taken on a Canadian Navy ship to be buried in Alert Bay. His wife Abaya'a died in the following year.


See also

* Kwakwaka'wakw * Willie Seaweed * Ellen Neel * Ida Halpern


Notes


References

*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. * Hawthorn, Audrey. (1988). ''Kwakiutl Art.'' University of Washington Press. . *Cranmer, Barb. ''Mungo Martin a slender thread: The legacy''
About MartinAsk Art Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Mungo 1884 births 1962 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters 20th-century First Nations sculptors 20th-century Canadian sculptors Canadian male painters First Nations male singers First Nations painters Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw woodcarvers Northwest Coast art Totem pole carvers 20th-century Canadian male artists 20th-century First Nations musicians