Pair of Kwakwaka’wakw Thunderbird Totems by Larry Jacobson

Pair of Kwakwaka’wakw Thunderbird Totem Poles by Larry Jacobson. Larry created totem poles in the 1980s and 1990s for major Northwest Coast souvenir outlets such as the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. His style of carving is closely related to another maker from the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, the late Gary Rice (Coast Salish), who may have taught Jacobson how to carve. This pair of poles are carved in red cedar and painted in light blue, black, red, and white.

Both poles have similar deep carving and a finish reminiscent of Gary Rice’s work, and both are topped by Thunderbirds with their wings spread. Each of the Thunderbirds have humanoid faces with large white teeth carved on their chests.

The outsized teeth detail is similar to the style developed by the Williams family, another group of artists who sold through the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Both poles are mounted on chamfered bases. The Thunderbird and Owl pole is signed “L. Jacobson” on the verso. Since these were clearly made at the same time as a set, they are being sold as a pair.

The first pole features a Thunderbird with spread wings over an inverted Killer Whale that is balancing on its head. The flipped over flukes of the Killer Whale touch the dorsal fin, creating an open space in the middle of the pole. The face on the Killer Whale’s flukes is a signature element of Jacobson’s carving.

The second pole features a Thunderbird over a seated Owl or Eagle. The Thunderbird on this second pole is every similar to the first pole, with only minor differences in how the painted formline designs on the cheeks, wings, and chest are handled. There are also minor differences between the faces on the Thunderbird’s chests in how the noses and mouths are rendered. Like the first pole, the figures on this model are deeply carved and fully painted.

The seated Raptor on the bottom of this pole is rendered with repeating columns of u-forms delineating much of the form and a humanoid face in profile on each folded wing. Despite the minor differences in details, the poles are remarkably similar in their proportions and size. Each pole has a paper label on the back from the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop that reads “The top figure is the Thunderbird.

The Medicine Men and Natives of the Northern Tribes believe that he is a powerful God, under whose protection comes brotherhood, peace and plenty. He is the Sagilie Tyee (Creator God) and when he flaps his wings and blinks his eyes, it rains and storms; thus the evil spirits are driven to the lonely high mountain ranges. Bottom figure is Chet-Woot the Bear who is respected by all Indians for his strength and cunning."

The Ye Olde Curiosity Shop would add this label to the backs of any poles that featured a Thunderbird, irrespective of the actual other figures present on the actual model pole. Still, the label does serve to verify a Ye Olde Curiosity Shop provenance. The label on the Killer Whale pole is upside down. 13"H each