Musée du quai Branly Explores First Nations Art Revival in Northwest America

Key facts

• Exhibition "Premières Nations du nord-ouest de l’Amérique" runs from September 29, 2026 to January 17, 2027 at Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris.
• Curated by Steve Bourget, the show features historical and contemporary art from indigenous groups between southern Alaska and southern Washington State.
• On August 22, 1969, Robert Davidson (Guud San Glans) erected the Bear Mother totem pole in Massett, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, the first such event in almost 100 years.
• Davidson was 22 in 1969 and had been an apprentice of Haida sculptor Iljuwas Bill Reid (1920–1998).
• The potlatch ceremony was banned in Canada from 1864 to 1951 under the Indian Act (1876).
• The exhibition includes nearly 200 photographs from the 1960s to 2000.
• Bill Holm's 1965 book Northwest Coast Indian Art: an Analysis of Form influenced the revival and codified stylistic elements like formlines, ovoids, and U-forms.
• James Hart, with ten other artists, carved the Reconciliation Pole between 2015 and 2017, installed at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
• Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is known for Haida manga, including Hachidori (2005) and The Lost Haida Manga (2026), which addresses the 1985 Haida blockade against logging on Athlii Gwaii.
• The exhibition is covered in Beaux Arts Magazine n°508 (October 2026).