Name of Artist: Henry Speck ("Ozistalis")
Date of Birth: August 12, 1908
Place of Birth: Turnour Island
Date of Death: May 27, 1971
Former occupation: Artist, chief, and fisherman
Relationship to other established artists and carvers: Father of Johnny, Marshall, and Tommy Speck (all are represented in this collection)

Biographical notes:

• Tlawitsis cultural group, "Mimkwemlis band/reserve
• Speck grew up in a time when many aspects of Kwagiutl traditions were still active, and he acquired a deep knowledge of the culture which is reflected in the high quality of his art. Audrey Hawthorn mentions Speck as one of "a few very gifted people who were well acquainted with the traditions [and] were themselves master carvers who kept alive and vigorous all aspects of Kwagiutl carving" (Kwagiutl Art, 1979:ix).
• Speck only went to school for 2 years, at the Alert Bay residential school.
• he was initiated as a Hamatsa dancer at the age of 14, at a potlatch given by his mother’s uncle, Chief Bob Harris. Since that event, Speck became an acknowledged ceremonial song writer and composer of Kwagiutl dances. He later taught dancing every Monday night at Alert Bay.
• in 1925 Speck’s father gave a potlatch to assume the position of chief of the Tlawitsis, and Speck performed as a hamatsa dancer. When his own father die, Speck was made chief and named "Ozistalis" (the Greatest) at the potlatch he gave.
• in 1952 Speck joined the Pentecostal church; he sometimes incorporated Christian imagery into his Kwagiutl-style paintings
• he was married at age 19, and had 6 boys, 5 girls, and 25 grandchildren
• Speck felt that his artistic talent was handed down to him by his maternal grandfather, but otherwise he taught himself to draw in the Kwagiutl style. Some of his earliest work consisted of pictures copied from mail-order catalogues. At one point in his career, Speck was earning one dollar a letter painting names on fishing boats
• in the 1960’s, Speck became the artistic director for the Kwagiutl House project at Alert Bay; the traditional big house project was engineered and directed by Chief James Sewid, and was completed in 1965; the community house became a focal point for a renewed interest in the art of the Kwagiutl people
• Speck worked in the media of wood carving and watercolour painting. Twelve of his paintings were made into silkscreen prints and stationary by B.C. Indian Designs Ltd., and were exhibited and sold by this company
• collections and shows of Speck’s work include:

1. New Design Gallery, Vancouver, March 25-April 4, 1964: show of 40 original watercolours
2. Simon Fraser University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
3. Meadowland Park Shopping Centre, Edmonton, August 31 to September 5, 1964: show of original watercolours
4. B.C. Provincial Museum, Victoria has 11 pieces by Speck in its collection, including watercolours, silkscreen prints, a pencil drawing, and a muslim dance screen
5. National Museum of Man, Ottawa has three pieces by Speck.
6. Glenbow Museum, Art Department, Calgary, has approximately 245 watercolours by Speck, and one tempera painting
7. UBC Museum of Anthropology has one watercolour, reproduced in Hawthorn’s Kwagiutl Art, 1979, Plate XXXb.
8. Campbell River Museum has one watercolour by Speck.
9. San Diego Museum of Man
10. Exhibited in Oklahoma

• Speck’s work was collected and promoted by Vancouver art dealer Gyula Mayer, who "discovered" Speck’s talents in 1961.
• an article in the Imperial Oil Review (1964:18) states that,

• the uniqueness of Speck’s work, and the interest it generated when it was first exhibited, are reflected in this romanticized comment in The Citizen (1964:15):