Mask

ca. 1880

Yupik, Native American

On View

Native American, Level 1, South Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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Audio Transcript

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About the Artwork

A Yupik Eskimo shaman (traditional healer and holy man) commissioned this mask ringed with miniature seal flippers and kayak paddles to represent his power to travel to the spirit world beneath the sea. The shaman sponsored masquerades during festivals in which the community thanked the spirits of the animal world for allowing themselves to be killed for food. Wood was scarce in the central Alaskan tundra lands inhabited by the Yupik. Artists fashioned masks from odd pieces of driftwood that floated downriver from the forested interior of Alaska.

Title Mask

Artwork Date ca. 1880

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Native American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Yupik

Medium Wood, plant fiber and feather

Dimensions Overall: 25 × 30 × 2 1/2 inches (63.5 × 76.2 × 6.4 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Indigenous Americas

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Stroh Brewery Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 77.69

Markings

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Provenance

(John A. Friede, New York, New York, USA);
1977-present, purchase by the Detroit Insitute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 56, no. 5 (1978): p. 342 (ill.).

Penney, David W., and George C. Longfish. Native American Art. Southport, Connecticut, 1994, p. 242.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Yupik, Native American, Mask, ca. 1880, wood, plant fiber and feather. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Stroh Brewery Foundation Fund, 77.69.