  
  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 &Atilde;&#151; 30 &Atilde;&#151; 2 1/2 inches (63.5 &Atilde;&#151; 76.2 &Atilde;&#151; 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&acirc;&#128;&#153;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&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  77.69
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
