The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 28, 2023

Mask

late 1800s–early 1900s

Native North America, Northwest Coast, Alaska, Tlingit

Wood (alder), pigment

Overall: 21.4 x 17.2 x 8.9 cm (8 7/16 x 6 3/4 x 3 1/2 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1979.83

Location

231 Native North American

Description

In 1998, Robert Joseph, a Northwest Coast chief, recalled that when he donned ceremonial dance masks as a youth, "all the world is somewhere else . . . I am the mask . . . the bird . . . the animal . . . the spirit. I transcend into the being of the mask." Although this mask's identity is lost, it may represent a mythic ancestor of a Tlingit family and perhaps was worn during a winter ceremony.

Provenance
de Menil, Houston; (Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., sale #4291, lot #348)
Citations
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. Reproduced: cat. no. 43, p. 94; Mentioned: p. 62 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

CMA 1980: "Year in Review 1979," Bull., LXVII (March, 1980), p. 96, cat. #43, repr. p. 94

MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 48, p. 118.

Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 20-March 9, 1980).

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1979.83