“Bella Coola Indians wearing ceremonial blankets and ‘Crooked Beak of Heaven’ masks”, c.1886, City of Vancouver Archive
I haven’t had much free time to spend on this blogging lark recently… hence my even-more-sporadic-than-normal posting schedule (so thanks to all you fine folk who continue to pop in and say hi despite the almost tangible odour of decay wafting about the place!).
One of my main motivations for maintaining this blog is to have a repository of images of things I’ve encountered out there in the big, wide world and found interesting, inspirational or meaningful in some or other way, a repository that I can (cross-)reference when an injection of inspiration is needed (and which I hope can be a source of inspiration to others). And so, despite the lack of free time, I definitely wanted to make sure I added these masks to the ‘collection’ for future reference! Magnificently crafted and utterly compelling, they’re from an exhibition entitled “The Story of the Totem Pole” currently on (ends 1 April 2013) at the Museum Volkenkunde (which we luckily chanced upon when we were in Leiden in early Feb for the “Spoken en Geesten” exhibit at SieboldHuis).
Wolf Mask, Richard Hunt, Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), c.1970-1980
[wood, paint]
Mask, Haida, late 19th century
[wood, paint]
Dogfish Mask, Robert Davidson, Haida, 1981
[wood, paint, operculum & abalone shell, mixed media]
Life and Death, Perry LaFortune, Coast Salish, 1986
[wood, paint]
Bukwus Mask, Joe David, Nuu-cha-nulth (Nootka), 1981
[wood, paint, horse hair, mixed media]
Hawk Man Mask, Freda Diesing, Haida, 1975
[wood, paint, abalone shell, cedar bark, mixed media]
Bukwus Mask (Wild Man), Calvin Hunt, Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), c.1970-1980 [wood, fur, paint, horse hair, mixed media]
Wolf mask, Richard Hunt, Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), c.1970-1980
[wood, paint]
4 comments
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26 February, 2013 at 5:08 pm
debbieosborn
I like these, great shapes for screen prints! :-)
26 February, 2013 at 5:44 pm
mlleparadis
Fabulous! And creepy! (Which is why Mr. Paradis won’t allow any in the house!) Beautiful craftsmanship. Thx for sharing!
27 February, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Rarer Borealis
How wonderful! We were fortunate enough to catch a screening of Edward Curtis’s ‘The Land of the Head Hunters’ at the AMNH; it’s mostly a derivative ‘forbidden romance’ silent film, but also includes the only recordings of various Kwakwaka’wakw dances. All tribes were forbidden by the Canadian government to have potlatches or dance, but an exception was made for this cheesy movie’s background action. You can read about the tribal and movie history here, along with more details on what this meant for the Kwakwaka’wakw people at the time.
http://www.curtisfilm.rutgers.edu/downloads/moa_ec_program.pdf
27 February, 2013 at 11:11 pm
ifandany
i’m always pleased to see another blog post from you pop up on my feed, as it is usually a source of visual inspiration for me! (i love the art of the totem pole. the field museum in chicago has a beautiful dim quiet room with a tall ceiling and many totem poles that is one of my favorite museum rooms, if you ever happen to get the chance)