Mask
Unknown Artist
late 1800s–early 1900s
Medium
wood (alder), pigment
Dimensions
21.4 × 17.2 × 8.9 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1979.83
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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.