Mask
Unknown Artist
late 1800s–early 1900s
Medium
wood (alder), pigment
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.214,"width":0.172,"depth":0.089}}
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1979.83
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.