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Exhibition History"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
ProvenanceHarry G. Beasley Collection, Cranmore Ethnographical Museum, Chiselhurst, Kent, England; Sotheby by Parke Bernet, New York City; Christie's, New York City
BibliographySotheby's. Sale 4237, 21 April 1979, lot 357.
Christie's. Sale 7678, 18 May 1993, lot 8.
"Auction Block." American Indian Art Magazine. Vol.18, No.4, (Autumn 1993):28. [caption transposed with other photograph]
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.319.; (5) Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, pp. 132-33.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 342.
Culture
Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
Mask
Datec. 1870
DimensionsOverall: 9 × 26 1/4 in. (22.9 × 66.7 cm)
Object numberT0523
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThe Raven mask appears in the Hamatsa or cannibal dance, a complex series of dances associated with an initiation ceremony. The raven is one of three bird attendants to Bakbakwalanuxsiwe, the great bird monster. The initiate, a young man, is captured by the great bird monster and becomes a personification of it. Gradually the young man becomes tamed and is reintegrated into society. The transformation is accompanied by the three cannibal bird attendants who make dramatic appearances in these dances, loudly snapping their powerful beaks.Exhibition History"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
ProvenanceHarry G. Beasley Collection, Cranmore Ethnographical Museum, Chiselhurst, Kent, England; Sotheby by Parke Bernet, New York City; Christie's, New York City
BibliographySotheby's. Sale 4237, 21 April 1979, lot 357.
Christie's. Sale 7678, 18 May 1993, lot 8.
"Auction Block." American Indian Art Magazine. Vol.18, No.4, (Autumn 1993):28. [caption transposed with other photograph]
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.319.; (5) Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, pp. 132-33.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 342.
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