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Exhibition History"The 45th Annual Winter Antique Show," New York, NY, January 12, 1999 – January 25, 1999.
Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw, Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.
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.
American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY, October 13, 2018 - December 31, 2018.
ProvenanceAlert Bay Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka`wakw) via Native trade; Henry George, Port Hardy, British Columbia; Norman Feder, Sydney, British Columbia; Morton I. Sosland, Kansas City, Missouri; Sotheby's, 1980; Stefan Edlis, Chicago, Illinois
BibliographyCoe, Ralph T. "Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art." Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery of Art, 1977. First published London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976, p.130, p. 141, fog. 294.
Sotheby's. 15 November 1980, Sale 4472Y, lot 344.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.76.
Perriot, Francoise, and Slim Batteux, trans. Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord: Dans la Collection d'Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris, somogy edition d'Art, 1999, p. 126, fig. 101.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.361.
Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 136.
Murdock, Michelle, ed. 50 at 20: Masterpieces of American Indian Art from the Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2015, p. 28.
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. 397.
Possibly
Coast Tsimshian
Frontlet
Date1840-1870
DimensionsOverall: 8 3/4 × 8 × 3 1/2 in. (22.2 × 20.3 × 8.9 cm)
Object numberT0177
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextFrontlets worn on the forehead, were an indication of rank. Few attain the mastery of design and execution evidenced here. Exact interpretation of such imagery is difficult, and can depend on the identifying totemic images of the family that owned it. The recurved beak image, for instance, may refer to a hawk or a thunderbird or a mythological raven. The reflective abalone that circles the face may refer to the sun, suggesting that the central creature might be the great mythological being Raven-at-the-Head-of-the-Nass, the owner of daylight.Exhibition History"The 45th Annual Winter Antique Show," New York, NY, January 12, 1999 – January 25, 1999.
Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw, Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.
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.
American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY, October 13, 2018 - December 31, 2018.
ProvenanceAlert Bay Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka`wakw) via Native trade; Henry George, Port Hardy, British Columbia; Norman Feder, Sydney, British Columbia; Morton I. Sosland, Kansas City, Missouri; Sotheby's, 1980; Stefan Edlis, Chicago, Illinois
BibliographyCoe, Ralph T. "Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art." Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery of Art, 1977. First published London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976, p.130, p. 141, fog. 294.
Sotheby's. 15 November 1980, Sale 4472Y, lot 344.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.76.
Perriot, Francoise, and Slim Batteux, trans. Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord: Dans la Collection d'Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris, somogy edition d'Art, 1999, p. 126, fig. 101.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.361.
Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 136.
Murdock, Michelle, ed. 50 at 20: Masterpieces of American Indian Art from the Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2015, p. 28.
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. 397.
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