André Breton dans son atelier rue Fontaine
Tirage tardif d'un portrait d'André Breton en 1961 dédicacé à Elisa par le photographe.
Deux images, une notice descriptive à compléter, une exposition.
The Collection
Home Page > Works > Yup'ik MaskDescription
This mask with a distorted face, property of a shaman, was used during ceremonies of evocation and the representation of spirits, which could inspire a state of trance and premonitory vision in the shaman.
The form of the oval face is concave-convex. The eyes are asymmetrical, one being round, the other in the form of a slit. Sculpted at one corner of the mouth is a sea otter, at the other, a whale; the middle of the mouth holds a salmon. The peripheral decoration of the mask is made of four plumes. On the front are three little spear points in wood. The ears are replaced by moving hands, of which the fingers have been painted red. The black line painted on the back of the hand was there to chase away the evil spirits. At mid-cheek, are two little arms. The chin is decorated with two wooden hooks and a little seal on a pike. Inside the mask, a bit allowed the dancer to hold the mask between their teeth.
A similar mask is conserved in the collections of the Glenbow Museum in Canada. [Auction catalogue, 2003]
Exxhibitions
- Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne/Centre Georges Pompidou, La Révolution surréaliste, 2002
- Düsseldorf, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein - Westfalen, Surrealismus, 1914 - 1944, 2002
Bibliography
- Un masque très similaire figure dans les collections du Glenbow Museum, Canada. Cf. Lynn Ager Wallen, The Face of Dance - Yup'ik Eskimo mask from Alaska, Glenbow Alberta Institute, 1990, plate 1, p. 21
- Alain Jouffroy, « La collection André Breton », L'œil, n° 10, octobre 1955, p. 34 et 37
- William Rubin, Primitivism in XXth century art - Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1984, rep. p. 578
- Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne/Centre Georges Pompidou, André Breton, La beauté convulsive, 1991, rep.p. 74 (photo dans le studio new-yorkais, 1945) ; rep. p. 76 (photo Sabine Weiss, 1960, dans l'atelier) ; rep. p. 375 (photo Sabine Weiss, 1955, dans l'atelier, L'œil n° 10, 1955).
- D. Ellis, Art of the Arctic : Reflections of the Unseen, London, 2015 (photographies pp. 7 and 29)
| Languages | French |
| Physical description | Bois, polychromie rouge, verte et blanche, plumes. |
| From / Provenance | Heye Foundation n° d'inventaire 12/0921, achat du Musée, échangé avec Julius Carlebach en juillet 1944. |
| Place of origin | |
| Size | 39,40 x 43,20 x 15,20 cm |
| Breton Auction, 2003 | Lot 6161 |
| Keywords | Mask, organic items, Ceremonial Art, Northern People |
| Categories | Inuit Yup'ik Art |
| Exhibitions | La Révolution surréaliste, 2002 , Moon Dancers : Yup'ik Masks and the Surrealists , Surrealismus 1914-1944 |
| Permanent link | https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100862850 |
Places of origin 
See also
3 Works
Portrait d'André Breton dans son appartement à New-York
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Cinq photographies d'André Breton dans son appartement à New-York en 1945, dont une avec Elisa.
Cinq images, une notice descriptive à compléter, une exposition, une bibliographie.
[Exhibitions] 1991, boîte archives bleue, Beaubourg, [Photos d'objets] photos in the studio
