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Yup'ik mask

Point Hope (?), Alaska

Various Objects

Author

By (artist) Inconnu

Description

Yup'ik mask from Point Hope, Alaska, that André Breton acquired in July of 1944 in New York.

This mask represents a human face, roughly sculpted, with slits for eyes. The knotty curvature of the wood accentuates the vertical form of the mouth. Two holes were made in the mask (one of the left temple, the other on the right cheek) no doubt for holding the mask up to the face of a performer. Beautiful work. (Cf. Dorothy Jean Ray, Eskimo Masks-art and Ceremony, Seattle, London, University of Washington Press, 1967, fig. 32) [Auction catalogue, 2003]

Bibliography

Cf. Dorothy Jean Ray, Eskimo Masks-Art and Ceremony, Seattle, Londres, University of Washington Press, 1967, fig. 32

Alain Jouffroy, « La collection André Breton », L'ŒŒil, n° 10, octobre 1955, rep. p. 34

William Rubin, Primitivism in XX^th 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. 76 (photo Sabine Weiss, 1960, dans l'atelier) ; rep.p. 375 (photo Sabine Weiss, 1956, dans l'atelier).

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