This is a Seneca mask representing a runner who died while delivering a message. Some Eskimo masks are so distorted that they look like abstractions by Picasso. Eskimos believe that all animals have souls; this mask shows a seal's soul emerging from its body. Finest piece of prehistoric (15th Century) sculpture ever found in the U. S., plowed up by a farmer near Lebanon, Tenn., three months ago
Item Information
- Title:
- This is a Seneca mask representing a runner who died while delivering a message. Some Eskimo masks are so distorted that they look like abstractions by Picasso. Eskimos believe that all animals have souls; this mask shows a seal's soul emerging from its body. Finest piece of prehistoric (15th Century) sculpture ever found in the U. S., plowed up by a farmer near Lebanon, Tenn., three months ago
- Title (alt.):
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Aboriginal U. S. Art. Vancouver Nootka spirit mask with cedar-bark hair. Two faces of a reversible British Columbian mask. Bulky headdress from Zuñi, N. Mex. is worn just for fun. These pictures show a few exhibits at the biggest show of U. S. Indian art ever held, a show which opened last fortnight in Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art. Unlike most U. S. museums of Indian anthropology, the Modern Museum chose its exhibits purely for their aritstic value. Indians and Eskimos of the U. S. and Alaska, like most primitive peoples, create art for practical purposes, viz., to ornament useful objects, to ward off evil spells, to placate angry gods. The masks and sculpture on this and the following page show what high standards of skilled workmanship and dramatic expressiveness their art sometimes achieved.
- Description:
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[Information from item housing] Indians: Art & Artifacts
- Date:
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[ca. February 1941]
- Format:
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Photographs
- Genre:
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Photographic prints
- Location:
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Boston Public Library
Arts Department - Collection (local):
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Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue
- Subjects:
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Indigenous peoples
Art
- Extent:
- 1 photograph : print ; sheet 293 x 212 mm
- Permalink:
- https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/668314766
- Terms of Use:
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Rights status not evaluated.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND).
