Masks

The art of making masks is typical of the Pacific regions of the north-west of North America – from the Yupik Eskimos in south-west Alaska to the coastal Selish people of Washington State. Masks were mostly used during male rituals whose participants represented spirits who came into the world of people. Much more rarely burials masks can be found. The Aleuts did not bury the deceased in the ground, but left them in dry caves. Wooden masks that were part of a set of burial implements in no way had to remind of the facial features of the deceased. Most likely it pointed to the fact that a person who departed form the world of the people turned into an ancestor-spirit. Big round eyes and a grinning mouth remind of the so-called “skull-like guises” – an image typical of the art of many American Indians. It is known due to archaeological materials (rock paintings, ancient art of Mexico and Peru) as well as due to objects created in the epoch of contacts with the Europeans. Similar images can be found among petrography of Siberia and the Far East.

Military helmet in the form of bear head. USA, Russian America. The Tlingits. The first third of the 19th cent.		Ritual mask. USA, Russian America. The Kadiak Eskimo. The first third of the 19th cent.		Military helmet. USA. Russian America. The Tlingits, by 1844
Military helmet. USA. Russian America. The Tlingits, by 1844		Military helmet. USA. Russian America. The Tlingits, by 1844		Military helmet. USA. Russian America. The Tlingits, by 1844
Ritual mask. USA. Russian America. The Ingalik, by 1844		Mask. USA. Russian America. The Kodiak Eskimos, 1843.		Mask. USA. Russian America. The Kodiak Eskimos, 1843.
Head of deer. USA. Russian America. California Indians.