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Description

Wooden mask of a male face, with moveable eyelids, and black and red feather-like designs around the mouth. [CAK 24/08/2009]

Publications History

Reproduced in black and white as figure 13 on page 7 of 'Haida Art in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and the Rev. Charles Harrison', by June Bedford, in European Review of Native American Studies, Vol. XII, no. 2 (1998), pp. 1-10. Caption reads: 'Mask representing "Stick or Mainland Indians"; attributed to Stilthda.' [JC 16 4 1999]

Longer Description

Wooden mask of a male face, with moveable eyelids, and black and red feather-like designs around the mouth. The mask is carved of one piece of wood, with animal skin eyelids that open and close by pulling plaited plant fibre. The base colour of the mask is flesh pink. The area around the mouth is decorated with feather designs that are painted red above the lip and on the bottom of the nose around the nostrils, and then black as they extend across the face. There are feathers below the mouth that are black only. The face painting pattern is possibly in the design of a raven's tail. The eyes are painted white with black pupils, while the animal skin comprising the lids is painted flesh pink. The string used to manipulate the eyelids is painted black where it passes in front of the pupils. The eyebrows are painted black. The hair is carved so that it stands out from the mask slightly. It is painted brown and is incised with shallow, parallel lines. The hair extends from the top of one ear to the other, with a thicker section at the top of the head carved as though it is combed back from the face. The rigging to manipulate each eyelid runs from one of two holes in the bottom of the chin to the leather that forms the upper eyelid. Thinner strings run from the bottom of the eyes, but do not connect to any other point on the mask. The leather for the eyelids is pulled through cuts in the wood above the eyes, but also through small holes in the mask to the inside and outside of each eye. [CAK 08/04/2010]

Research Notes

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum's collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This mask was viewed with three other masks by the same carver, alongside other masks in the collection, on Thursday Sept 10, 2009. Delegates supported the identification of the carver as Simeon Stilthda. Jaalen Edenshaw commented that Stilthda is known for creating masks with moving eyes and was an expert at the techniques required for this. Stilthda is generally thought to be from the Ts'iit Gitanee clan from the village of Yan, although there is a possibility that he is from the other clan who lived in Yan. Diane Brown provided the name of another artist from Yan, Gwaytihl. [Cara Krmpotich note: Among art historians, there has been considerable work undertaken to distinguish the two artists, with many works originally attributed to Gwaytihl later revised as the hand of Stilthda.] With regards to the face painting on the masks, Vince Collison suggested people compare the designs with those illustrated by Franz Boas, and with those appearing in a photograph taken in Skidegate of villagers with masks, regalia and faces painted before they were encouraged to give up those practices. A copy of the photo appears in the catalogue for Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art [Cara Krmpotich note: the image appears on page 60. It is cited as being from the United Church of Canada Archives, and taken circa 1890.]
The mask was identified as depicting a male. Diane Brown provided the Skidegate Haida word for mask, niijang, which also means a likeness of something. The same word, for example, is used to describe a picture. One delegate wondered if the painting on the face indicated that this was the son of the god of the wind. Another suggestion was that the mask represents a deceased man because the cheeks are blown out. The design painted around the mouth was identified as ravens tail. Billy Yovanovich drew a comparison with another mask carved by Stilthda and shown in George MacDonald's book, Haida Art. [Cara Krmpotich note: The mask appears as Plate 54, on page 74, of the book. As Billy notes, there are feathers painted around the mouth of this mask, although they extend up to the bridge of the nose and right under the eyes. MacDonald explains the mask as "A secret society mask made by Simeon Stilthda (1833-1883). Raven feather patterns are painted around the mouth. ..."].
Discussions of the four masks by Simeon Stilthda can be viewed on Tape 2, time 15:10, and Tape 4, time 26:10 and 29:28, which can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 08/04/2010]

This mask may have been made by the Masset artist Charles Gwaytihl, whose work it resembles (see The Legacy: Continuing Traditions of Canadian Northwest Coast Indian Art, by Peter L. Macnair, Alan L. Hoover and Kevin Neary (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Internatonal Festival, 1980), pp. 70, 182 and fig. 48). [LMM, undated; JC 4 9 1996].

The attribution of this mask to Simeon Stilthda (c. 1799-1889) was made by Robin K. Wright in 'Two Haida Artists from Yan. Will John Gwaytihl and Simeon Stilthda Please Step Apart?', in American Indian Art Magazine. Vol. XXIII, no. 3 (Summer 1998), pp. 42-57, 106-107. Wright says that 29 masks can be attributed to Simeon Stilthda and that these can be dividided into four basic types. This is an example of the type of 'young men masks, some with beards and moustaches'; see p. 57, no. 4. [CW 11 6 98; JC 16 4 1999].

As of December 2005, email correspondence with Bill Holm and conversations with Bill McLennan (MOA, UBC), and several Haida carvers during consultations with Haida Nation, attribution of carver was uniformly to Simeon Stilthda [Laura Peers, 07/04/2006].

Conversation between Cara Krmpotich [CK], PRM doctoral student, and Haida carver/musician Vernon Williams [VW], December 2005: 'VW: That one [1891.49.5] reminds me of a shaman, just the way the hair is. CK: I was going to ask about the hair because you know it kind of looks like a 1950s little pompadour, but how is that hair reminiscent of shaman hair? VW: They always pulled it back and tied it. And then that paint. Some of the pictures they have of the Haidas in their regalia – you see a lot of this face paint on them too. CK: One of the old Boas books mentioned that might be a hawk tail, and then Naanii Mary thought maybe a raven tail.' [unsigned, undated; LP?]

See also Boas 1898, 'Face Painting of the Indians of Northern BC, ' Memoirs American Museum of Natural History vol 2, plate III: face painting representing tail of hawk, used by Stengalanas of Ja'an [Laura Peers, 10/04/2006]

Display History

This object featured in the 'permanent' display in the court of the PRM of masks from the north-west coast of America that was dismantled in 2004 (number 51 in the display). [DCF Court Team 2002-2004; JC 21 1 2009]

This object featured in the 'permanent' display in the court of the PRM of masks from the north-west coast of America that was installed in 2006-7. Displayed with 1891.49.3, 1891.49.4, and 1891.49.6, with the following text: 'CANADA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, HAIDA GWAII; HAIDA. Four portrait masks made by Haida artist Simeon Stilthda (circa 1799–1889) of Massett and Yan, Haida Gwaii. All have moveable eyes or eyelids. Collected by the Reverend Charles Harrison in the 1880s. From left to right: a young man; a dead young noble woman (with labret); a dead youth; a young man, the face painted with a hawk's tail. Haida artist Vernon Williams commented (in 2005), ‘There's one mask I want to finish with this type of eyes…I know how to do them—but I want to see how he did his. He always did cool hair.' Purchased from Harrison in 1891; 1891.49.6, 1891.49.4, 1891.49.3, 1891.49.5.' [MdeA 3/9/2007; JC 21 1 2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry (for 1891.49.5 and .6): 'From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - [One of] 2 Masks = Stick or Mainland Indians. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110]

No additional information on catalogue cards. [JC 4 9 1996]

Related Documents File - Discussion of the masks carved by Simeon Stilthda can be viewed on Tape 2, 15:10, and Tape 4, time 26:10 and 29:28. The tapes are in The Haida Project Related Documents File which contains video of research sessions and interviews with Haida delegates from September 2009 as part of the project ‘Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge'. It also includes post-visit communications that discuss object provenance. For extensive photographic, video, and textual records documenting the Haida research visit as a whole, including but not limited to preparations of objects for handling, travel logistics, British Museum participation, transcribed notes from research sessions and associated public events held at PRM, see the Haida Project Digital Archive, stored with the Accessions Registers. Original hand-written notes taken during research sessions have been accessioned into the Manuscripts collection, in addition to select other materials. [CAK 02/06/2010]

Item History

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