The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Face masks are brought out on ceremonial occasions in the display of inherited crests and privileges and as a means by which the presence of supernatural beings and their powers are made tangible. Eyeholes allow the wearer to see during the dance or dramatization of a story or event related to the creature depicted. The pierced openings along the top of this mask most likely were filled with feathers, echoing the painted U-shapes and hatch marks referencing plumage. - Anna Strankman

Gift of the Artist.

Gift of Joyce E. Osika.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Large masks, with articulated elements designed to add to the dramatic effect of the mask when it is used in a dance, are characteristic of the Kwagiutl. The dancer can manipulate the fins and mouth on this mask so that the whale would appear to be swimming.

The huxwhukw, or mythical Raven, represents one of the supernatural associates of Baxwbakwalanuksiwe’, the cannibal spirit, which appears in the form of birdlike masks in the tseyka, or red cedar-bark ceremony. These masks are commissioned as part of the inherited privilege of being a hamat’sa society initiate. The masks and the dances in which they are worn pacify and tame the hamat’sa, who personifies the cannibal spirit and the insatiable nature of life, and who ultimately exhibits the honored behavior of a high-ranking person. The articulated beaks clap dramatically during a performance, accompanied by the dancers’ characteristic cries.