Worn during the winter ceremonial dances that accompany a potlatch feast, this mask represents the prestigious inherited privilege of a high-ranking individual. The layers of commercial paint reveal that this mask was repainted at a later date, perhaps to refurbish it when passed to a new owner, a hamat’sa society initiate dancer. Masks such as this one are still carved and worn in dances by Kwakwaka’wakw artists and inheritors of this privilege. Ironically, at the time of its creation, First Nations’ ceremonial practices, including the dancing and display of this headdress, were illegal under Canadian law. The artists working during those arduous years of forced assimilation and oppression are celebrated for carrying on traditions that continue in practice today.

The grizzly bear is one of the important crest animals of the Kwagiutl. Masks such as this one were worn in the Tlasula ceremony, which dramatizes the original acquisition of a crest animal by the ancestors of the Kwagiutl. This mask, with its rather blocky carving style, has been attributed to Charley George, Sr., a carver from the community of Blunden Harbor.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. Collected: Elizabeth Cole Butler

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. Collected: Elizabeth Cole Butler

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. Collected: Elizabeth Cole Butler

Acquired by exchange against non-accessioned objects from The Rasmussen Collection. Collected: Sheldon Jackson

Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.