Mask

The Pacific northwest coast of North America with its mild, wet climate provided the population, which lived from fishing, hunting and gathering, with food in abundance. The abundance of timber gave rise to a highly developed art of wood carving using large, richly decorated community houses, totem poles, masks and containers made of cedar and other woods. They were painted with artistic patterns, mostly more or less abstracted mythical animals. The finely worked mask shows a stylised portrait of a woman, possibly a woman from mythical prehistoric times, with a somewhat introverted expression. The extensive painting in turquoise, red and black with the typical patterns of the northwest coast divides the face and breaks up the smooth, even distribution of its features. The disc inserted into the lower lip is eye catching: aristocratic women of the Tlingit and neighbouring peoples wore ever larger wooden lip plugs from puberty onwards. The mask dates from a time when the Russian Tsarist Empire still laid claim to the northwest coast - it was not until 1867 that the United States acquired the region. It was never actually worn, which is indicated by the absence of eyeholes, but was created for sale to Europeans. Depictions of "exotic" and somewhat strange customs, such as the use of lip-plugs, were popular souvenirs. It is not known how the mask ended up in the Umlauff collection. The company sent commissioners to various regions of the world to assemble collections, bought from travellers, auctions and private collectors, and they also put together so-called ethnological expositions, the trappings of which were sold after the tour.

Author: Eva Gerhards, Translation: Timothy Connell