Nepcetaq Mask
- Culture
- Yup'ik artist
- Date
- mid-20th century
- Material
- Wood, pigment, and feathers
- made in
- Alaska, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Masks, wood
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 326
- Dimensions
- 10 1/2 in. x 25 in. (26.7 x 63.5 cm)
central head element: 8 1/2 x 6 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (21.6 x 17.1 x 7 cm) - Credit Line
- Gift of Margaret Cohen Voss and Bernhard Voss
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 99:2013
NOTES
A Yup’ik artist from Alaska gracefully manipulated wood and paint to show a powerful vision. In the central carving an angalkuq (shaman) stares intently through two bentwood rings, which represent layers of the universe. As mediators between worlds shamans have the ability to travel beyond the everyday realm. Feathers and wooden carvings of hands, feet, fish, and a bird radiate beyond the second, outermost ring. With hands and legs matching the tone of his face the angalkuq seems to reach across the boundaries of the world. He touches that which we cannot see, the inner life of all things.
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