Mask for Atut (Night Fire) Dance
20th century
Tinged with soot around the edges, this face once was used in a smoky dance performance. Only at night, a complex of masks emerge to purge negative elements by parading and spinning around a bonfire. Several dozen forms of Melanesian masks exist, and Baining people reveal only hints of what inspires the bold features of the masks. Some are said to be tree/leaf spirits and others the shoulder bone or vertebrae of a pig.
Mulberry and breadfruit tree bark, bamboo, and pigment
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.1439
