Duiker Antelope mask (Wan-nyaka)
Label TextMasks keep direct lines of communication open between families and the totemic animal that shares their life force. In one village, a small antelope led the founding ancestor to a water hole when he was lost in the bush. The family stopped hunting antelope forever and created a mask that escorted their deceased elders to their grave.
Object number81.17.110
Provenance[Berkeley Galleries, London, England]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1964; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981
Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, July 10 - Sept. 1, 1968 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Oct. 10 - Dec. 1, 1968). Text by William Fagg. Cat. no. 39 (as Bird Mask).
Los Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., p. 137, reproduced fig. G-9 (as mask).Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
Dimensions5 3/8 x 21 1/8 x 4 5/8 in. (13.6 x 53.6 x 11.7 cm)
MediumWood, pigment
Object number: 81.17.111
Object number: 76.21
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