Three-faced helmet mask

Datelate 19th century

Object number81.17.506

ProvenanceAcquired by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1968 (location unknown); bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Exhibition HistoryLos 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., pp. 175-7, reproduced pl. 213 (as helmet mask). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection, July 29 - Sept. 29, 1984 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 31, 1984 - Feb. 25, 1985; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Apr. 6 - May 19, 1985; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Sept. 7 - Nov. 25, 1985; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mar. 8 - Apr. 20, 1986). Text by Pamela McClusky. Cat. no. 49, pp. 106-9, reproduced.

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions15 7/8 x 13 1/2 x 10 5/8 in. (40.4 x 34.3 x 27 cm)

MediumWood, animal skin, and pigment