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Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Kwak'wanigaml (Heron headdress)
Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Kwak'wanigaml (Heron headdress)

Dateca. 1890
Label TextSolitary blue herons stand silently on coastlines and in wetlands perched on their thin legs. They wade slowly, sometimes point their head and beak skyward, and often seem as still as a statue. This object includes the sinuous neck and long beak of a heron but no legs beause the heron’s shape has been adapted to serve as a headdress. Stylized designs add a distinctive feature on the crest, wings, and tail. One can only imagine the striking vision of the heron striding into a ceremony atop the head of a leader who honors one of his crest animals.
Object number91.1.31
ProvenanceMichael R. Johnson, Seattle, Washington, until 1969; John H. Hauberg, Seattle, Washington, 1969-1991; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann
Exhibition HistoryLondon, England, Kansas City, Missouri, Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art, 1976-77. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Box of Daylight, Sept. 15, 1983 - Jan. 8, 1984. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Native Visions: Northwest Coast Art, 18th Century to the Present, Oct. 1, 1998 - Jan. 31, 1999. Vancouver, British Columbia, Vancouver Art Gallery, The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art, May 28 - Oct. 2, 2011. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Collects Northwest Coast Native Art, Feb. 12 - May 17, 2015. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Double Exposure: Edward S. Curtis, Marianne Nicolson, Tracy Rector, Will Wilson, June 4 - Sept. 9, 2018. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Species, Dec. 12, 2022 - ongoing.Published ReferencesAdes, Dawn, Vancouver, British Columbia, Vancouver Art Gallery, The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art, 2011, pg. 253 The Spirit Within: Northwest Coast Native Art from the John H. Hauberg Collection", Seattle Art Museum, 1995, pg. 240 Holm, Bill, Box of Daylight: Northwest Coast Indian Art, Seattle Art Museum, University of Washington Press, 1983, no. 53, p. 45, illus. Coe, Ralph T., Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1977, no. 324, p. 146, illus.
Credit LineGift of John H. Hauberg
Dimensions26 x 13 1/2 x 17 in.
MediumRed cedar, nails, paint
Photo: Paul Macapia
Mungo Martin (Nakapankam)
ca. 1940
Object number: 91.1.7
Mask of the Crooked Beak (Galukw’amhł),
Native American, Kwakwaka'wakw
ca. 1920
Object number: 96.97
Photo: Paul Macapia
First Nations, Nuu-chah-nulth, Hesquiat
ca. 1880
Object number: 91.1.22
Photo: Paul Macapia
First Nations, Nuxalk
ca. 1880
Object number: 91.1.34
Mask of Bagwis
Native American, Kwakwaka'wakw
ca. 1910
Object number: 83.225
Wolf Mask
Makah
ca. 1900
Object number: 91.21
Photo: Paul Macapia
ca. 1840
Object number: 91.1.38
Corner Oriented Bentwood Box
19th century
Object number: 91.1.94
Headdress
Object number: 81.17.509
Headdress (Ekine Society)
Object number: 81.17.530