Mask with movable joints

Before the Haida Indians on the western coast of Canada were wiped out by epidemics, the mid 19th century marked the golden age of their art, following their encounter with the West and the opportunity to benefit from the metal tools obtained.The masks created depict an ancestor or mythical hero, whose deeds were related through theatrical-style performances at initiatory winter festival ceremonial cycles. Such masks were passed around among the initiated and used over a period of several years.The inside of this early 19th-century artefact contains tenons enabling the moving parts – the jaw and eyes – to be activated through an ingenious system of strings. Moon crescents painted on the temples and eyeballs appear when the eyelids are closed: the opening and closing of the eyes refers to the alternation of day and night. Like Yup’ik masks, British Columbian masks have also fascinated surrealists with their theatricality, extreme expressiveness, poetry, and – according to André Breton – their ability to embrace “one of the greatest human vestiges by achieving transformation not only of thought but also of action”.