Marionnette ,Kwakiutl,Colombie Britannique, Côte nord-ouest

aux membres articulés fixés par des chevilles en bois, le torse plat, la tête aux traits puissants finement modelés, le cou et les bras munis de poulies en bois permettant de la manipuler, le dos évidé ; polychromie rouge, noire et grise.

Ancienne Collection Wolfgang Paalen
Sotheby's, New York, avril 1980, n° 415, couverture du catalogue
Collection privée, Canada
Sotheby's, New York, novembre 1992, n° 134 A
Collection privée, New York

The puppet is in good condition with typical wear consistent with its age, including minor surface abrasion. The lower portion of the right arm (from the elbow joint down) and the left foot are restored. It has been published in: Inverarity, Robert B., Art of the Northwest Coast Indians, University of California Press, 1950, plate 107
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Le peintre et théoricien Wolfang Paalen (1905 - 1959) rejoint André Breton et le cercle surréaliste en 1936. Il participe à chacune des plus grandes manifestations du mouvement, jusqu'en 1939, date à laquelle il s'exile à New York. Cette même année, il suit les traces de son ami, le surréaliste Kurt Seligmann, et entreprend un voyage de trois mois dans l'ouest canadien et en Alaska. Il y collecte un grand nombre de pièces, dont l'esthétique influencera profondément son œuvre.

En 1897, Franz Boas, dans son ouvrage consacré à l'organisation sociale et aux sociétés secrètes des Indiens Kwakiutl, décrit une marionnette intervenant dans la danse rituelle Noontlemgila. Représentant un esprit, elle surgit du feu de la maison centrale, comme par le pouvoir magique du danseur (Boas, 1897).

Les marionnettes étaient également utilisées par d'autres danseurs Kwakiutl, comme la Tooxwid – femme agissant en tant que médium pour les esprits. Enfin, selon Hawthorn (1967 : 89), chez les Kwakiutl, « les dloogwi, ou trésors surnaturels, consistaient souvent en de petites marionnettes ou des figurines animales, parfois placées dans des boîtes ou des berceaux spéciaux, et dotées d'une signification surnaturelle ».

A Kwakiutl marionette or puppet, British Columbia, Northwest Coast

The painter and theorist Wolfgang Paalen (1905 - 1959) joined André Breton's Surrealist circle in 1936. Paalen took part in all of the movement's major manifestations until 1939, when he went into exile in New York. In the same year, Paalen undertook a three month trip to Alaska and British Columbia, following in the footsteps of his friend Kurt Seligmann, the Surrealist painter. Paalen collected several objects during his trip, and their aesthetic exerted a profound influence upon his work. 

For a discussion of one of the uses of marionettes and puppets, see Franz Boas, The Social Organization and Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians, 1897, in which Boas describes the Noontlemgila, a ritual performance where the puppet, which represents a spirit figure, rises from the house's central fire as if by the magical power of the performer. 

Puppets were also used by other Kwakiutl performers such as the Tooxwid, a woman who acts as a medium for spirits. According to Hawthorn (1967: 89) in Kwakiutl society 'the dloogwi, or supernatural treasures, often consisted of small puppets or animal figures, sometimes in special boxes or cradles, which had supernatural significance'.