Kwakiutl Polychromed Wood Marionette or Puppet

Wolfgang Paalen
Sotheby's New York, April 1980, catalogue cover
Private Canadian Collection
Sotheby's New York, November 1992
Private New York Collection

This puppet likely represents a spirit figure and would have been used in a ritual performance called the Noontlemgila.

It was first acquired by painter and theorist Wolfgang Paalen (1905-1959), who 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, where he collected several objects. Their aesthetic exerted a profound influence upon his work.