Important And Rare Eskimo Polychromed Wood Mask, Yup'ik or Anvik

of tapering oval form, carved in high relief with a stylized human face, with a deep bifurcating groove descending downwards from the central cranium, each side drilled with five openings probably for insertion of wood or metal pegs (now missing), concave eye frames, pierced eye holes with painted "goggles" and overhanging and ridged brow line, flaring frown lines and two raised labrets replace the mouth and form the face of a sea mammal, possibly a seal, additional painted details including tattoos on the chin and coiffure in black, and rouged cheeks, the reverse with a wood "grip" and fine aged patina; the periphery trimmed with (remains of) fur.

Fred Harvey Collection
Presented in 1926 as "Aleutian Eskimo Mask" by James B. Ford to the Heye Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, 6/2469
Deaccessioned via exchange with Julius Carlebach, January 1945
Enrico Donati Collection, New York City
Sold Sotheby's New York, May 2010, lot 19
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Upside Down: Arctic Realities, The Menil Collection, Houston TX, March 14–July 17, 2011

Very good original condition with typical wear for its age including heavy wear to the fur ruff, surface abrasion and fade of the pigments (particularly the red). There is a small chip near the chin. There is also a surface hairline crack near chin, stable.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Enrico Donati (1909-2008) was an important American Surrealist painter and sculptor. Born in Milan, Italy, he migrated to the United States in 1940. It was in New York City, during the Second World War, that he studied art at the New School for Social Research and the Art Students League and met the "Pope of Surrealism," Andre Breton. He also associated with other exiled European artists living in New York at the time including Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy.

Native American art had a profound influence on Donati's art and in his lifetime he assembled an important group of Hopi kachinas and Eskimo masks. His collection, in part, was sold at Sotheby's New York in May 2010.

For a discussion of the Surrealists and the distinct provenance of this mask as it relates to Robert Lebel, who documented this mask in a color drawing, and others see Fienup-Riordan, 1996, p. 263: "In 1944 Robert Lebel created one of the most remarkable legacies of this intense period of interaction between Yup'ik masks and their Surrealist admirers. Lebel was deeply involved in the New York Surrealist movement and was especially impressed by the work of Breton...Studying alongside Breton and others, Lebel carefully documented his own masks as well as those of his friends. In a small, lined notebook, Lebel rendered color drawings of fifty-six masks, forty from Museum of American Indian collections. At the upper right corner of each page he wrote the initials or surname of the artists or poet who purchased the mask – R.L. for himself, A.B. for Andre Breton, I.W. for Isabel Walberg, Donati for Enrico Donati, and Duthuit for Georges Duthuit."

For related examples see Fienup-Riordan, 1996, pp. 50 and 179, each collected by Sheldon Jackson, the latter two at Andreafski; also see p. 56 for a mask collected by J.A. Jacobsen on the Kuskokwim;  also see Ray, 1967, p. plate 4, for a mask identified as northwest Bering Sea but also characteristic of the Anvik; see Collins, de Laguna, Carpenter and Stone, p.136 for a mask collected from the Indian village at Kozherevsky, left bank of the Yukon opposite Holy Cross, by Father Barnum in 1893; finally, seeRousselot et al, 1991, p. 186, for a mask identified as Yup'ik and containing both female and male characteristics collected in 1901 by J.J. Wilcox.