Image

Unknown Maker, Yup ïk

Mask of Uksoak

Description

Maker

Unknown Maker, Yup ïk

Culture

Yup ïk, Alaska Native

Title

Mask of Uksoak

Year

1944

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

feather, wood, pine

Dimensions

23.8 x 15.2 cm (9 3/8 x 6 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

44.362

Type

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Form, Pattern, and Function
Design in American Indian Art
Dec 04, 1992 – Jan 24, 1993

Label copy

Eskimos made masks for ceremonial use based on human,

animal, or spirit forms. The forms, dictated by the shamans,

were usually not carved by the shaman, at least in the

Kuskokwim area, where the shaman appointed a carver to carry out his ideas. This mask represents Uksoak, the spirit of the Autumn, who makes the water dry up and causes the good

weather in the far north in October. It causes the fur of animals

to become thicker and prepares things in the Eskimo word for winter. The mask was collected before 1919 by A. R. Twitchell on the Kuskokwim River.

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Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Yup ïk
Mask of Uksoak, 1944
wood; pine; feather
23.8 x 15.2 cm (9 3/8 x 6 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 44.362

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