Dance object

Unknown

ca. 1900 · Wood, pigment, vegetal fiber, and feathers · The American Wing

This object hung from the roof of a ceremonial house, and it honored the animals taken in the hunt. A male figure wears a traditional Yup‘ik bentwood hunting hat and pilots a magical kayak disguised as a walrus—the head, tail, and flippers of the creature are visible. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, featured this assemblage at the entrance to its famous 1941 exhibition, “Indian Art of the United States.”

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1900

Medium

Wood, pigment, vegetal fiber, and feathers

Culture

Yup'ik, Native American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2019