When The Wall Street Journal devised a new set of weekend sections last fall, it added a page called Icons — the back page of its Review section.
There, among its regular rotating features, are short articles on works of art: one is called “Backstory,” another “Objects of Desire,” and sometimes “Artifacts.”
When I learned about the Yup’ik mask at left, which has a fascinating provenance and which may set a record price for Native American artworks — if the seller, Donald Ellis Gallery, gets his asking price — I thought it was a natural for Icons.
Ellis, while coy about the actual number, says he believes it will the record for Native American works, which is believed to be $2.1 million, fetched by a Tlingit war helmet at a Connecticut auction about three years ago.
As you can see, it’s a pretty spectacular specimen. It was purchased in 1905 by the well-known trader Adam Hollis Twitchell, who sold it to George Gustav Heye, who gave it to what became the National Museum of the American Indian. It deaccessioned the piece in the ’40s when it needed money (no comment on that, this time), and a dealer bought it, reselling it to surrealist Enrico Donati. His estate is selling the piece now.
You can read the whole article, short as it is, here.
The mask at the Beyeler Foundation that I mention can be seen here, also fascinating.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Donald Ellis Gallery