1980.1.FA Snow beater(?) (Alaska, Eskimo)

To tribal people, magic is a way of dealing with the uncontrollable elements of life, like sickness and death. The shaman is a figure of power and authority—an intermediary between human life and the Unknown. The shaman's ritual equipment was invested with the mysterious suggestiveness that found objects, such as oddly shaped stones or bones, have for the human mind. The twisted curve of this caribou antler, which was used as a shaman's staff, is made to suggest both the spirit of the animal (in the delightful animal head) and the shape of a shaman's magic bow. The extreme, pure simplicity of form is typical of Eskimo bone carving.

Anne R. Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 48.

Eskimo, c. 1875 (noted on TMS), NOT updated by KJones.

Alaskan Native styles: AAT: 300102451

Arctic Native American styles: AAT: 300017444

Eskimo (culture or style): AAT: 300017447

Inuit (Canadian Arctic Native style): AAT: 300017455

Arctic (general region): TGN: 7593183

Alaska (state): TGN: 7006450

caribou (Rangifer tarandus species): AAT: 300253843

antler (material / bone): AAT: 300011796

antlers (animal components): AAT: 300395687

bone (material): AAT: 300011798

whales (living organism): AAT: 300250157

fiber: AAT: 300014024

carving: AAT: 300053149

polishing (finishing): AAT: 300053867

tools: AAT: 300024841

ritual objects: AAT: 300312158

ceremonial objects: AAT: 300234117

staffs (staff weapon components): AAT: 300204653

magic: AAT: 300054590

life (biological concepts): AAT: 300055134

deaths: AAT: 300151836

shaman: AAT: 300218522

shamanism: AAT: 300055999

power: AAT: 300374809

authority (concepts): DMA

curvilinear (shape): AAT: 300154222

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

heads (representations): AAT: 300262520

faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798

supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947

animals (Animalia kingdom): AAT: 300249395

bears (Ursidae family): AAT: 300266516

deities: AAT: 300343850

bows (weapons): AAT: 300036999

form (composition concepts): AAT: 300056272

n.d.: John Hewitt, London [1]

n.d.: Jeff Meyer and Marty Ellman, New York [1]

Until 1980: Shango Galleries, Dallas [1], [2]

From 1980: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of the Wendover Fund and an anonymous donor, purchased from the above (John A. Buxton, dealer) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

[1] The main source for this provenance was existing provenance information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.  

[2] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated May 07, 1980, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The main source for this provenance is letter from John A. Buxton, Shango Galleries, to John Lunsford, Curator at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated May 08, 1980, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[4] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

[5] The Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit corporation created as a title-holding entity to serve the people of Dallas but to operate independently of the City. The Dallas Museum of Art (at its own cost) is responsible for the care, storage, insurance, conservation and maintenance of the collection, and agrees to maintain the highest museum standards in the management and handling of the Foundation’s collection. The title to all works of art purchased or otherwise acquired by the Foundation for the Arts is retained by the Foundation.

Apply to objects where number equals 1980.1.FA