False Face Mask, by Gene Thomas, Onondaga; ca. 2010<BR> Wood (white pine), horsehair, metal, paint; 27 x 17 cm. (excl. hair)<BR> RMV 6141-13; purchased at Whetung Ojibwa Centre, Curve Lake Indian Reserve, Ontario in 2010<BR> <BR> False Face masks form an integral part of the ceremonial and medical practices of the Iroquois Longhouse Religion. They are carved in the likeness of a class of supernatural beings who put their powers at the disposal of humans for the prevention and curing of illness. According to Iroquois mythology, the most powerful of these forest dwellers once engaged in a contest of powers with the Creator, who caused a mountain to break his nose, thereby distorting his facial features. The masks are worn during the rituals of the False Face society, whose members make their spectacular public appearance every spring and autumn, when they walk from house to house, collecting tobacco and purging the settlements from disease. As manifestations of supernatural beings the masks are considered to be alive and powerful and have to be regularly offered tobacco and ritually fed with corn mush (Fenton 1987).<BR> <BR> At the same time, False Face masks have been produced for sale to outsiders since at least the late nineteenth century. Stimulated by the intensive collecting activities of anthropologists as well as avid collectors’ interest in these especially striking examples of Iroquois sculptural art, the income generated by the commercial manufacture of masks provided much-needed support for the weak reservation economies in the early twentieth century. Mask carvers legitimize this commodification by asserting a distinction between active masks consecrated by tobacco and ritual use and inactive replicas for the tourist trade without spiritual power.<BR> <BR> While thousands of masks have thus found their way into museums and private collections, vehement campaigns by culturally conservative Iroquois have resulted in their gradual disappearance from public view within the United States and Canada during recent decades. A memorandum by the Grand Council of Chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy of the early 1980s explicitly declares all masks to be sacred, requests their return by museums, and prohibits any form of public display or circulation, including reproduction of masks in other media like painting or photography Fenton 1987:452-458; Phillips 2004).<BR> <BR> The ongoing commercial production of masks for the art market, like this example by the well-known Onondaga carver Gene Thomas from Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada, proves that the issue is still unresolved within Iroquois communities today. With its deep-set eyes accentuated by metal tiles, the deeply wrinkled brow, bent nose, and contorted mouth, the mask displays the classical features of False Face masks. The protruding tongue is said to portray pain and characterizes it as a type most prominent in Onondaga carving tradition. Like his father, the late Chief Jacob E. Thomas, Gene Thomas is a vocal proponent for the right to sell non-sacred masks as means to make a living and to keep carving traditions alive for the following generations. His views reflect the pluralism of contemporary Iroquois society and the accompanying contention over authority to define the authenticity of Iroquois cultural heritage. His mask in the Leiden collection is not on public display. Neither is the mask carved for the Leiden museum in 1960 by Avery Jimerson (1914-1986), a great Seneca artist from High Bank on the Allegany River, an arrangement made by Bill Fenton (RMV 4011-1; Fenton 1987:257-259).<BR> <BR> Sylvia Kasprycki<BR> J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main<BR> <BR> <BR> William N. Fenton, The False Faces of the Iroquois; University of Oklahoma Press; Norman, 1987. Ruth B. Phillips, Disappearing Acts: Traditions of Exposure, Traditions of Enclosure, and Iroquois Masks; in: Mark Phillips and Gordon Schoket, eds., Questions of Traditions:56-87; University of Toronto Press; Toronto, 2004.<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> Het False Face ritueel is een jaarlijks terugkerend ritueel dat wordt uitgevoerd door met dit soort maskers uitgedoste shamanen (medicijnmannen) die de Irokese dorpen rond gaan om kwaad en ziekte te verdrijven. De maskers worden gesneden uit de stam van levende bomen om de geest van de boom in het masker in te kapselen en diens genezende kracht te vangen. Aan deze geesten worden tabaksoffers gebracht. Ook worden de maskers gedragen tijdens de behandeling van individuele patiënten.<BR> <BR> Traditionalisten maken niet alleen bezwaar tegen de verkoop van de rituele maskers, maar soms ook tegen de commerciële productie en verkoop van False Face maskers aan buitenstaanders: musea, verzamelaars, toeristen. Zij eisen teruggave van de maskers die ritueel zijn gebruikt. Ook zijn zij tegen het tentoonstellen van de maskers door musea. Dit heeft ertoe geleid dat Irokezen steeds minder van dit soort maskers zijn gaan snijden, en dat andere Indianen zich op dit “gat in de markt” zijn gaan richten.