Art copies armor? The curious connection between "Snub-nose" and William the Conqueror

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Posted: November 13, 2008 - 5:28 pm

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"Snub-nosed One": Alutiiq mask collected in 1871-72, on loan to the Anchorage Museum from the Chateau Musee in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.
By Mike Dunham

Anchorage artist Charles Oakley was looking at one of the pieces in the “Giinaquq” Alutiiq mask exhibit now on display at the Anchorage Museum and something looked familiar to him. Oakley, whose background includes working with and decorating weapons, thought the carved wooden mask dubbed “Snub-nosed one” bore a striking similarity to helmets worn by knights in medieval France.
Helmet: From the region near Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, circa 1100.
In this case, the shape, lines and nose-guard found in helmets from around the time of William the Conqueror (1066, history buffs) matched key features of the mask. Furthermore, Oakley noticed the symmetrical white rings on the mask and was reminded of the rivets of the helmet.

Maybe all that’s a coincidence. Or maybe, Oakley suspects, the mask artist was working on a design shown to him by Alphone Pinart, the collector who acquired old masks and commissioned new ones in the 1870s. Pinart was “roughing it” but could conceivably have had books with him that included the helmet design.

We’ll let the reader decide. Compare and tell us what you think.

On a non-historical subject: Oakley, who lives in breezy Muldoon, found signs from the recent campaign blown all over his yard. Complaining to candidates did no good, he said, so he decided to turn them into art. He took the stakes and glued them into a block from which he carved a humpback whale leaping from a wave. A photo of that recycled “found” art is presented below.
Recycled art: Charles Oakley's whale sculpture made from discarded political sign sticks.

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