Island in the Bering Sea near the coast of Alaska. Area approx. 4200 km2.
The natives of Nunivak, the Nunivaarmiut, are famous for their ritual masks, which are considered a high point in traditional Inuit arts and crafts. Carved in wood, then painted with symbols, these masks were used until around 1930 in festivals where drumming, danicing and singing were used to invoke the spirit world.
The Danish National Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, has a collection of 28 masks, acquired for the museum by Knud Rasmussen, whose fifth Thule Expedition terminated at the Bering Strait.