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144 ART+Law The April 12, 2013, Sale of Hopi Masks by Auctioneers Néret- Minet Tessier & Sarrou at Hotel Droûot: Sacrilege? A Criminal Act? Or Simply the Fair and Straightforward Application of French Law? It was wafting through Paris in spring of 2013 like the curious scent of a sort of religious fundamentalism. Skillfully manipulated by the media, the sale of seventy Hopi Kachina masks scheduled for April 12, 2013, at the Hotel Droûot gave rise to a debate that, in the absence of any legal basis supporting its opponents, was focused on notions such as morality, religion, the sacred, respect for beliefs, and even sacrilege. The position of those who advocated suspending— and why not prohibiting?—this sacrilegious sale is effectively summarized by the letter of support it received from American actor Robert Redford, addressed to the Survival International France association: “To auction these would be, in my opinion, a sacrilege—a criminal gesture that contains grave moral repercussions,” and “I would hope that these sacred items can be returned to the Hopi tribe where they belong. They are not for auction.” On the basis of such moral arguments rather than on any legal ones, Survival International France (an organization for the defense of indigenous peoples that has enjoyed Redford’s support) as well as the American State Department; United States Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin; and two American museums, the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Heard Museum, appealed to the Tribunal de Grande Instance district court in Paris to suspend the auction. The argument submitted to the judge was simple: The 18,000-member-strong Hopi tribe, most of whom live in Arizona, still actively practice their tra- FIG. 1 (above): Helmet mask of Käna-Kwe Mosona. Zuni, New Mexico. C. 1890. © Antoine Mercié/Dan Graphiste. FIG. 2 (lower right): The Masked Kachinas (Hopi Indian “Rain-Makers”), Village of Shonghopavi, Arizona. 1908. Stereo card by Works and Studios, Arlington and Westwood, NJ. Published by Underwood and Underwood. Robert N. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views, New York Public Library, image ID 649744. FIG. 3 (center right): Ceremony, Soyoko Group Adobe House Cluster, Spectators on Terraces. By James Mooney, Walpi Pueblo, First Mesa, Arizona, February 1893. Gelatin glass negative. 20.3 x 25.4 cm. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, BAE GN 01824c 06312900. By Yves-Bernard Debie ditional religious rites and do not consider the masks in question to be “simple” works of tribal art or mere expressions of their culture. Rather, they see them as living beings in which the Kachina spirits, who participate in their sacred ceremonies, are incarnated. According to them, the masks are not only sacred objects used in the practice of their religion but members of the tribe as well. The tribe’s masks are and only can be collectively owned, and thus by their very nature are inalienable, a fact that the Hopi tribe’s 1936 constitution affirms.


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