Masking Traditions in Africa

British Marines displaying their loot after the sack of Benin, 1897

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon Oil on canvas, 1907

Edouard Manet, "The Luncheon on the Grass“, oil on canvas, 1862/1863

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon Oil on canvas, 1907

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselle D’Avignon (detail) 1907, oil on canvas Mbuya (sickness) mask, Pende, Zaire, Polychrome wood, 20th century

Fang Mask, Gabon, polychrome wood, 20th century Pablo Picasso, Detail of Les Demoiselle D’Avignon, 1907, Oil on canvas Mask, Republic of the Congo, Painted wood Late 19th century

“the mask weren’t just like any pieces of sculpture…Not in the least, they were magic things…these Negroes were intercessors, … They were against everything, against unknown threatening spirits… I kept on staring at the fetishes. Then it came to me. I too was against everything… I too felt that everything was unknown, hostile…” --Pablo Picasso “The African masks opened a new horizon to me. They made it possible for me to make contact with Instinctive things, which inhibited feeling that went against the false (Western) tradition which I hated” --Georges Braque

The mask is the mediating force at that delicate intersection between the real and the imagined; the concrete and the imperceptible; The serious and the playful; the whimsical and the terrifying; the living and the dead Ancestral veneration/worship; mediation Rites of passage—education Social control—punitive; intervention; social harmony Entertainment—humor and satire.

Ancestral Veneration

Figure with Mask like Head, Rock Painting, Tassili, 10,000 BP

Mask Head Yoruba (Ife) Nigeria 12th-15th century (700-500 BP) Copper, 33 x 19 cm (13 in)

Oba William Ayeni, Orangun of Ila wearing the Great Crown (Ade Nla) with beaded Veil, Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria 20th cent

Chiwara Masquerades in performance during the agricultural cycle, Bamana Peoples, Mali

Crest Mask, Chiwara, Bamana, Mali Wood, 20th century

Bobo (Butterfly) mask, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Painted Wood, cloth, 20th century Members of the Do in performance Dossi, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) Wood, natural pigments, grass fibers 20th century

Dje (antelope) masquerade in performance, Dabuzra, Cote D’Ivoire

Elephant masks in performance, Cameroon, cotton, beads, animal skin, feathers, 1985

Maiden spirit maskers Igbo Peoples, Nigeria 20th cent.

Ijele Mask at the 2nd Burial Ceremony, Achalla, Nigeria, Mixed media, 20th century

Education, Initiation and other Rites of Passage

Sowei Headdress, Gola/Vai Peoples, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Wood, 20th century

Sowei Headdress, Sande society, (Gola, Vai Peoples) Liberia Sierra Leone Wood, pigment 20th century

Boys’ initiation, Gabon

Children’s masquerade Yoruba Peoples Ibadan, Nigeria 21st century

Fire spitter mask (kponugu), Senufo, Ivory Coast Wood, 20th century

Gelede Headdress with two pythons attempting to swallow a tortoise Yoruba, Nigeria, wood, pigment, 20th century

Punishment and Warfare Social Control: Punishment and Warfare

Mask used in executing criminals, Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria 19th/20th cent

Yoruba Egungun Masquerade, mixed media, 21st century

Entertainment, Humor and Satire: Parodying “Otherness” & Antisocial Behavior

Egungun masquerade costume, Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria Cloth, metal, wood 20th cent

Egungun ensemble Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria Cloth, wood, metal 20th cent.

Egungun masquerade in Dance motion Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria/Benin, 20th cent.

Gelede masked performers, Yoruba Peoples, Ketu, Democratic republic of Benin

Masquerades, Yoruba, Nigeria, wood, cotton, 20th century

Critique of restrained sexual desires conceptualized in the image of a monkey, Egungun, Yoruba, Nigeria Wood, cloth 20th century

A parody of a prostitute who prowls Around looking for victims, while stroking her teeth, Egungun, Yoruba, Nigeria Painted wood, cloth 20th century

Parody of the town fool Egungun, Yoruba , Nigeria Painted wood, cloth 20th century

Parodying the Colonial “Other” (Egungun) Masquerade Yoruba, Nigeria wood, animal hide, cotton, pigments 20th century

Parodying the Police Igbo Masquerade Nigeria, 20th century

Egungun in Acrobatic Display Yoruba Peoples, Ibadan, Nigeria 21st century

Yoruba Egungun Masquerade, mixed media, 21st century

Nick Cave American, b. 1956 Soundsuit, 2006 Found knit sweaters, socks, drift wood, dryer lint, and paint   Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund  2007.11