A lesson about African masks and masquerading  2005 Pearson Publishing

Masks are central to our ideas about African art. We may know them best by the way they are displayed in art galleries, museums, books and on the Internet. Here, masks are often exhibited for their sculptural qualities. But these qualities were only appreciated after masks had been discovered as art by the French Primitivist artists in the early 20th century. Originally though, African masks were worn as part of a costume that completely covered the masker. They were used as part of a ritual called masquerading.

In some societies, the masked figure was thought to be a nature or ‘bush’ spirit, an ancestor or some kind of supernatural being. Sometimes, however, the masker and the audience did not have such precise ideas about the nature of the mask, and the delight of masquerading was partly in the interaction with the unknown. In a masked event, a masquerader might be kind and friendly. However, they might shout at, chase, beat or, in extreme cases, even kill members of the audience.

These ideas may seem strange to us if we have never been part of such a culture. However, we might think of a masquerade as a mixture of things we do know more about, such as a theatre performance, religion, dance or a festival. This presentation focuses on the exaggerated features and decorated surfaces that are at the heart of so many of the designs of the African masks. I shall use drawing and painting to explore the designs as I make my own art.

My starting point is drawing. I am lucky to have seen masks such as these in exhibitions; however, these drawings are based on images found from the Internet. Drawing allows me to spend time looking carefully at the form and textures of the masks. The masks I am looking at are all from the Congo in West Africa. They all have amazing titles.

This mask is called ‘courage and anger’.

This mask is called ‘dangerous forces’.

This mask is called ‘royal sister wife’.

This mask is called ‘feminine beauty, cultural pride’.

This mask is called ‘knowledge and power’.

Now I shall experiment with some of these ideas to design my own mask.

The first step is to sketch out the basic shape. I’ve taken the eyes, nose and mouth ideas from different masks.

Next, I’ve sketched in some ideas for the patterning, and made the shapes a little more angled.

The real masks are usually carved. To get a physical feel to the image, I’ve put in a painted wash.

I’m using warm, earth colours. Reds, browns and oranges are called earth colours because the colours are made from earth and rocks. African masks use this colour range because these were often the locally available colours – home-made ones!

Now the design is made to look more solid using charcoal and coloured chalks.

Finally, I’ve worked on the quality of presentation, and the actual expression or mood of the face. The design is light-hearted and cheerful, but it does look quite grand, even regal. If it had a title in the spirit of the masks I started with, it might be something like ‘the laughing prince’ …

With a clear idea like this, you could move on to 3D work, perhaps papier-mâché or maybe ceramics. Perhaps you could make a mask that could really be worn.

Let’s see that again without the captions. Just watch how the painting develops.

Thank you for following this lesson. Now it’s time for you to try out some of these ideas!