masking traditions in africa. british marines displaying their loot after the sack of benin, 1897
TRANSCRIPT
Masking Traditions in Africa
British Marines displaying their loot after the sack of Benin, 1897
Pablo Picasso,Les Demoiselles d’AvignonOil on canvas, 1907
Edouard Manet, "The Luncheon on the Grass“, oil on canvas, 1862/1863
Pablo Picasso,Les Demoiselles d’AvignonOil 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
Mask, Republic of the Congo,Painted woodLate 19th century
Pablo Picasso,Detail of Les DemoiselleD’Avignon, 1907,Oil on canvas
“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 wentagainst 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
1. Ancestral veneration/worship; mediation2. Rites of passage—education
3. Social control—punitive; intervention; social harmony4. Entertainment—humor and satire.
Ancestral Veneration
Figure with Mask like Head,Rock Painting, Tassili, 10,000 BP
Mask HeadYoruba (Ife) Nigeria12th-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 beadedVeil,Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria20th cent
Chiwara Masquerades in performance during the agricultural cycle,Bamana Peoples, Mali
Crest Mask,Chiwara,Bamana, MaliWood,20th century
Bobo (Butterfly) mask,Burkina Faso (Upper Volta),Painted Wood, cloth, 20th centuryMembers of the Do in performance
Dossi, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)Wood, natural pigments, grass fibers20th century
Dje (antelope) masquerade in performance, Dabuzra, Cote D’Ivoire
Elephant masks in performance, Cameroon, cotton, beads, animal skin, feathers,1985
Maiden spirit maskersIgbo Peoples, Nigeria20th cent.
Ijele Mask at the 2nd BurialCeremony,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 LeoneWood, pigment20th century
Boys’ initiation, Gabon
Children’s masqueradeYoruba PeoplesIbadan, Nigeria21st century
Fire spitter mask (kponugu), Senufo, Ivory CoastWood, 20th century
Gelede Headdress with two pythons attempting to swallow a tortoiseYoruba, Nigeria, wood, pigment, 20th century
Social Control:
Punishment and Warfare
Mask used in executing criminals,Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria19th/20th cent
Yoruba Egungun Masquerade, mixed media, 21st century
Entertainment, Humor and Satire:
Parodying “Otherness” & Antisocial Behavior
Egungun masquerade costume,Yoruba Peoples, NigeriaCloth, metal, wood20th cent
Egungun ensemble Yoruba Peoples, NigeriaCloth, wood, metal20th cent.
Egungun masquerade in Dance motionYoruba 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, NigeriaWood, cloth20th century
A parody of a prostitute who prowlsAround looking for victims, while stroking her teeth,Egungun, Yoruba, NigeriaPainted wood, cloth20th century
Parody of the town foolEgungun, Yoruba , NigeriaPainted wood, cloth20th century
Parodying the Colonial “Other”(Egungun) MasqueradeYoruba, Nigeriawood, animal hide, cotton, pigments20th century
Parodying the PoliceIgbo MasqueradeNigeria,20th century
Egungun in Acrobatic DisplayYoruba Peoples, Ibadan, Nigeria21st century
Yoruba Egungun Masquerade, mixed media, 21st century
Nick CaveAmerican, b. 1956Soundsuit, 2006Found knit sweaters, socks, drift wood, dryer lint, and paint Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund 2007.11