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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. Ed ouard Manet, "The Luncheon on the Grass“, oil on canvas, 1862/1863 . Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
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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
Pablo Picasso, Detail of Les Demoiselle D’Avignon, 1907, Oil on canvas Fang Mask, Gabon, polychrome wood, 20th century 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.
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
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
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
Social Control: Punishment and Warfare
Mask used in executing criminals, Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria 21st cent.
Entertainment, Humor and Satire: Parodying “Otherness” & Antisocial Behavior
Critique and Parody of unrestrained 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
Nick CaveAmerican, b. 1956Soundsuit, 2006Found knit sweaters, socks, drift wood, dryer lint, and paint Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund 2007.11