H x W x D: 60.5 x 173 x 17 cm (23 13/16 x 68 1/8 x 6 11/16 in.)
Type:
Mask
Geography:
Burkina Faso
Date:
Mid-20th century
Label Text:
This mask depicts a butterfly, one of a cast of masquerade characters, and represents a bush spirit. Because butterflies signal the coming of rain, they are connected with the start of the farming season. The plank mask's broad, richly patterned wings and the small birds and chameleons inserted into the upper edge are characteristic of Nuna masks.
Description:
Wood horizontal plank mask representing a butterfly composed of two large curved panels extending horizontally from the central column with a relief face and a diamond form mouth. Four carved birds and four chameleons are attached with iron pins to the top of the mask. The panels are painted with geometric patterns in red-brown, black and white. The panels have geometric and assymmetrical designs of zigzags, lozenges and two large "bulls-eyes" (butterfly "eyes"). The paint is worn on the proper right towards the center column.
Provenance:
Paul and Ruth Tishman, New York, after 1970 to 1984
Exhibition History:
Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 4, 2017-ongoing
Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue - From the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, November 7, 2014-January 24, 2016
Artful Animals, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., July 1, 2009-July 25, 2010
African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 15, 2007-March 31, 2009
For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981
Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 16, 1968-January 5, 1969; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, August 31-November 1, 1970; University of Texas College of Fine Arts, Austin; City Art Museum, St. Louis, August 20-October 17, 1971; Des Moines Art Center; Huntington Galleries, Huntington, WV
Published References:
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. 1971. Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection. Special addendum (August 20-October 17). Saint Louis, no. 10.
Jenke, Veronika. 2007. Explore! African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Exhibition booklet. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 1-2, 25, cover, inside cover, back cover.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen. 2010. "Impermanent by Design: The Ephemeral in Africa’s Tradition-based Arts." African Arts 23 (1), p. 18, no. 6a-b.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen, Bryna Freyer and Andrea Nicolls. 2007. African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. ii-iii, 152-153, back cover, no. 45.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen and Adrienne L. Childs (eds). 2014. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 210-211, pl. 108.
National Museum of African Art. Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives. Museum brochure. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
National Museum of African Art. 2007. 2007-2008 School Calendar: Featuring the new Let's Read about Africa and the Sounds of African Music programs. Museum calendar. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, November 2007.
Robbins, Warren M. and Nancy I. Nooter. 1989. African Art in American Collections. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, p. 91, no. 103.
Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection. 1970. Special addendum (August 31-November 1, 1970). Richmond, no. 50.
Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 33, no. 14.
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