H x W x D: 38 x 28 x 12 cm (14 15/16 x 11 x 4 3/4 in.)
Type:
Mask
Geography:
Côte d'Ivoire
Date:
Late 19th to mid-20th century
Label Text:
The relatively calm, albeit, exuberantly decorated-life-size face, the slightly parted lips and the slit eyes fit the local definition of a female mask. The mask's performance style, whether a comic performer asking for money and gifts, a singer or praise attendant, is nonthreatening and its character is defined by its headdress, body covering, dance pattern and accompanying percussion instruments and attendants. The lines of tacks on the cheeks and forehead are indicative of old styles of scarification or the face paint still worn by women for ceremonial occasions.
Description:
Wood oval face mask with protruding oval slit eyes, broad nose and slightly opened mouth with wide flat lips. The mask has a carved forehead ridge, rows of brass tacks angled on the forehead and across the cheeks and the remains of tacks on the bridge of the nose. Orange red pigment covers the face from the eye brow ridge to the upper lip. A red cloth tongue protrudes from the mouth. The teeth are made of aluminum, except for one glass and two animal teeth. The mask is edged in human hair, imported brass bells with white painted interiors and spherical copper alloy crotals with concentric circle designs.
Exhibition History:
The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection Highlights, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2009-June 4, 2014
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
Masterpieces of African Art: Tishman Collection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1967
Arts connus et arts méconnus de l'Afrique noire, Collection Paul Tishman, Musee de l'Homme, Paris, 1966
Published References:
Arts connus et arts méconnus de l'Afrique noire, Collection Paul Tishman. 1966. Paris: Musee de l'Homme, no. 55 (not illustrated).
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, p. 21.
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. 158-159, no. 48.
Mellor, S. 2007. From Delicious to Not Quite Right: Subtleties in Discerning the Authenticity of African Art. Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Volume 14 CD. Washington, DC: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, p.25, no.28.
Muze'on Yisra'el. 1967. Masterpieces of African Art: Tishman Collection. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, no. 44.
Sieber, Roy and Arnold Rubin. 1968. Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, p. 54, no. 46.
Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 68-70, no. 32.
Content Statement:
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