H x W x D: 29 x 22.5 x 13 cm (11 7/16 x 8 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.)
Type:
Mask
Geography:
Gabon
Date:
Late 19th-early 20th century
Label Text:
Masks that depict feminine beauty from the peoples of the Ngunie River basin are well known. Nearly all the masks that are in collections are coated with white kaolin. Black masks, such as this one, however, are rare.
The Punu link the color white with female beauty and call black ugly and male. The white masks (mukudj) appear in the daytime, in formal, structured performances by dancers on tall stilts. The black masks (ikwar) dance at night on short stilts and are thought of as more spontaneous. While they do not perform together, the Punu automatically compare and contrast mukudj and ikwar.
Description:
Wood human face mask with elaborate sculpted hairstyle, a small heart-shaped face with upward carved mouth with red paint, closed slit eyes, and narrow eyebrows. The face sits on a larger back and the wood is black with traces of red and golden pigment.
Exhibition History:
African Mosaic: Selections from the Permanent Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2013–August 12, 2019 (deinstalled July 9, 2019)
African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2010-November 19, 2013
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
First Look: The Walt Disney-Tishman Collection of African Art, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., May 17-December 3, 2006
For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981
Masterpieces of African Art: Tishman Collection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Spring-Summer 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. 85 (not illustrated).
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. 38-39, no. 8.
Muze'on Yisra'el. 1967. Masterpieces of African Art: Tishman Collection. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, no. 161 (not illustrated).
Perrois, Louis and Charlotte Grand-Dufay. 2008. Punu. Milan:5 Continents, pl.31
Sieber, Roy and Arnold Rubin. 1970. Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection. Washington, D.C., no. A24.
Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 190, no. 112.
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