On view
African Art
Mask,
20th century
Artist unrecorded
Bwa
2020-38
This impressive buffalo mask probably dates to the early twentieth century, when the Volta River Basin came under French colonial occupation. Carved from wood, the mask is distinguished by geometric patterning: its long muzzle ends in an open triangular mouth, concentric circles surround its eyes, and its horns form a nearly perfect circle. The deeply incised wood is colored black, red, and white with local natural pigments. Bwa individuals and families commissioned, owned, and danced masks to honor and receive protection from powerful spirits found in nature, including a wide range of animals. Buffalo masquerades are still performed at celebrations, annual renewal ceremonies, gatherings, and initiations. The masked dancer, wearing a raffia skirt, imitates the movements of a charging buffalo, using two wooden canes to represent the animal’s forelegs as he rapidly tosses his head back and forth.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Mask
Dates
20th century
Maker
Medium
Wood, raffia, and pigment
Dimensions
67.3 × 39.1 × 38.1 cm (26 1/2 × 15 3/8 × 15 in.)
mounted: 96.5 × 39.1 × 38.1 cm (38 × 15 3/8 × 15 in.)
proposed mounted: 102.9 × 39.1 × 38.1 cm (40 1/2 × 15 3/8 × 15 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
2020-38
Place Made
Africa, Burkina Faso
Type
Subject
William Wright, New York, ca. late 1970s; [purchased by Michael Oliver, New York]; purchased by Marian and Daniel Malcolm, Tenafly, NJ, September 23, 1981; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 2020.
- Marshall W. Mount, African Art from New Jersey Collections (Montclair Art Museum, 1983), cat. no. 30
- Martha G. Anderson and Christine Mullen Kreamer, Wild Spirits, Strong Medicine: African Art and the Wilderness (New York: Center for African Art, 1989), p. 155, cat. no. 68
- Alisa LaGamma, Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002), pp. 60–61, cat. 24
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African Art in New Jersey Collections: Montclair Art Museum (January 30–April 10, 1983)
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Wild Spirits, Strong Medicine: African Art and the Wilderness: Center for African Art (May 10–August 20, 1989); Block Art Gallery (September 21–November 22, 1989); Lowe Art Museum (December 14, 1989–January 28, 1990); Columbus Museum of Art (February 18–April 30, 1990); Worcester Art Museum (September 15–December 1, 1990).
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Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture November 19–July 6, 2003
