African Masks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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African Masks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Introduction

African masks are considered to be amongst fine creations of art work. Masking ceremonies in Africa have significant traditional and cultural importance. During celebrations such as crop harvesting, initiations, war preparation, trouble and peace times, the African mask were worn by initiated dancers. They were worn covering the head to act as disguise. When an African wears masks, he or she ceases to exist and they embody the spirit that is symbolized by the mask. Sometimes it may represent an animal spirit while other times it may represent the ancestry of the wearer. The masks from different communities serve their own unique purposes in the diversity of African culture.

The head dress mask

HYPERLINK “http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/arts_of_africa_oceania_and_the_americas/headdress/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=6&sort=6&sortdir=asc&keyword=Masks&fp=6&dd1=5&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=5&OID=50003646&vT=1&hi=0&ov=0” INCLUDEPICTURE “http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ao/regular/VS1978_412_607.jpg” * MERGEFORMATINET

The head dress was made in the year 1978. It measures 41 centimeter in length 14 centimeters in width and 19.8 centimeters of breadth. Its medium is leather, wood, pigment cane, kaolin and vegetable fiber. It was black in color which is associated with the deceased in their spirit world. It was also associated with reunion with the spirit. The spirits associated with this mask were the female ancestors and the goddesses. This mask is worn on the head of a female elder. It was worn during dance initiation and funeral ceremonies. During these initiation ceremonies the young women are circumcised as rite of passage to adulthood. The head dress depicts a beautiful woman with elegant coiffures. The head dress is made by many different peoples who live in villages scattered along Cameroon and the cross river. The head dress mask features celebrates and displays the society ideals for female virtue and beauty through its features. First it had the elaborately hair style in a Mohawk which displays the value for cosmetic skills and sexuality. The second feature was the broad neck which displayed the society value full bodied and good health as the female beautyHYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=+inauthor:%22Ladislas+Segy%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=10” (Segy 1997).

The smooth textured forehead was to display nobility and intelligence. These were also displayed by the broad features of the fore head. The lowered eyes were meant to display contemplativeness and restraint. The mask also had well shaped ears, a small nose and a small mouth. The small mouth means that the woman was not a gossip woman who was very much disliked in this community. She was feared because she could potentially break families and the community in general with a big loud mouth. Another feature of the mask was composed expression brought about by the balance of the lines and shape. The composed expression was displayed the inner serenity of the woman. The smooth texture displayed a smooth skin which was meant to show youthfulness which was very valued amongst women. This was the ideal beauty of a woman. The village heads in this community married many women who had to posses these features. All these features in the mask were exaggerated.

It had a birds figure of a Mohawk perched on the top which formed the area which most stood out on this mask. The birds figure has no distinctive meaning. Thus it could mean love, fertility, clairvoyance, danger, power, prudence, discipline and laughter. The mask’s shining blackness was also used to connote the importance of moral purity and the essence of female beauty (Finley 2006). The dance ceremony was used to honor creative and powerful women elders, the goddesses, female ancestors who all were known in an affectionate term as the mothers. During this dance sacrifices were offered to appease these goddesses and female ancestors so as to give the land a lot of food and rain. When the rain did not come for a long time the people believed the goddesses were angry and they would appease them through the dance. The woman was highly regarded and respected in this society. They believed that the woman was the giver of life and thus great honor was bestowed to the goddesses and the female ancestors. The woman in this society was supposed to posses all attributes of beauty so as to be given the honor of a female elder. They were supposed to have stringent qualities of cosmetics and sexuality. They were also supposed to display good health which was a big body and not skinny bodies. The outward appearance was to be coupled with the inward appearance of good virtue. For example such a woman was not supposed to be a rumor monger.

Kanaga mask

HYPERLINK “http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/arts_of_africa_oceania_and_the_americas/mask_kanaga/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=1&sort=6&sortdir=asc&keyword=Masks&fp=1&dd1=5&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=5&OID=50007728&vT=1&hi=0&ov=0”

The Kananga mask was made in 1987. It is made of wood, fiber, hide and pigment. It measure 53.6 centimeters in height, 97.2 centimeters width and 15.9 centimeters breadth.

The Kananga mask was characterized by a superstructure of wood which was in the form of a double barred cross which had short vertical elements projecting from the tips of each of the horizontal bars. The vertical shaft and its horizontal bars are painted white. White color in the African culture is the color of death and it is used to associate the wearer with the ancestral spirits. The white color was associated with purity as they were meant to be worn at a time when one had first sough forgiveness from the spirits (White 2007). Only selected member who had the ability of being pure could be allowed to wear them. These were members from a specific clan which produced the leaders of the society. Some parts of the shafts and the horizontal bars are painted black which is the color of the earth in this culture. The surface texture was rough all throughout the body of the mask. The mask had indigo fibers representing feathers all around the oval head. They were to symbolize a bird. This is because the Kananga mask is supposed to represent a bird with the feathers surrounding the white wings and the black forehead. This is however the first knowledge of the uninitiated. There is a deeper meaning of the Kananga mask which pertains to their god and the crossbars are his arms and legs. It also represents the arrangement of the universe whereby the upper crossbar represents the sky while the lower one represents the universe. The universe is supposedly the dwelling of their god who lives in the sky but comes down on earth when they offered their sacrifices. It most standing out area is the brown feathers made of fiber. The purpose of the art was to show a bird head and thus the feature of the feathers had to stand out since the mask could after all represent a head of any animal if the feathers were not as conspicuous. Thus since the mask was purposefully a bird head there had to be something distinct to show that it was indeed a bird head. The rest of the features could represent another animal since they are common features in any animal and when transferring them to art they can take the same shapes. For example the oval head could suggest the head of any animal. The Kananga mask is one of the most popular masks in the region of Sanga. The Kananga mask just like the other dogon masks is worn at the ritual ceremonies which are called dama. The goal of the dama ceremonies is to transport the souls of all the dead members of the family away from the village. The other goal was to enhance the prestige of the deceased of the dead and all the descendants by the masked performances and also the generous displaying of hospitality. It was during the dama dancing ceremonies that the masks were won by the dancers. The back of the head of the dancer is covered with a hood of plaited fiber fringe at the edge on the bottom when the mask is worn. The dancer also dons a vest which is made of black stripped woven cloth and also red broad stripped cloth whose embroidery is cowrie shells. There should be dangling strand of glass and plastic beans from its edges. The dancer also puts on a trouser, dyed indigo and made of strip woven cotton cloth over which a long skirt is tied. The skirt is made of curly loosely strung and black dyed sansevera fibers. There is a belief among the Dogons that the dama dancing crates a bridge between the people and the supernatural world. It was during the mask ceremony when the dancer went into a deep trance, and during this state of mind, they were would communicate with the ancestors. A wise man sometimes accompanied the wearer of the mask to the dance. The dancer played an important role of bringing forth the message of wisdom to the people from the ancestors.

The dogon hold memorial ceremonies after every five years to accompany the dead into the realm of the ancestors. During the dama celebration ceremonies, the Youdiou villagers usually dance circling around the stilt dancers. Through these rituals they believe that the ancestors’ benevolent force is transmitted to them (Herman, Neerman 2010). During this dance one of the costumes is the Kananga mask. Their self defense descends from social solidarity which is based on combination of complex religious and philosophic dogmas. The ritual masks and corpses are kept in caves and are used for the ceremonies.

The African not regarded as artists in their own culture.

The African who made the masks were not regarded as artist in their own culture. First and foremost art is foreign to their culture and they not know what art means. Although the African culture are divers there are common things displayed by such pieces art and since they are already familiar with them they don’t attribute a lot of significance to them as the westerner who know little of the African culture. The meanings they associate with the mask are not in the artistic thinking but in the societal values and beliefs. The symbolisms of the mask were not viewed in the art dimension but in the purpose they serve (Rupert 2005). Thus if the mask shows famine beauty the ones who created them are not artist but they just did the mask in honor of the feminine beauty. The symbolism of the works of art is not highly regarded in the African setting. Thus simply Africans don’t consider art very important issue since in their culture it is foreign.

References

Finley C. (2006) The symbolism of African masks. Oxford . Oxford publishers.

HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=+inauthor:%22Herman+Burssens%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=3″Herman. B, HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=+inauthor:%22Marnix+Neerman%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=3” Neerman .M. (2010) African Faces: A Homage to the African Mask. United

Kingdom. Lanoo Books.

HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=+inauthor:%22Janet+E.+Rupert%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=9” Rupert. J. (2005) The African mask united states. Universe publishers

HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=+inauthor:%22Ladislas+Segy%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=10” Segy. L. (1976) Masks of Black Africa. Newyork. Courier Dover Publications

White. L. (2007). The art of African masks: exploring cultural trasitons. United States. Cenange

Learning.