Object Details
- Label Text
- The Baule adopted the goli masquerade from the neighboring Wan peoples within the last hundred years. Largely for entertainment, goli can also be danced for the funerals of important men. The day-long festival features four pairs of masks that appear in a junior male and female and senior male and female hierarchy. This mask, kpan, is one part of the last and most senior masked pair in the series, the senior female masks. However, each pair of masks is also defined as having both male and female aspects; the gender is identified by the order of appearance in the dance and the color the mask is painted, red or black. The painted color has been stripped from this mask, probably to make it more appealing to foreign taste. Kpan always takes the form of a human face with carefully detailed hair and scarification and a wide flange for the attachment of a raffia cape. The open mouth allows the wearer a limited field of vision.
- Description
- Wood face mask with crested hair style, a zigzag border framing face, raised scarification, half circle eyes and an open mouth with bared teeth.
- Provenance
- Samuel Rubin, New York, -- to 1979
- Exhibition History
- Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, October 15, 2015-March 9, 2016
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Baule artist
- Date
- Mid-late 20th century
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Samuel Rubin
- Medium
- Wood
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 53 x 20 x 18.1 cm (20 7/8 x 7 7/8 x 7 1/8 in.)
- Type
- Mask
