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Traditional African masks. Traditional African masks are worn in ceremonies and rituals across West, Central, and Southern Africa. They are used in events such as harvest celebrations, funerals, rites of passage, weddings, and coronations. Some societies also use masks to resolve disputes and conflicts.
A Punu-Lumbo mask. A Punu-Lumbo mask is a tribal mask native to the Ogooué River basin in Gabon, especially in the south in Ngounié Province. [1] The masks are extremely valuable to collectors of African art, and have been sold at Sotheby's for well over $400,000. [2] The earliest known example, collected in 1867, is part of the Pitt Rivers ...
The Woyo masks are typically made out of wood, and painted with contrasting colors, often in dots and the colors used had symbolic meaning and were even sometimes repainted, symbolizing rebirth, or to restore the power of the mask. [1] They were worn in ceremonial dances known as the ndunga. They are also decorated with sacred objects known as ...
The art of Burkina Faso is the product of a rich cultural history. In part, this is because so few people from Burkina have become Muslim or Christian. [1] Many of the ancient artistic traditions for which Africa is so well known have been preserved in Burkina Faso because so many people continue to honor the ancestral spirits, and the spirits ...
The masks can be worn in three different ways: vertically covering the face: as helmets, encasing the entire head, and as a crest, resting upon the head, which was commonly covered by material as part of the disguise. African masks often represent a spirit and it is strongly believed that the spirit of the ancestors possesses the wearer.
The features of the mask illustrate the group's ideal of feminine beauty. The elegant hairstyles also symbolize the importance of social cooperation, since a woman needs the help of her friends to dress her hair. [3] The Mende honor outstanding carvers of sowei masks, which are typically men, with the name Sowo Gande. According to Philips, the ...
The Benin ivory mask is a miniature sculptural portrait in ivory of Idia, the first Iyoba (Queen Mother) of the 16th century Benin Empire, taking the form of a traditional African mask. [1] The masks were looted by the British from the palace of the Oba of Benin in the Benin Expedition of 1897 .
Most African sculpture was historically in wood and other organic materials that have not survived from earlier than at most a few centuries ago; older pottery figures are found from a number of areas. Masks are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, often highly stylized. There is a vast variety of styles ...