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Africa Explores: 20th-Century African Art. Center for African Art, 1994. Woodward, Richard B. African Art: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The Museum, 2000. Roberts, Allen F., et al. Animals in African Art: from the Familiar to the Marvelous. The Museum for African Art, 1995. "Baga - Art & Life in Africa - The University of Iowa Museum of Art."
African countries where masks are used traditionally Sande society sowei mask, 20th century Baoule Kple Kple Mask. 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.
African masks often represent a spirit and it is strongly believed that the spirit of the ancestors possesses the wearer. Most African masks are made with wood, and can be decorated with: Ivory, animal hair, plant fibers (such as raffia), pigments (like kaolin), stones, and semi-precious gems also are included in the masks.
Chiwara masks are categorized in three ways: horizontal, vertical, or abstract. In addition, Chiwara can be either male or female. Female Chiwara masks are denoted by the presence of a baby antelope and straight horns. Male Chiwara masks have bent horns and a phallus. The sex of a Chiwara mask is much clearer on horizontal and vertical masks ...
Masks represent protective spirits that can take animal forms or can appear as strange beings. These spirits watch over a family, clan or community, and, if the rules for their propitiation are followed correctly, provide for the fertility, health, and prosperity of the owners. Thus the masks provide for the continuity of life in the gurunsi world.
It is a hallmark of African cultures in general that art touches many aspects of life, and most tribes have a vigorous and often recognisable canon of styles and a great range of art-worked objects. These can include masks , drums , textile decoration, beadwork, carving, sculpture , ceramic in various forms, housing and the person themselves.
In the Chokwe people of Central Africa, the chikunga is a sacred ceremonial mask. Of the many ceremonial masks, the chikunga is considered to be the most powerful, and it is only worn by the tribal chief. The chikunga mask is made by stretching barkcloth over an array of wicker bits. It then is painted black with red and white designs.
These masks showcase an ideal image of an Igbo maiden. This ideal is made up by the smallness of a young girl’s features and the whiteness of her complexion, which is an indication that the mask is a spirit. This whiteness is created using a chalk substance used for ritually marking the body in both West Africa and the African Diaspora.