Bamana Mask
BAMANA ARTIST
Mask, sula or n’gon
Mali
Late 19th – early 20th century
Wood
Height: 15 ¾ inches (40 cm)
Provenance:
Ex Collection Albert Saferis, Paris
Ex Pace African & Oceanic Art, New York
Exhibited:
The Grand Cubist Adventure. 89th Salon des Independents, Society of Independent Artists. 16 March - 9 April 1978. Grand Palais, Paris
Literature:
Saferis, Albert. The Negro-Cubist Thunderbolt, Catalogue of the 89th Salon des Independents. Paris: Society of Independent Artists, 1978. p. 104, fig. 32
The sula and n'gon are monkey masks from the Bamana of Mali, tied to the Korè society, which stood as the highest and most demanding of the initiation associations that guided men through the stages of adult life. Within the Korè, animal masks were danced to embody different qualities of character that initiates were meant to study and move through as part of their learning, with the monkey form holding its own place in that sequence. A mask of this type would have been performed with its own song and choreography, inseparable from the teaching work the society carried out. This piece came through the collection of Albert Saferis in Paris and was exhibited at the 89th Salon des Independents at the Grand Palais in 1978, where it appeared in the exhibition catalogue.
