Artist unknown, Face Mask (Democratic Republic of Congo, Tsaayi), wood. Gift of Justin and Elisabeth Lang, 1984 (M84-180).
Exhibitions
The Dancer Transformed: Masks of West Africa
R. Fraser Elliott Gallery
24 July 2005 - 23 July 2006
Among many West African peoples there has been a tradition of mask-making that encompasses a diversity of cultural practices. Richly sculptural masks are "danced" by performers in complex costumes. A mask, therefore, is only part of a totality that includes the full costume, the dancer and the gestures of the dance itself, usually within the context of a community rite or festival. In traditional West African communities, the masked dancer was integrated into the religious, social and historical fabric as the dancing of masks was universally understood to function in various, celebratory, propitiatory and/or regulatory ways. The dancer was not concealed by the mask but transformed by it in the enactment of its function.
Collectors have long admired and acquired West African masks for their aesthetic qualities, but without the attendant parts that would 'complete' the mask - the raffia, metal, fabric and other parts of the costume. And unless danced by a skilled dancer, they are fundamentally incomplete because at the core of the meaning of each mask is its dance. Nonetheless, these cultural fragments are objects of great beauty and there is much to admire and learn from them and their contexts. The masks have been selected from the Justin and Elisabeth Lang Collection of West African Art, donated to the Art Centre in 1984.
Dorothy Farr
Supported by the Lang Foundation