Female Face Mask (ngady mwaash)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.From February 7 through March 5, 1927, the exhibition "Blondiau-Theatre Arts Collection of Primitive African Art," organized by Alain Locke, was on view at The New Art Circle, a gallery owned by J. B. Neumann, an early champion of German Expressionism and American Modernism. About five hundred works were exhibited and made available for purchaseon that occasion. Locke’s goal was to assemble sufficient funds to create a Harlem Museum of African Art, where any unsold works would be permanently housed. His stated goal was "to preserve and interpret the ancestral arts and crafts of the Negro and make them effective as fresh cultural inspiration for Negro art and culture in America."
This ngady mwaash mask included in the exhibition was featured on the cover of the exhibition catalogue, announcing Kuba art as the focus of the collection. Its painted geometric patterns echo the Kuba’s extensive corpus of decorative arts.
This ngady mwaash mask included in the exhibition was featured on the cover of the exhibition catalogue, announcing Kuba art as the focus of the collection. Its painted geometric patterns echo the Kuba’s extensive corpus of decorative arts.
Artwork Details
- Title: Female Face Mask (ngady mwaash)
- Date: Late 19th to early 20th century
- Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Culture: Kuba peoples
- Medium: Wood, pigment, raffia textile, cowrie shell
- Dimensions: Circa H. x W.: 13 x 10 1/4 in. (33 x 26 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Sculpture
- Credit Line: Art and Artifacts Division of the Schomburg Collections, New York Public Library
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing