Pende
Gitenga Mask
Mid-20th century
Physical Qualities
Great Blue Turaco feathers, fiber, wood, pigment, paint, Overall: 33 1/2 × 35 1/2 × 19 in. (85.1 × 90.2 × 48.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Purchased as the gift of Amy Gould and Matthew Polk, Gibson Island, Maryland
Object Number
2015.148
Gitenga, a powerful ancestral figure in eastern Pende communities in present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, is represented here in an abstract mask that incorporates natural materials from the Congolese rainforest. The woven, disc-like face and the white paint found on its surface represent the sun’s shape, while the green-and-blue feathers radiating out from the face symbolize light emitted by the sun. These feathers were plucked from the great blue turaco, a shy, elusive bird that spends most of its life in the treetops.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2015; Richard L. Lee, Ridgefield, Washington
"Beyond Flight: Birds in African Art," Dec 20, 2017–June 17, 2018, BMA, Kevin Tervala.
"Earth as Medium: Extracting Art from Nature" BMA Today no. 176, Winter/Spring 2025: p.8
