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Kono Association Mask - Image 1

Kono Association Mask - Image 2

Kono Association Mask - Image 3

Kono Association Mask - Image 4

Kono Association Mask - Image 5

Kono Association Mask - Image 6

Kono Association Mask - Image 7

Bamana

Kono Association Mask

Bamana, 1900-1932

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Kono Association Mask

Bamana

Kono Association Mask

Bamana

Kono Association Mask

Bamana, 1900-1932

Physical Qualities Wood, encrustations, cotton string, feathers, 41 in. (104.1 cm.)

Credit Line Purchase with exchange funds from Gift of Alan Wurtzburger

Object Number 1960.66

These horizontal masks merge the features of two or more animals to create one frightening, otherworldly creature. Smallscale societies in the Sahel—a belt of grassland south of the Sahara—created these composite pieces to ward off evil and antisocial behavior. Each mask would have been worn by a member of a fraternal association charged with protecting the community.

Subverting Beauty: African Anti-Aesthetics

Frederick John Lamp, "See the Music Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art." New York: Prestel, 2003, p.41, ill.

Galerie Koller Zürich. "Afrikanische Kunst," June 25, 2005. (Cat. 42, 43)

Culture

Bamana

2000–2000

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