Kwado Gbyogoma, Numu, and others
Mask (Gbain)
Numu, Mid-20th century
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Wood, animal skull, fiber, pigment, encrustation (mud, blood, palm wine, egg shells), 31 1/8 in. (79 cm.)
Credit Line
Friends of Art Fund
Object Number
1966.34
Of Islamic origin, Gbain performs at funerals of members and at weekly dances to drive out antisocial behavior. The mask form varies from naturalistic to abstract (photo). Appearing at night with male drummers and dancers, it may be seen only by initiated men and elder women. The dance includes athletic leaps, crouching and kneeling, and rapid turns. A ten-day Muslim ceremony of purification once a year protects the masks and its devotees from evil.
Field photo:
Rene Bravmann, Islam and Tribal Art in West Africa, 1974.
Purchased for The Baltimore Museum of Art by the Director, Charles Parkhurst, in Dakar, April 1966; said by the dealer to have been collected in the area of Sinematiali village of the Senufo people, Ivory Coast
Frederick John Lamp, "See the Music Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art." New York: Prestel, 2003, p.266, ill.
