Mossi
Red Mask (Wan-Zega)
Mossi, Tengasisi sub-group, 1932-1965
Scroll
Mossi
Red Mask (Wan-Zega)
Mossi, Tengasisi sub-group, 1932-1965
Physical Qualities
Wood, pigment, hemp and other vegetal fibers, 38 1/4 × 7 1/4 in. (97.2 × 18.4 cm.)
(236.2 cm. OL)
Credit Line
Gift of John and Patricia Garon, Bethesda, Maryland
Object Number
1984.256
There is something both familiar and unsettling about Wan-Zega’s appearance. Look directly into his eyes and you will feel it: a spark of recognition, an undercurrent of danger. Wan-Zega is an aggressive, male spirit, an ancestral presence who emerges at funerals to escort the souls of deceased elders into the spirit world. His is a human face. But with four eyes, no mouth, and a jagged nose, it is also a supernatural one.
"Meditations on African Art: Color," April 18, 2007-August 19, 2007, BMA, Karen Milbourne
Frederick John Lamp, "See the Music Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art." New York: Prestel, 2003, p.88, ill.
