African Art - Baltimore Museum of Art

Looking at a Special Color

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[Aaron Henkin] I spoke with conservator Louise Wheatley about the dark blue color that we can see around the mouth and eyes on this mask. It's also part of the triangular pattern and diagonal lines. [Louise Wheatley] I think it's been dyed with indigo. It's different from a lot of other vegetable dyes in that it has a very intricate chemical process. Indigo, actually, is in the leaves of many different plants. When you put the fabric into the dye, it is a greenish yellow. It oxidizes and turns blue magically, practically right before your eyes. It's often considered to be protective against insects, and that's often why African textiles used to be kind of over dyed. They valued textiles that were over dyed with indigo enough so that it would rub off on your skin and protect you against insects.

A Conversation About Materials with Former BMA Conservator Louise Wheatley

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[Aaron Henkin] Hi, Aaron Henkin here from WYPR Public Radio, and I'm joined by textile conservator Louise Wheatley. And Louise, talk about some of the detail that we're looking at in this object. [Louise Wheatley] The mask itself is wood. You notice that there's paint on it. There are beads. There are a number of different types of beads. There are cowrie shells. The most striking thing for me working closely with it over a period of time would be the intricacy of the design. The amount of time put into making it. [Aaron Henkin] Louise, do you think this mask got a lot of use? [Louise Wheatley] There's no doubt that it was used very exuberantly. [Aaron Henkin] How can you tell? [Louise Wheatley] It's been used and danced in and sweat on and has a patina, I would say. Sometimes you want to clean the beads so that they look bright and new, and other times you want to preserve that patina so that it has the quality of something that has been somewhere and done something.

Female Ancestor Mask (Ngaady Mwaash)
Unidentified Kuba Artist
Date:
Late 19th–Early 20th Century
Medium:
Wood, cloth, copper alloy tacks, plant fibers, cowrie shells, glass beads, and paint
Size:
Depth: 11 13/16″
Width: 9 1/16″
Height: 13 1/2″

Cowrie shells, long a symbol of wealth and status in the Kuba Kingdom, mark the masks most closely associated with the royal court. Three such artworks—Mukenga, Ngaady Mwaash, and Bwoom—are shown on this platform. Every year, in almost every community, these three masks are worn by dancers who dramatize the mythic origin stories of the kingdom. In these masquerades, Woot (Mukenga), the mythical founder of Kuba, successfully fights a commoner (Bwoom) to win the affection of Mweel (Ngaady Mwaash), a woman who becomes his wife.

Founded in 1625, the Kuba Kingdom is a multi-ethnic society in which power was historically concentrated in the hands of one ethnic group: the Bushoong. The Bushoong claim descent from Woot and Mweel, and the Kuba royal court has long promoted the widespread use of these masks throughout the kingdom as a savvy political strategy to promote Bushoong supremacy.

Gift of Alan Wurtzburger BMA 1954.145.77

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Kuba Masquerade

This masquerade was held at the funeral of an initiated Kuba man and features two masks, Ngaady Mwash and Bwoom. These masks take turns dancing and resting. Filmed by David Binkley in Southern Bushoong village, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1982. Used with permission.

Hausa men at indigo dye pits, Kano, Nigeria. Photograph by Eliot Elisofon, 1959. EEPA EENG 6851 Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution

Female Ancestor Mask (Ngaady Mwaash)

On view