The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Headdress (chi wara)

early 1900s

Wood, metal, glass beads, seashells, string, and probably tar
Overall: 45.2 x 4.8 x 12.4 cm (17 13/16 x 1 7/8 x 4 7/8 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1962.307
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Chi wara headdresses look different depending on the region in which they were made.

Description

Chi wara—a mythical “farming beast”—was said to teach farming to the Bamana people. Carved patterns cover this female chi wara’s body, highlighting its muscles and emphasizing that it is no earthly animal, but rather an agricultural spirit that combines human, antelope, and anteater elements. This example emphasizes vertical space, with a kneeling human figure on the back. The figure is adorned with imported beads as well as small shells. Accompanied by women’s songs, male performers danced paired male-and-female chi wara headdresses affixed to basketry caps at agricultural competitions and weddings.
  • no earlier than 1939
    Julius Carlebach, NY
    ?-1962
    Katherine White Reswick (aka Katherine C. White)
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Carlebach fled from the Nazis in Germany in 1937; he started his gallery in New York in 1939. The New York Times, obituary October 14, 1964 
  • Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 88-89, no. 55
  • The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 55, p. 118, repr. p. 89.
    African Sculpture. Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (organizer) (April 19-May 6, 1963).
  • {{cite web|title=Headdress (chi wara)|url=false|author=|year=early 1900s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.307