The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Wooden mask resembling a buffalo with a long muzzle and horns curving up, almost meeting in a circle at the top. On the face, black, white, and red circles create eyes. The muzzle tents up just below the eyes, with a black-rimmed red "x" on either side. Long, tousled, thick, blond tendrils of plant fiber tumble down from the sides of the muzzle.

Buffalo Mask

early to mid-1900s

Africa, West Africa, Burkina Faso, possibly Bwa-style maker

Wood, plant fibers, paint, and iron
Overall: 69.8 cm (27 1/2 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1969.2
Location: 108A African

Did You Know?

Once broken, the right horn of this mask was repaired; this indicates that it was valued.

Description

Among the Bwa people, masks with human, animal, and fantastic traits typically represent protective bush spirits. This mask’s horns and muzzle identify it as a bush buffalo. Masked dancers appear during the dry season for initiations, funerals of elders, market days, harvest celebrations, and annual renewal rituals to protect the well-being of the community.
  • at least 1968–1969
    Katherine C. White [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1969–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Exhibited at CMA in 1968, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection; published as fig. 31
    2 CMA Bulletin January 1970, figure 128.
  • Fagg, William. African Tribal Images: the Katherine White Reswick Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968. Reproduced: cat. no. 31
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1969.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1 (January 1970): 2–50. Reproduced: p. 41, fig. 128; mentioned: p. 147 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 411 archive.org
    Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Mentioned: p. 16, p. 60; Reproduced: p. 17
    Henry John Drewal. African Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection : the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1989. fig. 17
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. p. 153
    Connell, Timothy C., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World Art Transparencies. Cincinnati: West Educational Pub, 1998. Acetate 43
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp.67-8. no. 70; listed: p. 118.
    Donley, Gregory M., "A New Face for African Art", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 42 no. 04, April 2002 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7 archive.org
    Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Reproduced: cat. 5, p. 40 - 41
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 43 no. 09, November 2003 Reproduced: cover archive.org
    Petridis, Constantine. "A New Installation for African Art in Cleveland." Tribal: the Magaine of Tribal Art. 9 (3) no. 36 (Autumn-Winter 2004): 68-73.
    Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art; London, Scala Publishers Ltd, 2012. pp. 288-9.
    Basquiat, Jean-Michel, Sam Keller, and Iris Hasler. Basquiat: The Modena Paintings.Berlin : Hatje Cantz ; Riehen/Basel : Fondation Beyeler, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 35, fig. 2
  • A Cleveland Bestiary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 15-December 16, 1981).
    CMA 1981: A Cleveland Bestiary, October 14-December 9, 1981, cat. no. 11, repr. p, 17.
    Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).
    CMA 1970: "Year in Review 1969," CMA Bulletin LVII (Jan., 1970), p. 47, no. 128, repr. p. 41.
    CMA 1968: African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, cat. no. 31, repr.
  • {{cite web|title=Buffalo Mask|url=false|author=|year=early to mid-1900s|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.2