The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 8, 2023

Face Mask

early 1900s

Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, possibly Yaure-style carver

Wood, paint, and colorant

Overall: 31.7 cm (12 1/2 in.)

Gift of Katherine C. White 1971.296

Location

108A Sub-Saharan

Description

Central Côte d'Ivoire is characterized by cultural assimilation and adoption. Connections can be seen in masquerades and in composite mask forms. Here, masks often blend human and animal features, and the depiction of elephant traits is a recurring theme. Yaure peoples associated elephant masks with a cult called Dye, and they appear when important sacrifices have to be made.

Provenance
by 1965
Harry Franklin, Los Angeles 1
1965–71
Katherine White Reswick, by purchase from the above 2

Provenance Footnotes

1 1974 object label2003 Object Report, curatorial file
2 1974 object label2003 Object Report, curatorial file
Citations
Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Reproduced: cat. 15, p. 60 - 61
Exhibition history

CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 73, repr.

CMA 1973: "Year in Review 1972," CMA Bulletin LX (March, 1973), p. 106, no. 22, repr. p. 104.

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.296