The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Face Mask

Face Mask

possibly early 1900s

Description

A Dan face mask's use and the costume that accompanied it are important elements that contribute to the name it receives. While we don't know those details, we can say it originally had an elaborate fiber hairstyle attached through the holes around the edge. Based on its appearance and other similar examples, this face mask with a high forehead in northern Dan style may have been called either sagbwe or gunyege. As a "runner mask," it was engaged in running competitions once organized every Sunday during the dry season. As a "fire-watcher," its main task was to protect the village from fire when the dangerous desert wind called Harmattan blew during the dry season.
  • Katherine White Reswick
  • CMA 1973: "Year in Review 1972," CMA Bulletin LX (March, 1973), p. 107, no. 37
    Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).
    CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 55, repr.
  • {{cite web|title=Face Mask|url=false|author=|year=possibly early 1900s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.331