The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
Face Mask
possibly early 1900s
Overall: 22.9 cm (9 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1972.331
Location: 108A African
Did You Know?
The eyes of this mask were altered from slits to circles; the original shape is most visible on the right eye.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.- ?–1972Katherine White Reswick1972–The Cleveland Museum of Art by gift
- Fagg, William, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 1968. African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, no. 55.Smith, Fred T., Judith Perani, Joseph L. Underwood, and Martha J. Ehrlich. The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 100-101, no. 4.12
- CMA 1973: "Year in Review 1972," CMA Bulletin LX (March, 1973), p. 107, no. 37Year 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=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.331