The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

Portrait Mask (mblo)

early-mid 1900s

Africa, West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Baule-style carver

Wood and paint

Overall: 41.2 cm (16 1/4 in.)

Gift of Katherine C. White 1974.203

Location

108A Sub-Saharan

Description

Male and female mblo masks, highly valued by the Baule people, are used in a variety of entertainment dances. Wearing elaborate coiffures and delicate facial scars, they are seen as portraits of known individuals. Their idealized rendering embodies core traits of Baule aesthetics, including lustrous skin, a high forehead, and downcast eyes, signs of good health, intelligence, and admiration, respectively.

Exhibition history

CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 78, repr.

CMA 1975: "Year in Review 1974," CMA Bulletin LXII (March, 1975), p. 97, no. 26

CMA 1975: "Traditions and Revisions," cat. no. 110.

Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.203