The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 19, 2025
Portrait Mask (mblo)
early to mid-1900s
Overall: 41.2 cm (16 1/4 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1974.203
Location: 108A African
Did You Know?
This may be a portrait mask of a respected female elder.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.- Fagg, William, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 1968. African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, no. 78.
- Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).CMA 1975: "Year in Review 1974," CMA Bulletin LXII (March, 1975), p. 97, no. 26CMA 1975: "Traditions and Revisions," cat. no. 110.CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 78, repr.
- {{cite web|title=Portrait Mask (mblo)|url=false|author=|year=early to mid-1900s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.203