Baule Ndoma portrait mask
Beauty in traditional African art
In view of the very high sculptural quality of this African mask, it is obvious that it is a court mask or a royal ndoma portrait mask from the Baoulé. There are many details there. First of all, a face that inspires serenity and dignity with a remarkable balance, both from the front and from the side. The headdress is complex, subdivided into several updos themselves bearing streaks. Facial scarifications are not to be outdone: they are found on the temples, at the base of the nose and around the mouth.
There is consensus that the Baoulé and the Yohouré have produced one of the most successful bodies of African art that we know. The refinement worn by the sculptors make these masks objects of incomparable beauty and aesthetics. Thus, if the first European colonists who arrived in Africa claimed to consider the traditional arts of Africa as vulgar, simplistic or poorly mastered, masterpieces such as this one are a fortiori wrong.
01504
Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- Mid XXth century
- Size
- 38 cm
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Wood
- Country
- Origin
- François C. Bazelaire, painter and sculptor, Bruxelles
- Stand
- Included
- Condition
- Excellent
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Beauty in traditional African art
In view of the very high sculptural quality of this African mask, it is obvious that it is a court mask or a royal ndoma portrait mask from the Baoulé. There are many details there. First of all, a face that inspires serenity and dignity with a remarkable balance, both from the front and from the side. The headdress is complex, subdivided into several updos themselves bearing streaks. Facial scarifications are not to be outdone: they are found on the temples, at the base of the nose and around the mouth.
There is consensus that the Baoulé and the Yohouré have produced one of the most successful bodies of African art that we know. The refinement worn by the sculptors make these masks objects of incomparable beauty and aesthetics. Thus, if the first European colonists who arrived in Africa claimed to consider the traditional arts of Africa as vulgar, simplistic or poorly mastered, masterpieces such as this one are a fortiori wrong.