Bobo. Bolo Mask, early 20th cenutry. Wood, pigment, fiber, 45 1/2 x 14 x 13 in. (115.6 x 35.6 x 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Schindler, 58.184. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 58.184_PS1.jpg)
Bobo. Bolo Mask, early 20th cenutry. Wood, pigment, fiber, 45 1/2 x 14 x 13 in. (115.6 x 35.6 x 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Schindler, 58.184. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 58.184.jpg)
Bobo. Bolo Mask, early 20th cenutry. Wood, pigment, fiber, 45 1/2 x 14 x 13 in. (115.6 x 35.6 x 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Schindler, 58.184. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 58.184_acetate_bw.jpg)
Bolo Mask
Arts of Africa
Becoming Again
Masquerade is a moment for play—a chance to invent and experiment, even within established social needs and existing mask genres. These two pairs of related works demonstrate artistic innovation in existing masquerade genres over time.
The two Bobo works share a basic form—a domed helmet with an extended vertical face, close-set eyes, and ridged horns—typical of Bobo mask style. The archaic features, weathered surface, and evidence of local repairs suggest that the nineteenth-century mask (far left) was a work of considerable local importance. It may represent an intellectual and visual predecessor of the twentieth-century version.
The Senufo kponyugu masks are both horizontal composite animal forms with long, projecting horns, a large, gaping mouth, and fearsome accoutrements such as sharp teeth and claws. Such details relate to Senufo cosmology, legends, and beliefs about the connections between certain animals and the ancestral and nature spirits that connect the living. The bright paint and overexaggerated features of the late twentieth-century version demonstrate how Senufo artists have updated this mask form over time.
Masquerade is a moment for play—a chance to invent and experiment, even within established social needs and existing mask genres. These two pairs of related works demonstrate artistic innovation in existing masquerade genres over time.
The two Bobo works share a basic form—a domed helmet with an extended vertical face, close-set eyes, and ridged horns—typical of Bobo mask style. The archaic features, weathered surface, and evidence of local repairs suggest that the nineteenth-century mask (far left) was a work of considerable local importance. It may represent an intellectual and visual predecessor of the twentieth-century version.
The Senufo kponyugu masks are both horizontal composite animal forms with long, projecting horns, a large, gaping mouth, and fearsome accoutrements such as sharp teeth and claws. Such details relate to Senufo cosmology, legends, and beliefs about the connections between certain animals and the ancestral and nature spirits that connect the living. The bright paint and overexaggerated features of the late twentieth-century version demonstrate how Senufo artists have updated this mask form over time.
CULTURE
Bobo
MEDIUM
Wood, pigment, fiber
DATES
early 20th cenutry
DIMENSIONS
45 1/2 x 14 x 13 in. (115.6 x 35.6 x 33 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Arts of Africa
ACCESSION NUMBER
58.184
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Schindler
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Wood mask, features rather stylistically carved with protruding mouth and eyes, long straight nose, two horns on top of head. Entire front surface covered with fine geometric incised designs. Remains of pinkish substance on facial surface. Black fiber mantle sewn around bottom of mask.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Bobo. Bolo Mask, early 20th cenutry. Wood, pigment, fiber, 45 1/2 x 14 x 13 in. (115.6 x 35.6 x 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Schindler, 58.184. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 58.184_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 58.184_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
