 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|||
|
|||||
|
|
|
The Collector(s) / Donor(s) Simon Ottenberg is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Having studied anthropology at Northwestern University with the famous Africanist Melville Herskovits, he began working in Africa in the early 1950s.His early research focused on various aspects of the Igbo culture of southeastern Nigeria, especially the peoples living in and around the town of Afikpo. In the late 1970s he shifted his research focus to northern Sierra Leone and the Limba people. In addition to his work in anthropology he has been a major contributor to the study of African art. He recently curated an exhibition and wrote a book dealing with a number of artists affiliated with the School of Fine Arts at the Nsukka campus of the University of Nigeria in southeast Nigeria. Since the early 1970s he has been an avid collector of African art. Professor Ottenberg donated a considerable portion of his collection to Michigan State University in 1992. Collector(s) / Donor(s) Statement The Object(s) This is a mask associated with a women's society most frequently referred to as Sande (or Bundu). Sande is an important cultural institution among many of the peoples living in the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. This helmet mask is worn as part of a costume that completely conceals the body of an elder of the the women's society who when wearing the mask is identified as sowei. The masked performer is said to represent a spirit or ngafa. The formal attributes associated with the sowei mask express ideals of moral and physical female beauty and goodness--high forehead, rings around the neck, downcast eyes, small pursed lips, and elaborate hairdo. The sowei mask is an unusual mask in Africa, for it not only represents a female spirit, but is danced by female members of the women's society--throughout the continent, most masks, even those representing women, are usually danced by men. This particular mask was purchased by Ottenberg in Seattle in 1981 from the African art collector and dealer, Michael Heide, who had obtained it from an art trader in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Further Information Books and Articles Ruth Phillips. Representing Woman: The Sande Masquerades of the Mende. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995. Ruth Phillips. "Masking in Mende Sande Society Initiation Rituals." Africa (London) 48 (3) 1978: 265-77. Ruth Phillips. "The Iconography of the Mende Sowei Mask." Ethnologische Zeitschrift Zürich 1 1980: 113-32. Fred Lamp."Cosmos, Cosmetics, and the Spirit of Bondo," African Arts 18 (3) May 1985: 28-43, 98-99. Lester Monts. "Dance in the Vai Sande Society." African Arts 17 (4) Aug 1984: 53-59, 94-95. Daniel Mato and Charles Miller. Sande: Masks and Statues from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Amsterdam: Galerie Balolu, 1990. Internet Resourcesnone
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved. | |
