Helmet Mask (Mambu)

Description

n Cameroon’s Northwest Province, all-male regulatory associations called Kwifon are in charge of social control and law enforcement and use masquerades to seek the guidance of supernatural forces. This mask, with its bulging cheeks and eyes and striated hairstyle, represents mambu. Dressed with a feather costume, this character precedes the arrival of more powerful and fearsome masks during burials and funerary celebrations of important association members.

Provenance

John J. Klejman (died 1995), J.J. Klejman Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1966; sold to the Art Institute, 1966.

Helmet Mask (Mambu)

Grasslands

Early/mid–20th century

Accession Number

25900

Medium

Wood and pigment

Dimensions

35.6 × 28 × 21 cm (14 × 11 × 8 1/4 in.)

Classification

masks

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

African and Amerindian Art Purchase Fund