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Lot Essay
WHERE MASKS ARE GODS AMONG MEN
by Bruno Claessens
The Grebo live rather isolated in the southeastern part of Liberia. Until the late 1960s, they were cut of from the modernized regions of Liberia because of their location in and around innumerable rivers that widen into connecting swamps or span impassable deltas. The inaccessibility of this region explains the lack of broad knowledge about their culture and traditions, unlike some of the other bigger mask cultures in the border region between Liberia and Ivory Coast. The fact that their culture bears the unmistakable imprints of their northern neighbors the Dan and the Kran is to blame on the fact they had to pass through their territories when travelling outside their region. These infuences can be observed in their art, which is true especially for their masks. Many Grebo masks in fact have been for a long period unrightfully ascribed to the Dan and Kran. Only in the last decades of the twentieth century the art of the Grebo has been fully recognized as a distinctive artistic tradition. The present mask, previously unpublished, is a highlight of their culture.
Several types of Grebo masks exist, they are known to portray the ideal woman, the face of youth, or even old men. The design of Grebo masks distinguishes male and female masks, and both can have one or more pairs of carved wooden horns on top. While male masks are often composed of geometric shapes and sometimes tend towards abstraction, female examples have a comparatively naturalistic face that conforms to Grebo ideals of feminine beauty. This type was presumably adopted from the Dan, whose stylistic influence can be discerned in this carefully worked mask: it has a scarifcation line on the forehead, slit eyes, a narrow triangular-shaped nose with an accentuated ridge, an open mouth and simple C-shaped ears.
Typical for the masks of the Grebo is the polychrome painting of the face.
It can consist of ornamental dots or can take the form of other abstract patterns, each color and shape being symbolic. Similar facial paintings might have been observed on diviners or dancers. Masks can also be dyed in horizontal or vertical halves in white and black or black and red. Others, such as the present mask, are characterized by an organization in different colored areas and bands, accentuating the different facial features. Both the eyes and mouth of this mask, for example, are framed by blue pigment. The three used primary colors, white, red and blue, add an additional layer of meaning to the mask and must have enhanced the spectators’ awe when this mask performed. This polychromic painting does set the masks of the Grebo apart within the region. A second typical feature of Grebo masks is the extensive use of hair to decorate the mask, here forming a beard at the rim of the face. Lastly, the use of real teeth, as well humanizes this spirit of another world.
In Grebo mythology, ‘masks are gods among men’, quoting the Italian collector Mario Meneghini in his article The Grebo Mask (African Arts, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1974: pp. 36-39). In view of their essential function, which is to make sensible the invisible realm, masks are not complete in themselves but must be mounted on a straw structure and animated from inside by a human dancer. The ‘earthly heaven’ from which the masked figures come out is a particular area within the forest where the rituals and ceremonies take place. When masks are called to perform, it is either for ritual purposes to be seen only by initiates, or for entertaining people on particular festive occasions. They are protected by various taboos, the transgressions of which are punishable by death.
Within its type this Grebo mask is one of the best surviving examples. The archaic style and the venerable depth of the surface of the surface suggest it is of great age. A very similar mask, although slightly less refined, is held by British Museum (#Af1970,21.2) and was acquired from Mario Meneghini in 1970. The overall design is very similar, with a large forehead with a central ridge, slit eyes, triangular-shaped nose and an oval-shaped teethed mouth. This mask has a separately carved wooden headdress featuring two large horns that is attached to the top through a wooden peg. Hair is inserted into the mask to portray eyebrows and a beard. It is covered with white dots. Another delicately carved horned Grebo mask, formerly in the collection of Josef Mueller and acquired prior to 1942, is in the Barbier-Mueller Collection in Geneva (#1003.10).
by Bruno Claessens
The Grebo live rather isolated in the southeastern part of Liberia. Until the late 1960s, they were cut of from the modernized regions of Liberia because of their location in and around innumerable rivers that widen into connecting swamps or span impassable deltas. The inaccessibility of this region explains the lack of broad knowledge about their culture and traditions, unlike some of the other bigger mask cultures in the border region between Liberia and Ivory Coast. The fact that their culture bears the unmistakable imprints of their northern neighbors the Dan and the Kran is to blame on the fact they had to pass through their territories when travelling outside their region. These infuences can be observed in their art, which is true especially for their masks. Many Grebo masks in fact have been for a long period unrightfully ascribed to the Dan and Kran. Only in the last decades of the twentieth century the art of the Grebo has been fully recognized as a distinctive artistic tradition. The present mask, previously unpublished, is a highlight of their culture.
Several types of Grebo masks exist, they are known to portray the ideal woman, the face of youth, or even old men. The design of Grebo masks distinguishes male and female masks, and both can have one or more pairs of carved wooden horns on top. While male masks are often composed of geometric shapes and sometimes tend towards abstraction, female examples have a comparatively naturalistic face that conforms to Grebo ideals of feminine beauty. This type was presumably adopted from the Dan, whose stylistic influence can be discerned in this carefully worked mask: it has a scarifcation line on the forehead, slit eyes, a narrow triangular-shaped nose with an accentuated ridge, an open mouth and simple C-shaped ears.
Typical for the masks of the Grebo is the polychrome painting of the face.
It can consist of ornamental dots or can take the form of other abstract patterns, each color and shape being symbolic. Similar facial paintings might have been observed on diviners or dancers. Masks can also be dyed in horizontal or vertical halves in white and black or black and red. Others, such as the present mask, are characterized by an organization in different colored areas and bands, accentuating the different facial features. Both the eyes and mouth of this mask, for example, are framed by blue pigment. The three used primary colors, white, red and blue, add an additional layer of meaning to the mask and must have enhanced the spectators’ awe when this mask performed. This polychromic painting does set the masks of the Grebo apart within the region. A second typical feature of Grebo masks is the extensive use of hair to decorate the mask, here forming a beard at the rim of the face. Lastly, the use of real teeth, as well humanizes this spirit of another world.
In Grebo mythology, ‘masks are gods among men’, quoting the Italian collector Mario Meneghini in his article The Grebo Mask (African Arts, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1974: pp. 36-39). In view of their essential function, which is to make sensible the invisible realm, masks are not complete in themselves but must be mounted on a straw structure and animated from inside by a human dancer. The ‘earthly heaven’ from which the masked figures come out is a particular area within the forest where the rituals and ceremonies take place. When masks are called to perform, it is either for ritual purposes to be seen only by initiates, or for entertaining people on particular festive occasions. They are protected by various taboos, the transgressions of which are punishable by death.
Within its type this Grebo mask is one of the best surviving examples. The archaic style and the venerable depth of the surface of the surface suggest it is of great age. A very similar mask, although slightly less refined, is held by British Museum (#Af1970,21.2) and was acquired from Mario Meneghini in 1970. The overall design is very similar, with a large forehead with a central ridge, slit eyes, triangular-shaped nose and an oval-shaped teethed mouth. This mask has a separately carved wooden headdress featuring two large horns that is attached to the top through a wooden peg. Hair is inserted into the mask to portray eyebrows and a beard. It is covered with white dots. Another delicately carved horned Grebo mask, formerly in the collection of Josef Mueller and acquired prior to 1942, is in the Barbier-Mueller Collection in Geneva (#1003.10).