Bwa Bayiri Mask

I acquired this mask many years ago from Burkinabe Ali Konaté. Aly was then an art dealer and businessman with a strong interest in Burkina Faso’s culture and wildlife. He would later retire from dealing and go on to become the head of his country’s Dozo society, a fraternity of initiated traditional hunters and their sons. This is a well used, traditional mask, most likely carved around 1950. It is highly abstract with a face dominating the bottom quarter of the structure and a second pair of eyes echoing the other in the second quarter from the top. According to the late connoisseur of Burkina Faso’s traditional sculpture, Bayiri masks are performed frequently by southern Bwa communities during the dry season. They appear at both communal festivities and weekly markets. Bwa plank masks come in a variety of sizes, from 20″ to 7′ and more. At 44″ tall, this beautiful example occupies the sweet spot between petite and enormous.

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