Additional information
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Wé Mask
This Teé Gla (bravery mask) from Western Côte d’Ivoire is embellished with fiber-filled textile balls simulating medicinal pouches and amulets worn by hunters for protection. It is my belief that these medicinal balls and pouches we see across Africa in conjunction with personal protection are related to phylacteries. The areas where these were historically found are contiguous from the Middle East across North Africa, down through the desert where they peter out as you move south. The wide eyes, bold red paint and overhanging forehead of this mask are intended to project authority. This example is unusual for being framed in indigenous cloth rather than cartridge shells or ersatz leopard claws. It’s a grand, well-used mask from around the time of Côte d’Ivoire’s mid-century independence, a time of pride and promise. Wé masks were hugely influential on Picasso and, by extension, modernism. Ex private collection, Texas.
12″
