What is Baule sculpture?
The Baule are one of the Akan peoples. They moved west to the Ivory Coast more than 200 years ago and adopted sculptural and masking traditions from their neighbors, the Guro, Senufo and Yaure peoples. Baule masks range from the realistic and refined to the abstract and powerful.
What is Baule art?
Baule art is sophisticated and stylistically diverse. Non-inherited, the sculptor’s profession is the result of a personal choice. The Baule have types of sculpture that none of the other Akan peoples possess. Wooden sculptures and masks allow a closer contact with the supernatural world.
What is the purpose of this Baule sculpture?
The Baule are noted for their fine wooden sculpture, particularly for their ritual statuettes representing ghosts or spirits; these, as well as carved ceremonial masks, were originally associated with the ancestor cult but are increasingly produced for commercial purposes.
What is OWIE Kimou?
The 400,000 Baule who live in central Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa have a rich carving tradition. Many sculpted figures and masks of human form are utilized in personal shrines and in masquerade performances.
When was the Dan mask made?
Dan mask, wood, pigment, late 19th–early 20th century; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York. The roughly 1,500–4,000-foot- (450–1,200-metre-) high Dang (Dans) and Toura mountains are hot and humid and covered with lush vegetation. The area is isolated, and even the most general lines of history are unknown.
Who wore the Baule mask?
Baule mblo mask, early 20th century, Ivory Coast. They never represent ancestors, and are always worn by men. In Baule communities, Mblo performances feature masked dancers who impersonate familiar subjects, ranging from animals to human caricatures. Mblo masks are one of the oldest of Baule art forms.
Who wears the MBLO mask?
Owie Kimou, Portrait Mask (Mblo) of Moya Yanso (Baule peoples) The 400,000 Baule who live in central Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa have a rich carving tradition.
What does the Baule mask symbolize?
This carved wood mask does not represent a single, identifiable animal. It is composed of elements from different animals and represents a “bush spirit,” emphasizing that it has no counterpart on earth. It is a thing of the “bush” – and things of the bush are male and ungovernable.