Mask (Bwoom)
mid- to late 1800s
Maker Unknown
African Art
Mask (Bwoom), mid- to late 1800s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kuba-style carver. Wood and paint; overall: 43.3 x 31.2 x 28.3 cm (17 1/16 x 12 5/16 x 11 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, James Albert Ford Memorial Fund 1935.304 Among the Bushoong, the central Kuba group, the mask known as bwoom—most typically identified as the head of a hunter-gatherer—forms a triad with a female mask and another male mask. All three are protagonists in the reenactment of the foundation of the Kuba kingdom. Outside the capital, however, bwoom appears in different non-royal contexts, such as the men’s initiation society.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Mask
- Formatted Medium
- Wood and paint
- Dimensions
- Overall: 43.3 x 31.2 x 28.3 cm (17 1/16 x 12 5/16 x 11 1/8 in.)
- Departments
- African Art
- Accession Number
- 1935.304
- Credit Line
- James Albert Ford Memorial Fund
- Exhibitions
- The Silver Jubilee Exhibition, The Mask, The Imagination of Primitive Man, Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art, The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1935: "African Negro Art," cat. no. 463, not reproduced <br>(also to CMA 9/27 - 10/27, 1935), <br>Toledo, OH, Toledo Museum of Art, February 1 - 22, 1959: "The African Image,"cat. no. 164, repr. p. 30.<br>Kansas City, MO, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, 1/18 - 2/25/1962: "The Imagination of Primitive Man, no. 83."<br>NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art" 2/1/00 - 9/3/00<br>MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 44, p. 118, color repr. p. 55.
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 108A Sub-Saharan
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