Mask with Headdress, Deangle, We/Dan, Côte d'lvoire or Liberia, 20th century A discussion of object's functions and contexts. Let's look at this mask again and consider its function. There are many masks exhibited in the African collection at the de Young Museum. Masks, like all traditional African art objects, are different from much of the art you will see in a museum because they were never created or intended to be in a museum! Most western and modern art is made to be hung on a wall or put on a pedestal and looked at. Traditional African art is functional; it is made to be used. Its purposes include being touched, talked to, danced with, slept with, sat upon, fed, worn as well as providing aesthetic impact and pleasure. Since African art is made to be used, it is important for us to understand some things about its functions. Masks can serve many purposes, including teaching, making laws, policing, entertaining, and contacting the spirit world. This mask, made by the Dan people of Liberia, was used in bush schools to reassure and comfort boys who were about to go through initiation rites. Young men attend bush schools in order to learn about the responsibilities they will have as men and to prepare for their initiation ceremonies. Masks such as this are used in the teaching process and in the celebration when the young men graduate from bush school. Masks and other ritual objects are used only by certain people in the community. Usually these people must belong to a special group within the community in order to gain the right to use these special and powerful objects. Often, to join these groups people must undergo special training, trials, and tests before they can be initiated into (or join) these societies. For example, to use the deangle mask, someone must be involved with the male initiation ritual. In the museum the mask is out of its context. It is not being used the way it was meant to be used and we are not seeing it the way it was meant to be seen. PART 2-PAGE 1 OF 9
SLIDE 4
HOW WAS THIS OBJECT USED? WHAT PURPOSE DID IT SERVE?
Introduction | Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Slide List | Museum Visit