About the lot N° 2514
Title : A Vai Or Gola Helmet Mask
Notes : Provenance:Charles Jones African ArtExhibited:Governors State University, IL, 2003 Krannert Art Museum, IL, 2003Belger Art Foundation/University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO, 2004Tall Grass Art Association, IL, 2005Published:Bourgeois and Rodolitz, REMNANTS OF RITUAL: SELECTIONS FROM THE GELBARD COLLECTION OF AFRICAN ART, Ethnos, New York, 2003, p.7, fig.15Among the Gola, Vai and other neighboring peoples of the Sierra Leone/Liberia Border, young girls are initiated into a secret society at puberty called “Sande” that reinforces proper feminine behavior, and teaches moral guidelines. At times throughout the initiation, masked female dancers, (some of the only female maskers in Africa) will appear and dance in costumes wearing helmet masks known as “Sowei” along with a shaggy fiber costume. Particularly striking in this example is the interplay of sharp, tight, up-sweeping forms rising from massive planar and rounded shapes, the contrast between the upper and lower halves in perfect harmony.Bonhams 2, auctioneer, New York, US
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Sale title : Fine African and Oceanic Art
Sale date : 13 Nov 2007
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Sale Reference : Live Sale
