Mask Head (Kagba or Navige)

SenufoWW-1900-142694

1900·Wood and pigment·68.6 × 17.2 × 19.1 cm (27 × 6 3/4 × 7 1/2 in.)

<p>When it was performed, this antelope mask head was vertically attached to a tent-shaped construction made from twigs and colored fabric, which hid a male dancer underneath. Kagba appeared primarily at funerals and initiations organized by the all-male Poro association. The last sculptures of this type were apparently created in the early 1960s, when local iconoclastic movements and the unrest triggered by Côte d’Ivoire’s struggle for independence led to the cessation of these practices.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1900
Medium: Wood and pigment
Dimensions: 68.6 × 17.2 × 19.1 cm (27 × 6 3/4 × 7 1/2 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Senufo

Artist

Senufo

The Senufo or Senufic languages comprise around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west of Ghana. The Senufo languages constitute their own branch of the Atlantic–Congo sub-family of the Niger–Congo languages. Anne Garber estimates the total number of Senufos at some 1.5 million; the Ethnologue, based on various population estimates, counts 2.7 million.

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