Image Unavailable
Mask (mwana pwo)
c. 1930s
Maker Unknown
African Art
Mask (mwana pwo), c. 1930s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo or Angola, Chokwe-style maker. Wood, reeds, plant fiber, burlap, natural fiber (possibly cotton), and colorant; overall: 21.6 cm (8 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White 1978.27 Emotional well-being and stability are valued in many African cultures and these qualities are mirrored in the Mwana Pwo Face Mask. It embodies ideal cultural standards of feminine beauty (beauty marks, elaborate hairstyle, fertility, and good character) and represents a distinguished female ancestor among Chokwe communities of southwestern Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. The mask would have been danced by an itinerant male performer wearing a body suit and role-playing as a woman; women do not typically wear masks in most African societies.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Mask
- Formatted Medium
- Wood, reeds, plant fiber, burlap, natural fiber (possibly cotton), and colorant
- Dimensions
- Overall: 21.6 cm (8 1/2 in.)
- Departments
- African Art
- Accession Number
- 1978.27
- Credit Line
- Gift of Katherine C. White
- Exhibitions
- Year in Review: 1978, Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art, CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 238, repr.<br>CMA 1979: "Year in Review 1978," CMA Bulletin LXVI (Jan., 1979), p. 42, no. 21, repr. p. 41.
- Rights Statement
- Copyrighted
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