Attribution Incomplete Notice
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Artwork Details
Culture
Creation Date
Materials
Object Types
Dimensions
65 x 32 x 24 in.
Accession Number
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Eiteljorg
Copyright
Collection
Color Palette
Provenance
(Lamine); sold on 17 October 1974 to Harrison Eiteljorg [1903-1997] Indianapolis, Indiana; given to the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields in 1989.
Gallery Labels
The men who wear these impressive masks, as helmets, can see through the snout. They appear during initiation activities of the men's Poro association. The masquerader escorts the boys into the initiation school in the bush and announces their return to the village.
As spiritual overseer of Poro initiation proceedings, the masker pretends to devour the youths. Later, they are believed to be reborn from his stomach, as though through a womb. The prominent teeth and red mouths of these masks may allude to the ritual devouring.
This mask's imagery combines the opposing forces of nature and civilization. Natural forces of the universe are symbolized by the "great bush spirit," which can be seen in the mask's great size and crocodile-like mouth with movable lower jaw. Civilization is symbolized by the "legendary first ruler," an ancestor who is identified by the nose and other human facial features-the beard, bushy eyebrows, and ear hair and nose hair of an elder.
Exhibition History
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
University of Indianapolis
March 23, 1980 - April 3, 1980
Indianapolis Museum of Art at Columbus
February 10, 1977 - April 3, 1977
Indianapolis Museum of Art
April 14, 1976 - May 23, 1976
More from the Collection
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Metadata about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection comes from Newfields’ records and research. In some cases, information may be incomplete and research is ongoing. Newfields’ goal is to have as up-to-date metadata as possible, therefore, this information is subject to change. Newfields collections’ metadata is available under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which allows for re-use without legal restrictions.
Artworks that appear in the image file(s) above may be in copyright or have other legal and/or cultural restrictions to their use. For clarity, Newfields does not claim copyright to the image files created by Newfields of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Newfields makes every effort to ascertain the copyright status of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Please refer to the RightsStatements.org statement above for information about the current copyright status of the artwork. Additionally, some artworks may include Local Context’s Notices or Labels that attribute cultural authority of the artwork’s heritage and data.
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