Question: What Are The Different Types Of African Masks

Common types of African masks include face masks, which fit over the front of the wearer’s face; helmet masks, which fit over the entire head; and forehead masks, which work like hats that sit horizontally on top of the head with the wearer’s face covered by fabric.

What are the 6 types of African masks?

The more you know about African masks, the more you will come to appreciate their cultural and symbolic significance.

• Common Types Of African Masks.
• Examples of African mask.
• Baule masks.
• Biombo masks.
• Bwa masks.
• Dan masks.
• Goma masks.
• Kota masks.

What do African masks symbolize?

African masks often represent a spirit and it is strongly believed that the spirit of the ancestors possesses the wearer. Ritual ceremonies generally depict deities, spirits of ancestors, mythological beings, good and or evil, the dead, animal spirits, and other beings believed to have power over humanity.

Why are African masks scary?

Masks representing harmful spirits were often used to keep a required balance of power. Masks have also be used to discipline women, children, and criminals. For example, in Africa, a mother might paint a scary face on the bottom of a water gourd to make sure the child followed her directions.

Who wears African masks?

Picasso was hardly alone in his passion for African masks. The list of artists who collected African masks reads like a who’s who of the heavyweights of the art world in the early 20th century. They include Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Man Ray, Jackson Pollock and Edvard Munch.

Why are African masks so important?

The mask wearer can become a sort of medium that allows for a dialogue between the community and the spirits. Most times, the spirits mentioned are those of the dead, or nature-related. Masked dances are a part of most traditional African ceremonies related to weddings, funerals, initiation rites, and cleansing.

What countries still use traditional African masks?

Tribal masks

• Bwa, Mossi and Nuna of Burkina Faso.
• Dan of Liberia and Ivory Coast.
• Dogon and Bamana of Mali.
• Fang (Punu) and Kota of Gabon.
• Yorubo, Nubo, Igbo and Edo of Nigeria.
• Senufo and Grebo, Baule (Guro) and Ligbi (Koulango) of Ivory Coast.
• Temne, Gola and Sande (Sowei) of Sierra Leone.
• Bambara of Mali.

How can you tell if an African mask is real?

An up-close look of the back of the mask. I decided to Google to find out how to determine authenticity.Holes on masks are used to attach the rest of the ceremonial dress.

1. Check the back of the mask for wear, including the holes for fastening the mask on the face.
2. Look for wear from forehead, cheeks, chins and noses.

What is an African passport mask?

Mbole Passport Masks 1-4, DRC The Dan people carried small masks (less than 20 cm high) which are sometimes called “passport” masks. They are sewn onto a piece of cloth and kept in a leather pouch and possibly worn in the small of the back. They are miniature copies of a family mask and sometimes received libations.

What does a mask symbolize?

Masks usually represent supernatural beings, ancestors, and fanciful or imagined figures, and they can also be portraits. The localization of a particular spirit in a specific mask must be considered a highly significant reason for its existence.

Where did African masks originated from?

Almost all peoples have used masks to disguise themselves. Prehistoric rock paintings suggest that masking may have been part of magico-religious ceremonies. An image of an African mask first appeared in the central Sahara thousands of years ago.

What purpose did masks serve in African art?

What purpose did masks serve in African art? They served as a part of a costume during ceremonies and religious rituals. They were vital to there culture and were very meaningful. They represent ancestors that have passed rejoicing them for the certain ceremonies.

What are most African masks shaped like?

As the veneration of defunct ancestors is a fundamental element of most African traditional cultures, it is not surprising that the dead is also a common subject for masks. Masks referring to dead ancestors are most often shaped after a human skull.

What are the characteristics and functions of an African mask?

Quite often, African masks function in religious and social events to represent the spirits of ancestors or to control the good and evil forces in the community. They come to life, possessed by spirits in the performance of dance, and are enhanced by both the music and atmosphere of the occasion.

What are the key features of African masks?

Characteristics of African Masks Most patterns tend to be geometrical and symmetrical and are presented as a form of coded information. Parallel, zigzag, cruciform, curved and spiral lines, representing scarification marks or tattoos, are frequently used to adorn the planes of the mask face.

What are three different forms of African masks?

Common types of African masks include face masks, which fit over the front of the wearer’s face; helmet masks, which fit over the entire head; and forehead masks, which work like hats that sit horizontally on top of the head with the wearer’s face covered by fabric.

What cultures use masks?

10 Fascinating Cultural Masks from Around the World

1. Venetian Carnival Masks. Worn during Carnival in Venice, these world-famous masks date back to the 13th century.
2. Mexican Day of the Dead Masks.
3. Chinese New Year Masks.
4. Brazilian Carnival Masks.
5. Filipino Dinagyang Masks.
6. African Festima Masks.
7. Bahamian Junkanoo Masks.
8. Austrian Krampusnacht Festival Masks.

What are traditional African colors?

“In European art, color is generally understood in terms of the primary colors red, yellow and blue,” says Karen Milbourne, the BMA’s curator of African art. “But throughout much of Africa, the primary colors are red, white and black.

What are 4 forms that are used to create an African mask?

SHAPE: African masks take on many forms. They can be oval, circular, rectangular, elongated or animal, human or a combination.

Why are African dances important?

Music and dancing is an integral part of many traditional African societies. Songs and dances facilitate teaching and promoting social values, celebrating special events and major life milestones, performing oral history and other recitations, and spiritual experiences.

How do you display African masks?

You could simply run a string or wire through the holes of the African mask to hang it, or mount it on a display base with an armature. The metal wire follows the inside perimeter so it cannot be seen through the openings in the mask such as the eyes and mouth.

Who made the first African mask?

Eric Herold estimates these images to have been created by nomadic herdsmen possibly between 3500 and 1500 B.C. (World 9). However, some scholars believe, as Segy has reported, that masks of animal heads were used by Paleolithic man at least 35,000 years ago (Black 44).