Consulter la cote et le prix de Grebo Mask Double Crests, mid 20th century

Description : Additional Information: A superb and well used wooden mask with large forehead with exaggerate Features including a double crests on top, two tubular eyes, a mouth with prominent lips, , and a pointed  ,nose in the center of the face. , Piercings in each side of nose and around the mask and  ,held a raffia costume. , The surface shows the remain of blue indigo pigment and Kaolin and indicates the mask has been extensively used. The patina and the quality of the wood as well as the style of the mask proof the mask has good age and evidencies much handling.. ,Grebo masks are best known for their influence on early western modern art being found in the collection of Picasso who obtained a Grebo mask from his dealer Kahnweiler in Paris. There is no doubt as to the influence of the Grebo style mask upon the development of western art for they are a complete example of geometry in sculpture with the large face, square mouth, large , forehead, strong nose and tubular eyes. The startling geometry of this mask with tube shaped eyes , flanking the strong profile of the nose under the large bulging forehead and protruding lips is indeed a tour-de-force of sculpture.This offered mask would stand well in any collection. Little is known about the use of masks among the Grebo other than the fact that they are said to have been worn during wars by leaders as a kind of military costume. The masks were worn by the leaders of a warrior’s age set lead and terrify the enemy. Though not worn for warfare today they are worn at the funeral ceremonies of elders. This mask was worn on the face as seen in the eyeholes drilled on either side of the nose. In the past other larger Grebo masks were worn on the top of the head as a kind of helmet. This mask is indeed a great sculpture straddling the world of traditional African sculpture and modern art. The Grebo live in southeast Liberia at the border with the Ivory Coast, with the Bassa people on their west and the Bete and We to their east in the Ivory Coast  ,Recommended Reading: see: G.W. Harley, Masks as Agents of Social Control in Northeast Liberia (1950) W.C. Siegmann and C.E. Schmidt, Rock of the Ancestors (1977). Jacques Kerchache et al. ART OF AFRICA

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