Helmet Mask (Mambu)

n Cameroon’s Northwest Province, all-male regulatory associations called Kwifon are in charge of social control and law enforcement and use masquerades to seek the guidance of supernatural forces. This mask, with its bulging cheeks and eyes and striated hairstyle, represents mambu. Dressed with a feather costume, this character precedes the arrival of more powerful and fearsome masks during burials and funerary celebrations of important association members.

About the sculpture

Particulars

Neighbors at Art Institute of Chicago

On the same theme · Masks

Not receiving at present

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

The Bedroom, 1889

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884–86, border added 1888–89

Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877

Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881

The Basket of Apples, c. 1893

Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890–91

American Gothic, 1930

Nighthawks, 1942

Mask of Rose Beuret, ca. 1880–82 or 1898

Program Design for the Théâtre Libre, 1890

Kotsuis and Hohhuq-Nakoaktok, 1914

Fête foraine (Fair), from Transmutations, 1934-1935, printed 1967

Transmutations, 1934–1935

Tentation de Saint Antoine (Temptation of Saint Anthony), from Transmutations, 1934-1935, printed 1967

The Ridotto Pubblico at Palazzo Dandolo, ca. 1765–68

Venise sauvée (Venice Preserved), 1895