Monday, April 03, 2023

More Unboxing

This Bobo-Bwa owl plank mask with horns front and back, was collected in Mali 1960. The Bwa live along the border of Burkina Faso and Mali.

There are four horns in front, and three in back. This mask is 12” wide and 57” tall. The face bowl is on the bottom with eye holes, with rest of the mask towering 4 feet over the head of the wearer, making the whole costume about 10 feet tall.

This piece used to be on loan to the Museum of African art back in the mid-1960s, before it became part of the Smithsonian. Back then, the National Museum of African Art was a private educational institution created by Warren M. Robbins, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer (as was my father) to promote cross-cultural understanding. The museum was located in a townhouse that had been the home of Frederick Douglas. In 1979, the museum became part of the Smithsonian Institution.

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