Face Mask (Ngady Mwaash)

Late 19th-mid 20th century

Kuba
Kasai region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

The ngady mwaash mask honors the role of women in Kuba life. It portrays a woman but, like other masks in Africa, is performed by a man. The most popular appearance of ngady mwaash is in a pantomime about the kingdom’s creation: ngady mwaash dances together with the mooshamb-wooy mask, representing the king (who is both her brother and her husband), and the bwoom mask [See 1982.1506].

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Kuba
Title: Face Mask (Ngady Mwaash)
Place: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1875–1950
Medium: Wood, pigment, glass beads, cowrie shells, fabric, and thread
Dimensions: 31.8 × 20.6 × 20.5 cm (12 1/2 × 8 1/8 × 10 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the American Hospital Supply Corp., the Evanston Associates of the Woman's Board in honor of Wilbur Tuggle, Deborah Stokes and Jeffrey Hammer, William E. Hartmann, Charles A. Meyer, D. Daniel Michel, and Claire B. Zeisler; African and Amerindian Art Purchase Fund
Reference Number: 1982.1505

Francois Neyt, Arts Traditionnels et Histoire au Zaire (Societe d’Arts Primitifs, 1981), p. 158 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), p. 151, fig. 1.

Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer München, Nov. 10, 1979, Ethnographic Art, 34, lot 282, as Ngaady Mwaash [illustrated on cover of auction catalogue; p. 83]; sold to Jacques Hautelet, Brussels, Belgium, and La Jolla, CA [personal communication from J. Hautelet, Oct. 2013, documented in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1982.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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