Mask

Late 19th century

Sha or Kulere
Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

This strikingly abstract mask was once covered with potent red abrus seeds that were held in place by a resin paste. It would have been used in initiation rituals for one of six age-grade associations. Among the Sha people, a mask like this one represents a male spirit called Akirang who had a female counterpart named Aja. The Kulere equivalent of Akirang was Asho, a spirit associated with human and agricultural fertility.

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

Culture: Sha
Title: Mask
Place: Nigeria (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.: 1867–1900
Medium: Wood and rubber
Dimensions: H.: 64.8 cm (25 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Richard Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
Reference Number: 2000.319
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/155960/manifest.json

Werner Gillon, Collecting African Art (New York: Rizzoli, 1980), pp. 84 (ill.).
Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection (Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1997), pp. 22-23, 106; fig. 11; cat. 49 (ill.).

Phoenix Art Museum, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection, Dec. 13, 1997-Feb. 8, 1998, cat. 49; traveled to Chicago, The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, May 14-June 28, 1998, Urbana-Champaign, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sept. 18-Nov. 1, 1998, New York, N.Y., The Museum for African Art, Jan. 29-March 28, 1999, Davenport Museum of Art, Apr.18-June 13, 1999, New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Sept. 12-Nov. 24, 1999, and The Boise Art Museum, Feb. 26-May 7, 2000.
Art Institute of Chicago, African Artistry: Gifts from the Faletti Family Collection, Oct. 5–May 18, 2003, Gallery 142, no. cat.

Ralph Nash, London, by 1972 [this and the following according to personal conversation from R. Faletti dated July 26, 2000, documented in curatorial file]; Michel Huguenin, Galerie Majestic, Paris, by 1972 [Arts Primitif in Arts d’Afrique Noire, vol. 3 (1972), back cover]; sold to Alan Mann, London, by 1989; sold to Judith Nash, Judith Small Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1989 [see correspondence in curatorial file]; sold to Richard Faletti (died 2006) and Barbara Faletti (died 2000), Chicago, Ill. and Phoenix, Ariz., 1989 [invoice of sale daed March 15, 1989, in curatorial file]; given to the Art Institute, 2000.

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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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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.