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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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.