Helmet Mask (Lipiko)

Arts of Africa

Early to mid-20th century

Attributed to Diteka (active early- to mid-20th century)
Makonde
Mozambique
Eastern and Southern Africa

Incarnating ancestral spirits, Makonde helmet masks appear in dances that celebrate the conclusion of initiation rituals for adolescent boys and girls. In this dark-brown male example, real human hair has been applied to the skull in irregular patterns that imitate a once-fashionable hairstyle. Other lifelike characteristics include angular scarification marks and chipped teeth. The artist’s proper name—Diteka—is inscribed in Swahili on the mask’s cheek.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Makonde
Artist: Diteka
Title: Helmet Mask (Lipiko)
Places: Mozambique (Object made in), Africa (Object made in)
Date: 1900-1950
Medium: Wood, pigment, and human hair
Inscriptions: Diteka (left side of head)
Dimensions: H.: 26 cm (10 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Through prior bequest of Florene May Schoenborn
Reference Number: 2017.106

William Rubin (ed.). 1984. “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, vol. 1, exh. cat. (Museum of Modern Art, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts; Dallas Museum of Art), p. 39.
Alain Nicolas and Marianne Sourrieu. 1996. Arman & l’art africain, exh. cat. (Musée d’Arts africains, océaniens, amérindiens, Marseilles; Musée national des arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris; Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne; Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren; Museum for African Art, New York). Marseilles: Musée de Marseille - Réunion des Musées nationaux), pg. 130, cat. 103 (ill.).
Peter Stepan. 2005. Spirits Speak: A Celebration of African Masks (Munich/London/New York: Prestel Verlag), pg. 180, pl. 122 (ill.)
Jacques Germain. 2017. Art Ancien de l’Afrique Noire, vol. VIII. (Paris and Montreal, Jacques Germain Arts Ethnographiques, Inc.), pp. 136-137 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 71, pp. 178-179 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis, “Making Objects Speak at the Art Institute of Chicago: A New Publication and a Refurbished Arts of Africa Gallery,” in Tribal Art magazine (No. 99, Spring 2021), p. 108 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis, ed., The Language of Beauty in African Art, ex. cat. (Yale University Press, 2022), cat. no. 220, p. 243 (ill.).

New York, Museum of Modern Art, “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern; traveled to Detroit Institute of Arts and Dallas Museum of Art), cat. vol. 1, pg. 39.
Marseille, Musée d’arts Africains, Océaniens, Amérindiens, Arman & l’art africain, June 23-October 30, 1996; traveled to Musée national des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris, December 3, 1996-February 17, 1997; Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Museum für Völkerkunde, Cologne, March-June 1997, cat. 103, pg. 130.
Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas, “The Language of Beauty in African Art”, April 3-July 31, 2022; Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 20, 2022 - Feb. 27, 2023, cat. no. 220.

Arman (Armand Pierre Fernandez, 1928-2005), Paris and New York, by 1984 [William Rubin (ed.), 1984, p. 39]; by descent to Corice Canton Arman, New York, from 2005 [Peter Stepan, 2005, No. 122, p. 180]; sold to Jacques Germain, Montreal, 2016 [personal correspondence with J. Germain; J. Germain, 2017, pp. 136-137]; sold to the Art Institute, 2017.

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