Fish Mask

Arts of Africa

Late 19th/early 20th century

Bwa
Burkina Faso
Central Africa

Among the Bwa, families and lineages have special relationships with nature spirits and ancestors. Such beings are embodied through masquerades that reenact mythic events. In performance, an elderly man carrying a fish net pursues the fish mask shown here. The fish allows the man to capture it, sacrificing itself for the survival of its human counterpart. In contrast, the dwarf mask [see 2000.313] is performed only by the Bondé family and is much smaller in scale than the average Bwa mask. It honors an ancestor who was famed for his knowledge and abilities in the wilderness. As he lay dying, he asked to be remembered with a mask carved to his size.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Bwa
Title: Fish Mask
Place: Burkina Faso (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.: 1875–1925
Medium: Wood and pigment
Dimensions: 114.3 × 17.8 cm (45 × 7 in.)
Credit Line: Mrs. Chauncey B. Borland Fund
Reference Number: 1958.116

Charles H. Long, Alpha: The Myths of Creation (New York: George Braziller, 1963), n. pag., pl. 18.
Allen Wardwell, Primitive Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1965), fig. 68 (ill.).
Clara Granzotto and Ken Sutherland. 2023. “Black, Red and White: Characterization of Painting Materials on a Group of Bwa Masks from Burkina Faso” Applied Sciences 13, no. 22: 12240.
https://doi.org/10.3390/app132212240

John J. Klejman (died 1995), J.J. Klejman Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1958; sold to the Art Institute, 1958.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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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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