Face Mask

Late 19th-early 20th century

Possibly Bwa
Uele region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

Little is known about the meaning and use of these masks. Only 20 examples are extant and even their common attribution to the little-known Bwa (or Boa) people remains uncertain. Named pongdudu in early 20th-century written sources, such face masks were described as promising to confer invulnerability during battle, and instilling fear in the enemy. However, recent research has indicated that the relationship between these masks and warfare is fictitious.

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

Culture: Bwa
Title: Face Mask
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.: 1875–1925
Medium: Wood, kaolin, and pigment
Dimensions: H.: 28.6 cm (11 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Samuel A. Marx
Reference Number: 1961.915

Michel Leiris and Jacqueline Delange, African Art, Arts of Mankind, vol. 11 (Thames and Hudson, 1968), p. 119, fig. 116.
Ezio Bassani, “Due Rare Sculture della ‘Raccolta Congolese Cap. E. Piola’ de Parma,” Africa 31, no. 2 (1976), pp. 278-9 (discussed), fig. 4.
Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), p. 494, no. 1278 (ill.).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” African Arts 32, 4 (Winter 1999), p. 27, fig. 12.
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 67, pp. 162-163 (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. 114 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream, A World’s Treasure: the Art Institute, 1893-1993, Nov. 1, 1993–Jan. 9, 1994, cat.

Unknown owner; sold to Jean-Willy Mestach (b. 1921), Brussels, Belgium, before 1961 [personal communication with J-W Mestach, October 1983, documented in curatorial file]. Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chicago, Ill., by 1961; sold to the Art Institute, 1961.

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