Helmet Mask (Mukenga)

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Edward Hopper

Late 19th/mid–20th century

Kuba
Kasai region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

Formed in the seventeenth century, the Kuba Kingdom unites an ethnically diverse population across the Western Kasai region of today’s Democratic Republic of the Congo. This mask, mukenga, is a regional variant of a Kuba royal mask that is made only in the northern part of the kingdom. The mask’s form and lavish embellishment are associated with wealth and status. Cowrie shells and glass beads, once highly valued imports, cover much of its surface. A stylized elephant trunk and tusks rise from the top, evoking the powerful animal and the wealth accrued by the Kuba in the nineteenth century through control of the ivory trade. The tuft of red parrot feathers that is suspended from the tip of the trunk and the fur of a spotted feline on the mask’s face are insignias of rank.

During the funerals of titled aristocrats, a member of the men’s initiation society may dance wearing the mukenga mask and an elaborate costume that includes many layers of woven raffia skirts and cowrie- and bead-laden belts, gloves, bracelets, and anklets. The deceased is laid out in identical attire, underscoring the association between the spirit, which is manifested through the performance of the mask, and the realm of the ancestors.

On View: Arts of Africa, Gallery 137

Artist: Kuba
Title: Helmet Mask (Mukenga)
Origin: Kasai-Occidental
Date: 1875–1950
Medium: Wood, glass beads, cowrie shells, feathers, raffia, fur, fabric, thread, and bells
Dimensions: 57.5 × 24.1 × 20.3 cm (22 5/8 × 9 1/2 × 8 in.)
Credit Line: Laura T. Magnuson Fund
Reference Number: 1982.1504

Francois Neyt, Traditional Arts and History of Zaire: Forest Cultures and Kingdomes of the Savannah (Louvain: Institute Supérieur d’Archéologie et d’Historie de l’Art; Brussels: Société d’Arts Primitifs, 1981), p. 157, fig. VIII.5.
Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 1982-83 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1983), pp. cover, 7 (fig. 8), 35 (ill.).
Marianna Torgovnick, Gone Primitive: Savage Intellects, Modern Lives (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), p. 93, fig. 4.2.
David Binkley, "The Teeth of the Nyim: The Elephant and Ivory in Kuba Art," in Elephant: The Animal and its Ivory in African Culture, exh. cat., ed. Doran H. Ross (Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995), p. 287, fig. 13–12.
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Lion's Trail: A Family Gallery Hunt” (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998).
Jean Sousa, “Looking at Art Together: Families and Lifelong Learning” (Art Institute of Chicago, 2002), p. 11.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide, revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), p. 23 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago The Essential Guide, revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), p. 13 (ill.).

Peter Loebarth, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, by 1982; Jacques Hautelet, Brussels, Belgium, and La Jolla, Calif., before 1982; sold to the Art Institute, 1982.