Hemba mask - Suku People - D.R. Congo -SOLD

Price: $0.00


 


The hemba mask (not to be confused with the tribe of the same name) was used in initiation ceremonies for young men. After a long period of training in an nkanda initiation camp, the initiate wore the mask to introduce his new status. When the nkanda session closed, hemba masqueraders danced into the village. The hemba mask served as a safeguard at a time of change for the young adult ("Tudansi"). The Suku live in an area between the rivers Kwango and Kwilu in The Democratic Republic of The Congo (formerly Zaire). 15"H x 8"W x 10"D NOTE: THIS PIECE IS FORMERLY OF THE CHARLES ROBERTSON COLLECTION. Charles Robertson donated part of his collection to Dr. Barbara Blackmun of Mesa College in 1983. He grew up in Loebo, Zaire ( now the Democratic Republic of Congo), with missionary parents who had collected some objects that Charles remembers seeing in the house when he was young.  When he returned to the States after graduating from boarding school in the 1970s, he married a young woman in San Diego, and this became their home.  In the early 1980s, his parents retired and moved to the islands off the coast of the Carolinas, where  they donated a number of African artworks from their collection to the High Museum in Atlanta. Before moving here, Charles had purchased artworks of his own in the early 1970s in Zaire, which  he displayed together with pieces he had chosen from his parents collectin until his wife objected that she did not want them decorating her home!  After keeping them in the garage for awhile, he offered to donate his collection to Mesa College.  A few years later, his parents also sent Dr . Blackmun their remaining figures and masks. When the High Museum hired a new curator who did not want to focus on Africa, they also sent Dr. Blackmun their Robertson pieces. About 1986 Dr. Blackmun curated an exhibit of the collection in the Mesa College Art Gallery, called "For Spirit and Status", and that started Mesa's quest for further acquisitions. According to Dr. Blackmun,the Robertsons probably acquired most of the pieces in the 1960's and early 1970s. SOLD