James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: public domain (CC0) · Museum record & image source ↗

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Idoma-style carver · early 1900s

Headdress

Creator not recorded by the museum

Date: early 1900s
Medium: Wood, human hair, paint, and possibly kaolin
Dimensions: Overall: 20.4 x 17.8 x 16.2 cm (8 1/16 x 7 x 6 3/8 in.)
Country / context: Nigeria
Movement / tradition: African sculpture
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Pathway: African sculpture ↗

FROM THE MUSEUM

This was used in masked performances of the Agrinya society, a powerful guild formerly restricted to men who had killed an elephant, lion, or man. The white pigment connotes the realm of the ancestors, while the aggressive expression of the face seems to suggest the courage of Agrinya society members.

Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

A MOMENT TO LOOK

Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?

Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.

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