Baule Mask, Côte d'Ivoire

This dignified and majestic mask is a kpwan, the senior female mask which is the last to appear in the goli dance series. Alain-Michel Boyer notes the kpwan is “praised as ‘the queen of goli’, and therefore the most important figure in the cult, [kpwan] only appears in exceptional circumstances.” (Boyer, Baule, Milan, 2008, p. 50).

The style of the mask is one of great refinement, with the artist pursuing a profoundly balanced composition in which greater weight is given to creating a harmonious interplay of volumes than to surface adornment. Seen from the front, the nose neatly divides the oval face, which has a solemn, peaceful expression, with downcast eyes that are embellished by the presence of delicate scarification marks at the corners and the bridge of the nose. The brows are sweeping curves that echo the form of the high coiffure, which arcs beyond the back edge of the mask, lending the composition a dramatic grandeur. Seen in profile, the graceful line of the forehead continues into the finely modeled nose in a single, sinuous curve. Possessed of a serene and graceful beauty, the kpwan is far removed from the everyday disorder of the world.

 Susan Vogel describes the dance of the kpwan as that “of a woman or an elder, a slow and stately dance. The entrance and exit of [kpwan] are theatrically managed for greatest effect. She appears at the end of a long day of dancing, music, eating, and drinking that leave the village bathed in a sense of euphoria. When the masks arrive, it is nearly dusk, and women have been dancing and singing through the street in anticipation, begging [kpwan] to come.” (Vogel, Baule: African Art, Western Eyes, New Haven, 1997, p. 178).