Tabwa Mask, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mauricio and Emilia Lasansky, Iowa City, by the early 1980s
By descent to the present owners

The Tabwa inhabited the southern reaches of the Western Rift in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northeastern Zambia. The borders between the Tabwa homeland and those of their neighbors were highly permeable, giving the Tabwa prolonged exposure to and interaction with the neighboring Bembe, Tumbwe, Luba and Hemba peoples. The art of the Tabwa, like other aspects of their culture, has been profoundly influenced by such contact. See Roberts (in Maurer and Roberts 1985: 1-10) and Grunne (in Maurer and Roberts 1985: 91-96) for further discussion.

Masks are extremely rare among the Tabwa and exist in the form of zoo- and anthropomorphic helmet masks as well as anthropomorphic (only) face masks. The Lasansky mask is one of only three known sculptures of the latter category. The other examples are: one in The University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City (inv. no. "848.1983", first published in Arts d'Afrique Noire, No. 30, Été 1979, p. 12); and another in a private collection (Christie's, London, December 1, 1982, lot 202). Evan M. Maurer (in Schmalenbach 1988: 274, cat. 179) tentatively identified a third mask in the Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva, as Tabwa although this mask was not included in his and Allan F. Roberts' catalog raisonné of Tabwa art (Maurer and Roberts 1986: 219-278).

Of these masks, the mask in the University of Iowa Museum and the Lasansky Mask share so many features in common that they must be considered works by the same artist. In their discussion of the Iowa mask, Maurer and Roberts (1986: 159) note: "People living in the Marungu Massif speak of a mask called kinkalankasu, used to threaten and freighten unruly children. This is said to be a kifwebe, a generic term for 'mask' borrowed from western Luba-influenced Tabwa practice. A dancer might dress in a costume of plantain leaves and dance a step called kitwela; children would be told that this intimidating figure was a kizumu, a 'half man, half serpent' coming to take away those who lack discipline and respect. The shape of the eyes [of the Iowa as well as the Lasansky masks] is similar to the cowrie-shell motifs carved into the first band of the coiffure. The balamwezi pattern forms the upper register of the coiffure."