Mask
Unidentified Yoruba maker
20th century
Wood and pigment
Overall: 15 15/16 × 10 13/16 × 10 7/16 in. (40.5 × 27.5 × 26.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Harry A. Franklin Family Collection
990.53.27156
Geography
Place Made: Nigeria, Western Africa, Africa
Period
20th century
Object Name
Ceremonial Artifact: Mask
Research Area
Africa
On view
Label
The placement of the open-mouthed snake coiled atop this gelede mask resembles a woman’s headscarf. Snakes appear frequently on gelede masks and carry associations with Ogun, the god of iron and war, who is connected to gelede through his hunters who often have a role in crowd control during performances. A closer connection can be drawn between snakes, creatures of the night, and “our mothers,” who get their power from unseen sources.
From the 2023 exhibition Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, curated by Alexandra Thomas, Curatorial Research Associate
Course History
First Year Student Enrichment Program – Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Colleen Lannon, Summer 2023
First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Mokhtar Bouba, Summer 2023
Philosophy 1.11, Art: True, Beautiful, Nasty, John Kulvicki, Summer 2023
Writing 2.05, Why Write, Anyway?, Erkki Mackey, Fall 2023
Writing 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023
Writing 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023
Exhibition History
Anthropology of Religion, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Anthropology 48, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 30-May 2, 2004.
Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, and Northeast Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 22, 2023–May 25, 2024.
Provenance
Harry A. Franklin, about 1950; to Valerie Franklin (daughter), 1983; given to present collection, 1990.
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