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The iconic African mask gets an alternative, dynamic reinvention
The iconic African mask gets an alternative, dynamic reinvention
It’s easy to see when we look at one of the masterpieces of African sculpture why such images could appeal so strongly to a generation that looked for a way out of the impasse of Western art at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. African works seemed to possess precisely what European art appeared to have lost; intense expressiveness, simplicity of technique and clarity. It’s no wonder that artistic rebels Van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin felt the need to invent and strive for a post-impressonism originality.
Featuring 20 works of art - 19 sculpture and one photograph - Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents at New York’s Metropolitan Museum, reflect on the enduring relevance of African masks as a source of inspiration for artists across cultures into the present. High- lights of the installation include whimsical sculptures created from discarded consumption goods by contemporary artists Romuald Hazoumé (b. 1962) and Calixte Dakpogan (b. 1958), both from the Republic of Benin.
Works by Hazoumé and Dakpogan are self-consciously ironical references to the fact that the mask is the African form of expression most renowned in the West. Hazoumé’s signature works on view, including Ear Splitting [top] are faces created from plastic gasoline jerricans, to which features made from a variety of scrap matter are added.
In the mid 1980s the artist began sculptural experiments with black plastic jerry cans, ubiquitous in Benin for transporting black-market petrol from Nigeria. Hazoumé has used the cans as a potent metaphor for all forms of slavery, past and present, drawing parallels with the vessels’ role as crucial but faceless units within commercial systems. The artist conceives of his masks as an homage to West Africa’s masquerade traditions. They also function as portraits of contemporary Beninese society with a humorous twist, as well as multifaceted reflections on the relationship between Africa and the West.
Works by Hazoumé and Dakpogan are self-consciously ironical references to the fact that the mask is the African form of expression most renowned in the West. Hazoumé’s signature works on view, including Ear Splitting [top] are faces created from plastic gasoline jerricans, to which features made from a variety of scrap matter are added.
In the mid 1980s the artist began sculptural experiments with black plastic jerry cans, ubiquitous in Benin for transporting black-market petrol from Nigeria. Hazoumé has used the cans as a potent metaphor for all forms of slavery, past and present, drawing parallels with the vessels’ role as crucial but faceless units within commercial systems. The artist conceives of his masks as an homage to West Africa’s masquerade traditions. They also function as portraits of contemporary Beninese society with a humorous twist, as well as multifaceted reflections on the relationship between Africa and the West.
From artifacts to fine art and now to pop art, Dakpogan draws upon such disparate media as metal from abandoned cars, CDs, combs, and soda cans. The descendent of regal blacksmiths of Porto-Novo in the Republic of Benin he creates ingenious sculptural compositions that reflect upon coastal Benin’s long history of exchanges, which have defined its religious and political history.
Consciously invoking the mask’s importance as it relates to regional expression and to its centrality to the art historical canon, Dakpogan reflects on this status through a highly inventive synthesis of unexpected yet familiar elements.
“All of my sculptures speak of my country, my culture, my surroundings and my beliefs, as well as of the entirety of my worldview,” Dakpogan says. “I work with recovered materials since they are burdened with time and transformed by usage, conferring a degree of vitality upon my sculptures that I wouldn’t be able to attain if I used new materials.” Whatever the effect, his anthropomorphic figures and masks are full to bursting with humour, talent, reference and inventiveness.
“No wonder Gauguin felt the need to invent”
The installation will also include explorations by modern and contemporary American artists in a variety of media to demonstrate further the open-ended potential of the seminal “mask” for dynamic reinvention. Works on view include the iconic photograph Noire et Blanche by Man Ray [bottom right], recent works by influential sculptor Lynda Benglis (b. 1941), and composite creations by Willie Cole (b. 1955). While Benglis’s longstanding interest in African sculpture was the source of inspiration for a series of masks in glass shown here for the first time, Cole pays tribute to classical genres of African masks through assemblages of humble material drawn from his own environment that allow him to reflect on his spiritual attachment to Africa’s material culture.
Western interest in tribal artifacts grew from the colonisation of Africa by Europeans. By 1900, few major artists were untouched by the fascination with African and Oceanic “primitive art”. Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and others were drawn to the styles, motifs and totems of non-Western cultures, as a way to challenge what was felt to be an increasingly sterile post-impressionistic artscape, obsessed by notions of “ideal beauty”.
While Europeans understood these African artifacts through the lens of colonialism, Americans viewed them as symbolic of the legacy of slavery and segregation. Racial biases resulted in the negative perception of African art which has persisted to the present day. But for black American artists, African art serves as an affirmation of their heritage and identity.
In addition to canvas, the camera became an outlet for African culture too. Man Ray was first introduced to African art in 1914 by an exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery in New York. First published on the pages of Paris Vogue, Man Ray’s 1926 photograph Noire et Blanche [below] featuring the model Kiki of Montparnasse posing with African mask - popularised African art and introduced ideas of avant-garde photography to the mainstream. - Georgina Scott
While Europeans understood these African artifacts through the lens of colonialism, Americans viewed them as symbolic of the legacy of slavery and segregation. Racial biases resulted in the negative perception of African art which has persisted to the present day. But for black American artists, African art serves as an affirmation of their heritage and identity.
