Initiation into the powerful Dó association is central to spiritual and social practices of Tussian culture in Burkina Faso. In preparation for its most important event that occurs only every forty years, initiates stay in seclusion for three months. They are in turn given the names of a variety of animals associated with tutelary spirits represented through mask forms. These masks become the property of the newly named initiates. This highly abstract and whimsical example consists of a wooden helmet surmounted by a stylized representation of a buffalo, an animal associated with ideas of leadership and prestige. A zigzag representation of a bird associated with Dó’s leadership, is featured at back.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Buffalo Helmet Mask (Kablé)
Date:19th–early 20th century
Geography:Burkina Faso, Province du Kénédougou
Culture:Northern Tussian or Siemu
Medium:Wood
Dimensions:H. 27 1/2 x W. 14 3/4 x D. 11 7/8in. (69.9 x 37.5 x 30.2cm)
Classification:Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Accession Number:1979.206.47
Félix Fénéon, Paris, by 1924; [John J. Klejman, New York, until 1954]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1954, on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1956–1978
Art Institute of Chicago. "Senufo Sculpture from West Africa," Wednesday, February 20, 1963–Sunday, May 5, 1963.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Senufo Sculpture from West Africa," Wednesday, February 20, 1963–Sunday, May 5, 1963.
Museum of Primitive Art. "Senufo Sculpture from West Africa," February 20, 1963–May 5, 1963.
Museum of Primitive Art. "Masterpieces from the Americas," May 20, 1964–November 11, 1964.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "The Language of African Art," April 10, 1970–September 10, 1970.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nelson Rockefeller Vision: In Pursuit of 'The Best' in the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas," October 7, 2013–October 9, 2014.
Bulletin de la vie artistique (August 15, 1924), p. 356, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6107937r/f6.item.
Masterpieces of African Art. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1954, no. 23.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 292.
Elisofon, Eliot, and William B. Fagg. The Sculpture of Africa. New York: Hacker Art Books, 1978 [1958], no. 109.
Roy, Christopher D. African sculpture: The Stanley collection. Iowa City: University of Iowa Museum of Art, 1979.
Trost, Franz. "Bemerkungen zur religiosen organization der Tussian." Archiv für Völkerkunde vol. 40 (1986), pp. 99–114.
Roy, Christopher D. Art of the Upper Volta Rivers. Meudon: Alain et Francoise Chaffin, 1987.
Nooter, Nancy Ingram, and Warren Robbins. African Art in American Collections: Survey 1989. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, no. 140.
Trost, Franz. Ethonarchäologie in Südwest Burkina-Faso. Vol. vol. 1. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1993.
Ketandi Barro, Soungalo Coulibaly, and Hannes Wiesmann. Wín wɛlɔ dúkúrí: Dictionnaire toussian-français, français-toussian. Banfora, Burkina Faso: Société Internationale de Linguistique, 2004.
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