Kifwebe mask, Songye, Congo
KIFWEBE SONGYE MASK, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Kifwebe mask, Songye, Democratic Republic of Congo.
With its exceptionally dynamic volumes and lines, this Kifwebe mask features a bold architecture. Proportions are bold, and volumes and lines are exalted by exceptional dynamics. Highly symbolic, the shapes of kifwebe masks can be deciphered through Songye mythology and cosmogony. Here, the mask's features recall the metaphysical labyrinth through which initiates had to pass during their Bukishi initiation. Note the prominent sagittal crest, which refers to the mountains and to the direction of the East, from which the sun, with which the mask may be associated, comes. Masks were seen as an organ of control reinforcing the power of chiefs and notables, these symbolic components and the powerful architecture of the mask "expressing a form of beauty mixed with awe and grandeur "*, here striking.
Literature: *François Neyt, La redoutable statuaire Songye d'Afrique centrale, 2004, p. 362.
H. approx. 60CM.
Automatically translated by DeepL. The original version is the only legally valid version. To see the original version, switch to the French language.
