Yorùbá. <em>Gelede Body Mask</em>, 19th century. Wood, paint, 49 1/2 x 22 x 15 1/2 in. (125.7 x 55.9 x 39.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Corice and Armand P. Arman, 1999.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1999.129_SL3.jpg)

Yorùbá. Gelede Body Mask, 19th century. Wood, paint, 49 1/2 x 22 x 15 1/2 in. (125.7 x 55.9 x 39.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Corice and Armand P. Arman, 1999.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1999.129_SL3.jpg)

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This is a mask? It looks like a sculpture. How would you dance in this!?

You're right, this mask does seem too sculptural and heavy to be worn! However, looks can be deceiving, This "Gelede Body Mask" would be worn by male performers in Benin covering not only the wearers face, but their entire body! I like this mask because it really speaks to the athleticism and fitness required to perform in masquerade. In Gelede, a Yoruba form of masquerade, men perform as respected women from the community.

Gelede is performed to invoke supernatural "Mothers" to bless the community. It can be performed during times of community stress, such as during droughts.

So this covers your whole body. . . but when would someone use this?

This Yoruba Gelede mask would be worn to perform celebrations of women and motherhood and to ensure continued fertility, the dancers are always men which in common in African masking traditions.

Gelede masquerade, can be performed in different circumstances such as the death of a member of the Gelede society, drought, barrenness in women, or an invasion of mosquitos. Its goal is to restore harmony in society, a person, a group, or the whole community. As you move through the exhibit you'll notice these masks start to take life. They weren't intended to be static object, rather a part of a performance.

Gelede Body Mask

Arts of Africa

Becoming New

Masquerade is to some extent always “new.” Each performance varies in response to changes in setting, music, costume, audience, and the performers’ movements. However, circumstances sometimes require the invention of totally new types of masquerade to address new issues.

Ode-lay is a uniquely urban form of masquerade that developed in Sierra Leone’s capital city of Freetown. This mask likely has its origins in the 1960s or ‘70s, when new genres of film, particularly those from or about Asia, inspired novel mask creations. The crowned central figure on this mask, flanked by two pairs of sinuous snarling serpents, may be directly related to the kung fu movies of the period. The imagery of this mask may also recall that of Mami Wata, a pan-African water goddess recognized throughout West Africa and the Caribbean, whose roots lie in the local adaptation of imagery drawing from India, the Pacific, and Europe.

Male Yoruba dancers wear gelede masks at festivals honoring the women of the community. Gelede often serves as a showcase for artistic innovation, with its masks depicting motifs that are both entertaining and critical. The full-body example seen here is a highly unusual artistic reinvention of the gelede form; only about half a dozen are known in Western collections.

CULTURE Yorùbá

MEDIUM Wood, paint

Place Made: Benin

DATES 19th century

DIMENSIONS 49 1/2 x 22 x 15 1/2 in. (125.7 x 55.9 x 39.4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa

ACCESSION NUMBER 1999.129

CREDIT LINE Gift of Corice and Armand P. Arman

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION The object is a Gelede body mask. From bottom to top, its body is a cylindrical form with a protruding abdomen into which two small curved eye holes have been cut. Above the abdomen are hanging breasts. Arms are bent with hands holding a purple and white shawl which is draped around the shoulders. Above the shoulders is a cylindrical neck supporting a helmet mask covered in white pigment with a broad nose and mouth, protruding eyes, and median crest coiffure. There are indigenous repairs along a split in the center of the abdomen at the left side of the back.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Yorùbá. Gelede Body Mask, 19th century. Wood, paint, 49 1/2 x 22 x 15 1/2 in. (125.7 x 55.9 x 39.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Corice and Armand P. Arman, 1999.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1999.129_SL3.jpg)

IMAGE front, 1999.129_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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