E13: Funerary Masks: Africa

It's the start of Raven's multi-parter on funerary and death masks! We cover masks and traditions from different regions of Africa and discuss Art History ethics.

TW: Racism and colonization.

Sources

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/64312/funerary-mask

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545147

https://smarthistory.org/tutankhamuns-tomb-innermost-coffin-and-death-mask/

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/african-masks-connecting-with-the-afterlife/cgISUlZn5SE-IQ

https://new.artsmia.org/programs/teachers-and-students/teaching-the-arts/five-ideas/african-masks-and-masquerades

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-africa/african-art-introduction/african-art-europe/a/reception-of-african-art-in-the-west2

Recommended

https://youtu.be/eJPLiT1kCSM

Images

Fig. 1: Funerary mask of Hatnefer. c. 1492-1473. Cartonnage, gold, travertine (Egyptian alabaster), obsidian, ebony. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Funerary_mask_of_Hatnefer_MET_vshatnofermask.jpg

Fig. 2: Death Mask from innermost coffin, Tutankhamun’s tomb. c. 1323 B.C.E. Gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CairoEgMuseumTaaMaskMostlyPhotographed.jpg

Fig. 3: Kpele Kpele Mask. Baule. 19th century. Wood, reconstructed raffia collar. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota.

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1478/kpele-kpele-mask-baule

Fig. 4: Mask. Bamum. 20th Century. Wood. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota. https://collections.artsmia.org/art/5602/mask-bamum