Goli Mask: Kplekple (Female)
20th century
Goli masks are in abundant supply. One can be purchased from galleries online, some of which promote them as the “most abstract” of all African art. These faces are akin to stop signs, eliminating all but the most essential features to form a blunt graphic statement. Attraction to their form is often immediate, as it was for the writer Paul Morand who saw one while traveling in 1928. He wrote in Paris-Tombouctou: “The monster’s head is so beautiful, red and black, coloured in two tones, ….that I bought it to astonish Picasso”. Equipped to startle outside admirers, this mask has become highly sought after, which has resulted in a vast number of copies that dominate the market today.
For a Baule audience, the Goli is a series of masks that emerge at times of crisis or concern about the social stability of a community. Funerals were once the major call to perform, but today Goli also appear on national television, for official government events and for foreignors. This kplelkple mask is one of a pair worn by two young boys who enact a male and female duet. The Baule consider this to be the least beautiful and least prestigious of the masks as they watch the boys act in a frivolous and playful manner, often chasing after other children. This pair stage the opening act for a full day of performances that become gradually more serious as the evening evolves, culminating in a senior female whose face is exceptionally detailed and acts serenely composed. She finds and departs with a senior male so they can return to a forest sanctuary together.
It has abraided holes and back that provide evidence of use in a Baule setting. It is also painted with a red medicinal pigment that implies dangerous trouble and aggression, but is also worn thin by use. This example compares in scale and form with one in the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva and another in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Wood, pigment
Height: 38 1/2 in. (97.8 cm)
Gift of Dr. Oliver E. and Pamela F. Cobb
2015.19
Provenance: John J. Klejman, New York; Balene McCormick, Santa Fe, acquired in 1974; sold at Sotheby’s May 16, 2013 to donor
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
