Mask (Sowei )

Photo: Paul Macapia

Mask (Sowei )

20th century

Femininity is given ominous force in Sowei masks. Women who are taught in a "university of the forest" wear them to illustrate their ideals. Precise hairstyles are a sign of orderly demeanor. Broad foreheads indicate the wearer has entered an expansive phase of life in which "the brow is the parlor by which you enter into a relationship with another person." Closed mouths signal that these women will not talk maliciously.

Wood, raffia, and metal
14 1/2 x 22 in. (36.83 x 55.88 cm)
Overall height: 30 in.
Mary Arrington Small Estate Acquisition Fund
89.68
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., pp. 200-01, 206-7, reproduced pl. 85.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, June 18 - Sept. 7, 2015 (Los Angeles, California, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Oct. 18, 2015 - Mar. 13, 2016; Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Museum, Apr. 29 - Sept. 18, 2016).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Lessons from the Institute of Empathy, Mar. 31, 2018 - ongoing.




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