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Mask (Banda)

late 19th - early 20th century

Masks were a large part of Picasso's collection and one similar to this hung in his home. While he was known to savor such visual hybrid creatures, he also responded to their purpose, saying, "For me the masks were not just sculptures. They were magical objects-intercessors against everything-against unknown, threatening spirits. They were weapons to help free themselves. If we give form to these spirits, we become free."

Wood, pigment

52 1/8 x 11 13/16 x 10 1/4 in. (132.4 x 30 x 26 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.179

Provenance: [Julius Carlebach Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1961; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 144-5, reproduced pl. 186 (as "banda" mask).

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