Zemanek-Münster

Anthropo- / zoomorphic face mask "idiok ekpo" ·  Nigeria, Ibibio · ID: 3048954

sold EUR 3,300
Provenance

Richard Joseph Faletti, Chicago, USA (1997) - donated in 2006
The Art Institute of Chicago, USA, (Inv.12006.112)
Christie’s, Paris, 19 June 2013, Lot 65

Faletti (1922-2006) was a Chicago-based lawyer who became fascinated by African after after a business trip to the continent. As noted by R. Townsend, “With scholary zeal and the reasoned approach of a corporate attomey, Mr. Faletti became a respected collector of African art. He was a member of the advisory committee of Townsend’s department at the Art Institute and a trustee of museums, including the Heard Museum in Phoenix.

Size
H: 47 cm
H: 18.5 inch

Description

wood, black encrusted patina, plant fibre, base

The “ekpo” society was the most important Ibibio political association. In the absence of a centralized political state, “ekpo” regulated social, political, and economic matters during precolonial times, and masquerades ensured law and order and active communication with ancestral spirits.

The masks show a contrastive aesthetics of beauty and ugliness. Artists use asymmetry and disproportion in their mask-making to recreate and comment upon the incongruities and contradictions of human existance, while symmetry and elegance convey ideas about morality and essential goodness.

The so-called “beauty beast” model served to instil fear and awe in people and to invoke the threat of force and authority necessary to maintain order.


The object Anthropo- / zoomorphic face mask “idiok ekpo” with the object ID 3048954 was last part of the auction 98th Auction at March 26, 2022 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 202 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,300.

You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.


Publications

Roberts, Mary Nooter & Roberts, Allen F., "A Sense of Wonder, African Art from the Faletti Family Collection", Phoenix Art Museum, 1997, p.103, cat. 46b

AHDRC: 0124065


Exhibition

USA: "A Sense of Wonder. African Art from the Faletti Family Collection", 1997-2000: - Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 13 December 1997- 8 February 1998 - Chicago: Smart Museum of Art. University of Chicago, 14 May- 28 June 1998 - Urbana-Champaign: Krannert Art Museum. University of Illinois, 18 September - 1 November 1998 - Davenport: Davenport Museum of Art, 18 April -13 June 1999 - Boise: Boise Art Museum, 26 February - 7 May 2000


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