Face mask "kidumu" ·  D. R. Congo, Teke-Tsaye, Mossendjo-Sibiti, right bank of the Congo River · ID: 3053337

Description

wood, pigments,

This mask is associated with the “kidumu”, an important ritual dance and mask tradition of the Teke-Tsaye people in D.R. Congo. Since the 19th century, the “kidumu” movement developed into a central social and ceremonial institution, in which numerous masks appeared simultaneously in ritual performances. In an era of migration, social change and the legacy of the slave trade, the dances embodied community, authority and spiritual continuity.

With French colonisation from 1913 onwards and the subsequent famines, this tradition temporarily collapsed before being revived in the 1930s. Following independence, “kidumu” masks began to appear in greater numbers on the international art market. Works from this tradition are now regarded as significant examples of the ritual and performative art of Central Africa.

Comparing literature

Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 326

Publications

Furman Gallery (ed.), Masterworks of African Art, New York 1962, ill. 32; Lehuard, Raoul, Les arts Bateke, Arnouville 1996, p. 129

AHDRC: 0014298

Exhibition

New York, USA, Masterworks of African Art. Furman Gallery, 18 October 1961