Baoule mask C023M044

The figures and human masks by ethnic group Baoule are elegant and well-polished, with elaborate hairdressings and scarification marks. Their masks correspond to several types of dances. They never represent the ancestors and are always worn by men. Ornaments above the face (like birds, combs, horns, faces, and other decorative motifs) are chosen for their beauty and have no iconographic significance. Fine scarifications and coiffures denote personal beauty, refinement and a desire to give pleasure to others.

Baoulé’s art is one of the most ancient form of African art; it includes the most fascinating works of that population’s sculptors. Baoulé’s art transmits a great expressivity; realism and idealization are merged, the features are refined and all the details are accurately defined, as the elegant hairdos or the raw-boned faces, necks and torsos. Masks have a calm face, whose features are outlined with extraordinary care. The surfaces are polished wiping them with leaves, to give the mask a characteristic appearance, also conferred by the scarifications on the forehead and temples.