African Masks: The Art of Disguise

Exhibition: African Masks: The Art of Disguise
Dates: Until 13 February 2011

Place: Chilton Galleries, Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 North Harwood, Dallas, Texas (USA)

Admission: $ 10

Webpage: www.dallasmuseumofart.org

About the exhibition:

The African mask is a highly developed and enduring art form. African Masks: The Art of Disguise, an exhibition of approximately seventy objects from the Museum’s collections and on loan from local collectors, will reveal the function, meaning, and aesthetics of African masks. Masks serve as supports for the spirit of deities, ancestors and culture heroes, which may be personified as a human, animal, or composite. Masked performances, which are held on the occasions of thanksgiving celebrations, rites of passage, and funerals, often entertain while they teach moral lessons. This exhibition will present a variety of masks from several different sub-Saharan peoples that offer a variety of types, styles, sizes, and materials and the contexts in which they appear. Because the carved wooden mask is frequently only one part of an ensemble, full masquerade costumes will be displayed. And the masks will “come to life” in performances recorded on film and in contextual photographs.

African Masks: The Art of Disguise is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and curated by Roslyn A. Walker, Senior Curator, The Arts of Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas, and The Margaret McDermott Curator of African Art at the Dallas Museum of Art.

© Text and image: Dallas Museum of Art