AFRICAN TIRBAL DAN KRAN KAGLE KEAGLE MASK HEADDRESS LIBERIA IVORY COAST EX TAD2
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:41005 | Original/Reproduction: Original |
A Superb and Rare Dan (or Kran) Kagle Face Mask – Ivory Coast or Liberia
Mid-Late 20th Century
Wood, hide, feathers, tacks, patina
Height: 30.4cm (12in)
PROVENANCE:
Vincent Fitzgerald, Albert Gordon and Leonard Kahan (Tribal Arts Gallery Two), New York, New YorkPaul Pastel Collection, Ithaca, New York, 1975Property from a Private Los Angeles Estate, 1980’s
EXHIBITED:
New York, New York, Tribal Arts Gallery Two, 1975University of Central Missouri, McClu...re Archives Museum, Masquerade Tribal Arts: Selected Works From Western and Central Africa, January-February, 2012, Cat No. 11.33.1.
*Documentation on file and can accompany the artwork for historical conservation purposes.
The 350, 000 Dan people, also known as the Yacuba, occupy the western regions of the Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia. Dan sculptors mainly produce masks which deal with virtually every element in Dan society, including education, competition, war, peace, social (regulation, and of course, entertainment (McIntyre and Roy, 1998). The Kagle is a gle (spirit force) mask once used to rouse the Dan before battle. Tompieme describes this mask form as a rough and vigorously dancing gle that takes its name from the hooked sticks it carries and hurls into the crowd (Ka means "hook"). Kagle whips bystanders, pulls off shirts with its stick and throws the sticks indiscriminately into the crowd (Tompieme, 1983). The mask type was associated with chiefs and employed to challenge loyalties during times of war.
While discussing a comparable mask, the Metropolitan Museum of Art further notes the Dan peoples translate "dangerous immaterial forest spirits into the forms of human face masks. Whether or not they are worn, such sculptures are spiritually charged. ...This example's distinctive projecting triangular cheekbones and recessed triangular eye apertures indicate that this is probably a kagle mask. Kagle masks are "troublemakers", meant to disturb village festivities with their erratic movements and aggressive behavior. Intended to symbolize the brutal force of the bush and of savage, nonhuman creatures, the "troublemaker" is in fact a test of the solidity of social institutions. Its disruptive performance serves a social function by teaching the value of order and discipline through its negative example. Once they are divorced from their performance contexts, mask forms are difficult to identify. Performances of Bete and Wee masks may span the careers of many generations of wearers, contributing to the increasingly sacred status of these objects. A masquerade's vitality may also be transferred from one mask form to another. Over time, any respected Dan mask may eventually be elevated to the category gunagle, the mask that represents a village quarter, or gle wa, a judicial mask" (LaGamma, 2011).
The present Kagle mask is a classic antique example of Dan artistry and formerly of a Private Los Angeles Estate. The work was originally displayed at the Tribal Arts Gallery Two in New York until purchased by collector Paul Pastel in 1975 (see copy of invoice). Fine condition, displaying natural wear and a minor chip to the rear perimeter. Appropriate for age, origin medium.
Cf. Face Mask, Kagle (Accession No 1979.206.219), Dan peoples, Cote d'Ivoire, 19th—mid-20th century, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Heritage Auctions, African & Oceanic Art Signature Auction, Sale 645, Dallas, June 6, 2007, Lot 48016 (SOLD $8, 365) and Sotheby's, In Pursuit of Beauty: The Myron Kunin Collection of African Art, Sale N09225, New York, November 11, 2014, Lot 17 (SOLD $26, 250) for comparable examples.
*WE WILL SHIP WORLDWIDE*
If you are outside the USA, please contact us for a more accurate shipping quote BEFORE BIDDING. Thank you.
00016
Mid-Late 20th Century
Wood, hide, feathers, tacks, patina
Height: 30.4cm (12in)
PROVENANCE:
Vincent Fitzgerald, Albert Gordon and Leonard Kahan (Tribal Arts Gallery Two), New York, New YorkPaul Pastel Collection, Ithaca, New York, 1975Property from a Private Los Angeles Estate, 1980’s
EXHIBITED:
New York, New York, Tribal Arts Gallery Two, 1975University of Central Missouri, McClu...re Archives Museum, Masquerade Tribal Arts: Selected Works From Western and Central Africa, January-February, 2012, Cat No. 11.33.1.
*Documentation on file and can accompany the artwork for historical conservation purposes.
The 350, 000 Dan people, also known as the Yacuba, occupy the western regions of the Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia. Dan sculptors mainly produce masks which deal with virtually every element in Dan society, including education, competition, war, peace, social (regulation, and of course, entertainment (McIntyre and Roy, 1998). The Kagle is a gle (spirit force) mask once used to rouse the Dan before battle. Tompieme describes this mask form as a rough and vigorously dancing gle that takes its name from the hooked sticks it carries and hurls into the crowd (Ka means "hook"). Kagle whips bystanders, pulls off shirts with its stick and throws the sticks indiscriminately into the crowd (Tompieme, 1983). The mask type was associated with chiefs and employed to challenge loyalties during times of war.
While discussing a comparable mask, the Metropolitan Museum of Art further notes the Dan peoples translate "dangerous immaterial forest spirits into the forms of human face masks. Whether or not they are worn, such sculptures are spiritually charged. ...This example's distinctive projecting triangular cheekbones and recessed triangular eye apertures indicate that this is probably a kagle mask. Kagle masks are "troublemakers", meant to disturb village festivities with their erratic movements and aggressive behavior. Intended to symbolize the brutal force of the bush and of savage, nonhuman creatures, the "troublemaker" is in fact a test of the solidity of social institutions. Its disruptive performance serves a social function by teaching the value of order and discipline through its negative example. Once they are divorced from their performance contexts, mask forms are difficult to identify. Performances of Bete and Wee masks may span the careers of many generations of wearers, contributing to the increasingly sacred status of these objects. A masquerade's vitality may also be transferred from one mask form to another. Over time, any respected Dan mask may eventually be elevated to the category gunagle, the mask that represents a village quarter, or gle wa, a judicial mask" (LaGamma, 2011).
The present Kagle mask is a classic antique example of Dan artistry and formerly of a Private Los Angeles Estate. The work was originally displayed at the Tribal Arts Gallery Two in New York until purchased by collector Paul Pastel in 1975 (see copy of invoice). Fine condition, displaying natural wear and a minor chip to the rear perimeter. Appropriate for age, origin medium.
Cf. Face Mask, Kagle (Accession No 1979.206.219), Dan peoples, Cote d'Ivoire, 19th—mid-20th century, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Heritage Auctions, African & Oceanic Art Signature Auction, Sale 645, Dallas, June 6, 2007, Lot 48016 (SOLD $8, 365) and Sotheby's, In Pursuit of Beauty: The Myron Kunin Collection of African Art, Sale N09225, New York, November 11, 2014, Lot 17 (SOLD $26, 250) for comparable examples.
*WE WILL SHIP WORLDWIDE*
If you are outside the USA, please contact us for a more accurate shipping quote BEFORE BIDDING. Thank you.
00016
