Mask - Congo (No reserve price)

Monkey-like Luba-Songye mask
The monkey-masks in Songye African art
In the tradition of Basongye and Luba masks, the presence of the monkeys probes the human being with their originality, their resemblance to humans, their ability to laugh and move at will. Here is a beautiful example of a baboon mask.

Their presence in a group is uncommon and relatively formidable.

There are no French terms that translate as well as the English-speaking world’s expressions of “performance” and “art in motion.”

The reality of the primitive Bifwebe masks is nothing without movement, dance, twilight or neomenia, music and songs, the dance steps, the magico-religious ritual tied to the festive atmosphere surrounding the emergence of these formidable beings who encapsulate, within them, the whole cosmos.

The celebrations vary from village to village, adapt to the realities of the present, and bring an incomparable metaphysical density.