This is such great art I know you will enjoy seeing it. Imagine the impact pieces like this had on European painters and sculptures in the late 19th century! The following copy from a tribal art dealer’s ad is interesting…
These sculptural masks have often been identified as Yaure, a less populous group who depending on their proximity to their neighbors either speak Baule or Mande. Both Yaure and Baule art, culture and masquerade performances are closely related. The Yaure masks have similar horn like projections carved with patterns and oval heart shaped faces. The scalloped hairline and elaborately carved patterns above it, representing the coiffure, are also typical of Yaure and Baule styles. The horns probably represent those of an antelope, an animal hunted by both the Baule and Yaure. The masks are emblems of spirit powers and their features are borrowed from the most physically attractive men and women who conform to the Baule/Yaure ideal of beauty, as physical beauty is culturally equated with moral rectitude.
