Ancient African Masks

     The art of ancient Africa is unlike any art I have ever seen. Most creations were built towards the sacred king of the time. Both the depiction of the sacred king from the Ile-Ife period and the ivory belt buck of the Benin period, praise the sacred god. The left most image shows a modern African king in the center. There is also what seems to be a tribal chief on his right who is wearing a massive headdress.. You can that the king is wearing sacred garments affiliated with their religion and with their culture. However, what I found interesting is the similarity with his mask and the belt buck mask. Both masks have beading all along the head, however the belt is limited to the upper head due to its small size. The pupils in the eyes of both masks are darkened and carved into to create the image of depth in space in the eye. This seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout face sculpting in ancient Africa. There was clear emphasis and intent by the ancient artists to deeply define the eyes so that they stick out. Also, in both images, there seems to be a stress on three main facial features: the nose, the mouth, and the eyes. It is clear that the artists understood facial anatomy well enough to create amazingly realistic features. Their is a clear arch about the mouth. The 3-D extent of the lips coming out is different from other ancient artworks that create very flat lips with little form. The exaggerated nostrils of the nose shows the pure form of human features. The slight exaggerations that some people may miss, can lead us to better understand how much these ancient people knew about the human body. The enlarged overlapping eyelids create a quarter-dome over the eyes. There was clear intentions on creating this overlap to show movement in the eyelids. The fact that the ancient belt buckle can compare to a modern mask is truly remarkable.

     The purpose of the ancient and modern masks revolve around religion. A man would head to an African jungle with an ax. The man would chop once at the true, and then proceed to suck some sap from the tree, to create a bond with this tree. The Africans believe that a powerful spirit dwells in each tree and so the tree was majestic. Then the man would leave the tree for about a week to give the spirit time to find another home. Even though the spirit was gone. the tree remained powerful. Then the man returns and cuts down the tree and harvests it's wood. The wood is then given to a skilled carver who must follow specified rights. The carver could make the wood into a wearable mask, or into small belt buckles or parts of necklaces.  The mask must also be a typical representation of the ethnic group. After carving, the mask is brought to a wizard who puts it through a consecration ceremony. After the consecration, it was finally able to be used in religious ceremonies. These masks would represent the spirits of nature or the spirits of the dead. These masks were seen as protection against witchcraft during ceremonies or festivities. In modern times, they are seen as art collectibles. Their simplicity draws westerners in and intrigues them. The masks of Ancient Africa are truly special in their regards to the people.

     Even in modern times, the masks of Africa show roots of the Ancient masks. These masks will continue to be a part of African culture for centuries to come, and they will live in the nature of the people.