Portrait mask (Goli kpan)

Former TitleFemale Mask

CultureAkan peoples, Baule subgroup

Date19th century

MediumWood and pigment

DimensionsOverall: 15 3/4 × 8 1/4 × 9 5/16 inches (40.01 × 20.96 × 23.65 cm)

Credit LineGift of Estelle and Morton Sosland

Object number79-56

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

African Art

Terms

Exhibition History

A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977-1987, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 14-December 6, 1987, no. 4.

Gallery Label

This mask is associated with Goli, a day-long masquerade performed for entertainment and for the funerals of prominent persons. The performance consists of four male-female pairs of masks appearing in sequence. The first two pairs signify the wildness and power of the bush, while the second two represent civilized humanity and ordered village life. The final pair, to which this mask belonged, was the most important and was known as kpan, the senior female. The mask's balanced, harmonious features and small mouth, combined with the dancer's graceful, rhythmic movements, express the dignity and majesty of a chiefly senior woman.

Provenance

With Jacques Kerchache (d. 2001), Paris, by May 10, 1969 [1];

Purchased from Kerchache, through Ralph T. Coe, by Estelle (1925-2021) and Morton (1925-2019) Sosland, Kansas City, MO, May 10, 1969-December 1979 [2];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1979.

NOTES:

[1] According to a letter from Ralph T. Coe, Director, to Morton I. Sosland, December 3, 1981, copy in NAMA curatorial files, Coe acquired this mask for Estelle and Morton Sosland from Jacques Kercherche in Paris. The dealer sold several masks from the same group and this one was the last available. To Coe’s knowledge, it had never been exhibited.

[2] According to Morton I. Sosland, in a letter to Coe, December 1, 1981, copy in NAMA curatorial files.

Published References

Roger Ward, ed., A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977-1987, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1987), 24-25, (repro.).

Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 174, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 85, (repro.).

Joyce M. Youmans, “African Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,” African Arts 33, no. 4 (Winter 2000), 44-45, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 248, (repro.).

Julian Zugazagoitia and Laura Spencer. Director's Highlights: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Celebrating 90 Years, ed. Kaitlyn Bunch (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), 99 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.