45 - ANTHROPOMORPHIC HELMET MASK - Guinea-Bissau - Baga

ANTHROPOMORPHIC HELMET MASK - Guinea-Bissau - Baga First half of the 20th century. Wood, with dark and light patina in places, traces of pigments. Dimensions: 79 cm. An elongated, stylized face with strongly defined angular features. The slender profile is accentuated by an arrowhead-shaped nose and a small mouth turned downward. The eyes are minimally carved as slits. The head is topped by a high, striated median sagittal crest, flanked by two large, flat side braids falling down the neck. The neck is long and cylindrical, supporting a torso characterized by two conical breasts projecting forward, symbols of fertility. The elegant and harmonious whole oscillates between cylinders, cones, and ovals, whose geometry and volumes recall the interest of avant-garde artists such as Picasso in Baga statuary (see William Robin, Primitivism in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, 1984). Research and documentation: Coryse Mwape – Art historian specializing in ancient African art. Internal ref.: 694