5 - Masque Baoulé, Côte d’Ivoire

Masque Baoulé, Côte d’Ivoire Early 20th century Carved and painted wood, pigments H. 40 cm “Even before it takes shape, the mask is a sign.” Jean-Paul Colleyn Among the most refined expressions of Baoulé sculpture, the Kpwan holds a unique place. A female mask with an idealized human face, it belongs to the Goli ritual complex—a set of sacred masks whose appearance follows a carefully ordered sequence. When the Goli is presented in its complete form, four pairs of masks appear in succession: the Kplé Kplé, with its abstract, horned forms; the Goli Glin, of zoomorphic character; the Kpwan Plé, which combines human features with animal attributes; and finally the Kpwan, which leads this progression from abstraction toward the idealized representation of the human figure. The Kpwan appears last. Its appearance thus marks the culmination of the sequence and the high point of the ceremony. This final position reflects a genuine artistic and symbolic progression from forms most distant from the human world to the appearance of a female face of great beauty—a refined embodiment of the Baoulé ideal. Far from being merely a form of entertainment, the Goli was first and foremost a ritual and sacred performance, typically staged during the funerals of dignitaries. Certain nighttime performances were strictly reserved for men. This symbolic power finds expression in an aesthetic of remarkable subtlety. Crafted according to the canons of idealized Baoulé beauty, the face features harmonious proportions and exquisitely delicate modeling, enhanced by a red ochre patina—the color of femininity. A finely engraved, skillfully arranged three-lobed hairstyle crowns a high, domed forehead. A long, slender nose connects the two arched eyebrow ridges, while the eyes—with heavy eyelids and a downward gaze—lend the face a calm, meditative expression full of restraint and serenity. Provenance - Emerson and Dina Woelffer Collection, Los Angeles - Galerie Ratton, Paris - Private French collection Expositions 1975, Newport Harbor Art Museum, “The Artist as Collector: Selections from Four California Collections of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, the Amerindians, and the Santeros of New Mexico,” reproduced in the catalog edited by James B. Byrnes, p. 50 Littérature Alain-Michel Boyer, “Mirrors of the Invisible: Baoulé Sculpture,” in Arts d’Afrique Noire, No. 44, 1982, pp. 30–46; no. 45, 1983, pp. 21–34. Susan Mullin Vogel, *Baule: African Art, Western Eyes*, exhibition catalog [New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, 1997], London, Yale University Press, 1997 Susan Mullin Vogel, Baoulé Art: The Visible and the Invisible, Paris, Adam Biro, 1999