Art Institute of Chicago

Helmet Mask (Banda or Kumbaduba)

Baga · Mid–20th century

Provenance

Ownership history

Jacqueline and Maurice Nicaud (died 2004), Paris, France, by 1956 [collected in situ according to Lamp 1996, p. 146] to at least 1975 [Rivière 1975, p. 170]; sold on commission by Marceau Rivière, Galerie Sao, Paris, France. Merton Simpson, Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York, N.Y., probably in early 1980s [according to note in curatorial file]; Marc and Denyse Ginzberg, Rye, N.Y., by early 1980s; sold on commission by the Donald Morris Gallery, New York, N.Y. and Birmingham, Mich., to the Art Institute, 1997.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

New York, N.Y., The Museum for African Art, The Art of the Baga: A Drama of Cultural Reinvention, Oct. 4, 1996-Jan. 5, 1997, cat. 129; traveled to the Baltimore Museum of Art, Feb. 29-Apr. 13, 1997.
Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas, "The Language of Beauty in African Art", April 3-July 31, 2022; Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 20, 2022 - Feb. 27, 2023, cat. no. 19.

Literature

Marceau Rivière, Les Chefs-d’Oeuvre Africains Collections Privées Françaises (Paris: Editions Philbi, 1975), p. 170 (ill.).
Frederick Lamp, The Art of the Baga: A Drama of Cultural Reinvention, exh. cat. (New York: The Museum for African Art and Prestel Verlag, 1996), pp. 146-47, fig. 129.
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” African Arts 32, 4 (Winter 1999), pp. 34-35, fig. 22.
Richard F. Townsend and Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “The Art Institute of Chicago New Galleries for African Art and Indian Art of the Americas,” in Tribal Arts 16-1, no. 62 (Winter 2011), p. 60, fig. 1 (installation photo).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 19, pp. 70-71 (ill.).
Y. Biro and C. Petridis (eds.). Les arts africains histoire et dynamique (Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 2025), p. 429 (ill.).

Comparables