Art Institute of Chicago

Helmet Mask (Mukenga)

Kuba · Possibly late 19th to mid -20th century

Provenance

Ownership history

Peter Loebarth, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Belgium, by late 1970s; sold to Jacques Hautelet, Brussels, Belgium, and La Jolla, Calif., during late 1970s [personal communication documented in curatorial file, 10/6/2013]; sold to the Art Institute, 1982.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Literature

Published references

Francois Neyt, Traditional Arts and History of Zaire: Forest Cultures and Kingdomes of the Savannah (Louvain: Institute Supérieur d’Archéologie et d’Historie de l’Art; Brussels: Société d’Arts Primitifs, 1981), p. 157, fig. VIII.5.
Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 1982-83 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1983), pp. cover, 7 (fig. 8), 35 (ill.).
Marianna Torgovnick, Gone Primitive: Savage Intellects, Modern Lives (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), p. 93, fig. 4.2.
David Binkley, "The Teeth of the Nyim: The Elephant and Ivory in Kuba Art," in Elephant: The Animal and its Ivory in African Culture, exh. cat., ed. Doran H. Ross (Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995), p. 287, fig. 13–12.
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Lion's Trail: A Family Gallery Hunt” (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998).
Jean Sousa, “Looking at Art Together: Families and Lifelong Learning” (Art Institute of Chicago, 2002), p. 11.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide, revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), p. 23 (ill.).
Suzanne Preston Blier, "African Creation Myths as Political Strategy," African Arts, vol. 47, no. 1 (Spring 2004), p. 42.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago The Essential Guide, revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), p. 13 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 62, pp. 152-153, cover (ill.).
James Rondeau (ed.), Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2026), cat. no. 135, p. 180 (ill.).

Comparables