Yale Art Gallery, New Haven

Alyssa and I visited the Yale art gallery in New Haven, here are my favorite pieces followed by African Art which I choose to focus on because I found it very interesting and different.

African Art

The Yale Art Gallery houses a significant collection of art and embraces all cultures and periods. "The mission of the gallery is to encourage appreciation and understanding of art and its role in society through direct engagement with original works of art." (http://artgallery.yale.edu/) The gallery posse’s collections of early Italian painting, modern art and what caught my eye the most during my visit was African sculpture, masks and tools. There were over 1000 objects made from wood, metal, ivory and ceramic.
The first piece I was drawn to was “Headdress in the Form of a Winged Woman (Tiyambo), Baga Guinea, mid-20th century made from wood, paint, and nails”. "The voluptuous bust of a woman called, Tiyambo is worn as a headdress in dance celebrations by the young Baga men." (Yale Art Gallery) She is identified by the two marks that are on her cheeks, and her wings align her with the female messenger birds of the sky. I think that her horns might suggest that she is an example of a grounded masculine animal. "The Tiyambo headdress was created in the 1930’s, after a young Baga man spied on the old men of the community in their sacred grove and discovered their sacred female spirit as they conjured her image. He did this by carving the form in wood and presenting it to the public." ( Yale Art Gallery) I felt this piece to be very meaningful to the tribe; however I want to know why the woman’s facial expression is emotionless and why she’s just looking straight out. I feel the wings and the horns make this so unique and complete the significance of the woman.
The next mask that I was intrigued to know the meaning of was “Mask (Gongoli), Mende, Liberia or Sierra Leone, early to mid-20th century made from wood, black pigment, red paint fabric”. I feel that this is a very ugly and oddly shaped mask. I think that the mask might have been used for performances, they might have wanted an ugly mask on purpose to get their message across. "The function of the Gongoli performance is to show the worst side of the human nature." (Yale Art Gallery) For example deformed, disheveled, chaotic, undisciplined, deceptive, etc, the mask was worn with a hideous costume of dead leaves and rags. The performers wearing the mask would move erratic and awkward which was amusing for the crowd. "Gongoli masks were usually owned by private individuals and would appear at any celebration." (Yale Art Gallery) This mask appears to almost be distorted because of its ugly shape and emphasized features.
“Mask (Kakuungu), Suku Congo (Kinshasa) late 19th- early century, made from wood, raffia, pigment, animal hair, and tortoiseshell”. A Kakuungu mask gives the viewer an instant fear whether it is viewed close up or from a distance. "The yisidika used this mask to teach obedience and respect to initiates and to threaten those who might inflict harm upon his charges. The performer wearing this mask could celebrate in song by jump from village to forest and travel great distances in record time." ( Yale Art Gallery) This mask appears to be the oldest and most powerful of Suku masks in this gallery, it also is said to cures weakness and infertility, control severe weather and intervene in other disasters. I like how the their was a lot of hair surrounding the face and how they made the eyelashes so long with the carved out eye sockets which makes the viewer become attracted to the eyes of the mask before moving down to the very large cheeks small circular position of the mouth. I would like to see the performer’s costumes and body movements when wearing this mask because it has multiple purposes for celebration and warning signals.
The animal mask was very intriguing because it was almost cartoonist. “Mambila, Cameroon, late 19th –early 20th century made from wood, pigment and fiber”. This didn’t appear to be a mask to me but more like a hat to me because I didn’t know how it was worn. The black and orange colors caught my eye along with the painted on white teeth along the creature’s mouth. "During the festivities of the Mambila people’s semiannual agricultural ceremonies a series of masks appeared according to mask rank. The crow was a protagonist of secondary rank and always performed with a first rank character like a dog." ( The Yale Art Gallery) The mask was displayed to be worn with a fiber costume and made from wild banana plants. This mask could only be viewed by men and when the masks were not in used they were kept in the village ancestral shrines. I would like to know why this tribe felt that this mask could only be viewed by males and why it was kept away from woman. I don’t find this piece to be degrading like some of the other female figures that I viewed at this exhibit.
I found the African Drum to be very tall, thin yet carved very intricate. “Drum, Baule, Ivory Coast, late 19th-early 20th century, made from wood, hide, fiber, pigment, feathers, and encrustation”. Because it was so tall I wondered if they made it tall for a specific reason, or if they just wanted to complete the design and it became that height. High slender trunks of wood were used to carve the drum. It was elaborately embellished with carved figured of people, animals, and other objects with symbolic significance. This drum has serpent forms, human faces, rams’ heads with horns, and geometric shapes. The drum is over two metes high, it incorporates at bottom a fluted shape that may replicate a still signifying the political power of a older male in the tribe. The tall drums appeared in pairs and were played to announce the most momentous performance events, for example at the beginning of a festival or a funeral of a respected elder. I would like to play the drum and see what type of sound it makes, I also wonder if the height gave it a different pitch than other instruments that they might have had.
These African masks and figures were just some of the many fabulous examples at the gallery. I like to view a different civilization from what we have today and compare how our tools, memorial structures, and types of celebrations have changed and flourished. This way I can appreciate the great advancements I have and also see how much time and work they put into something that we have made by machines today. Hand crafted work is always the most significant because it has a meaningful purpose behind the reason it was made. I would like to view more of this periods African Art, they definitely had a unique taste for their living styles.