African masks

Masks of Fang and Ekoi

African masks - the collective name of the traditional masks of the peoples of the African continent.

Works of artistic plastics are used for worship by many peoples of Africa. For example, masks with calm faces, whose eyes are usually closed, depict dead relatives and are used in funeral rites or during festivals.

Awesome masks, where human features are often combined with the features of the beast, are worn by members of secret societies during traditional festivals or hunting for evil spirits. It is believed that the masked person gives temporary shelter to the spirit that this mask depicts.

In addition, masks are also used during hunting rituals; members of the tribe, putting on masks and skins of the animal to be hunted, imitate his behavior ^[1] . Masks often display in them certain animals, spirits or heroes of local mythology.

European artists of the early 20th century appreciated and collected African masks. As a method of radical geometrization of the image of a human face, the African mask influenced the formation of cubism (see “ Avignon girls ”).