African Arts Gallery

French African Tribal Art Collection
Theme of the bird in African art. African mask Dan Maou with a curved bifid beak, and decorated with an abundance of shells. This face which borrows the squinted eyes of the corner mask, hesitating between two natures, is transformed into a zoomorphic piece. This type of composition is recurrent in African tribal statuary. The Dan populations of the north known as Yacouba of the Ivory Coast and the Maou of Touba (Maouka), after having borrowed them from the people < b> mended neighbour, use them in secret male ceremonies including the Koma of the Maou and the Poro society of the Dan. Glossy dark patina.
For the Dan of Côte d'Ivoire, a Malinké people also called Yacouba , two very distinct universes oppose each other: that of the village, made up of its inhabitants, its animals, and that of the forest, its vegetation and the animals and spirits that inhabit it. For these spirits to settle, a specific area of the forest is designated and still preserved outside the dan villages.