African Arts Gallery

Ex-French collection of African art The notable element of this African mask lies in its decorative motifs made up of small holes, highlighting the sobriety of the features.
A tribe neighboring the Pounou or Punu , the Tsogo , Mitsogo , are traditionally farmers (slash-and-burn agriculture) and matrilineal, and renowned for their very elaborate religious practice rituals, and particularly initiation rituals, notably the bwiti or the mwiri for men, and the nyembe for women. They live on the right bank of the Ngoumé River. The function of their African masks is essentially the propitiation of the spirits of the ancestors and divination through the use of medicinal plants, particularly hallucinogenic. Their masks are kept at the back of the ebanza house where the initiates gather.