Moon Masque
- Topic
- Abstract
- Landscape\celestial\moon
- Ethnic\African
- Dress\costume\mask
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Artist
- Loïs Mailou Jones, born Boston, MA 1905-died Washington, DC 1998
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist
- Medium
- oil and collage on canvas
- Dimensions
- 41 x 30 1/8 in. (104.1 x 76.4 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Date
- 1971
- Description
- At the center of Moon Masque is a papier-mâché replica of a heart-shaped white Kwele mask from Zaire surrounded by masklike profiles and designs drawn from Ethiopian textiles. Though stylized, the faces resemble actual individuals whose profiles are juxtaposed with tears falling from the eyes of the mask. It is tempting to speculate that the mask, representing heritage and tradition, weeps for the situation of contemporary African peoples.
- African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012
- Type
- Painting-Mixed Media
- Object number
- 2006.24.5
