Mask (Kakuungo)

late 19th–early 20th century

African Art

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center

A Kakuungu mask that instills instant fear—whether seen from afar or close up—is well made according to the Suku. So it is not surprising that the yisidika, the charm specialist of the initiation camp, calls forth this mask to teach obedience and respect to initiates and to threaten those who might inflict harm on his charges. Immortalized in song for its jumping feats, the huge Kakuungu performer could leap from village to forest and travel great distances in record time. The oldest and most powerful of Suku masks, it could also be called on to cure impotence and sterility, control severe weather, or intervene in other crises.

Medium

Wood, raffia, pigment, animal hair, and tortoise shell

Dimensions

45 1/16 × 22 × 16 in. (114.5 × 55.88 × 40.64 cm)

Credit Line

Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, Collection

Accession Number

2006.51.226

Geography

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Culture

Suku

Period

19th–20th century

Classification

Masks

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Henri Kamer, New York; John Friede (b. 1938), New York, possibly 1970–Aug. 18, 1981; Charles B. Benenson Collection, Greenwich, Conn; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Frederick John Lamp, Amanda Maples, and Laura M. Smalligan, Accumulating Histories: African Art from the Charles B. Benenson Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2012), 185, ill.
  • Frederick John Lamp, "Hot Space, Cool Space: The Reinstallation of the African Art Collection in the Louis Kahn Building at Yale University," African Arts 40 (Summer 2007), 48–49, fig. 24
  • Barkley L. Hendricks, "Acquisitions, July 1, 2005–June 30, 2006," in "Photography at Yale," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2006), 222–23, ill.
  • Frank Herreman, Facing the Mask (New York: Museum for African Art, 2002), 20, ill.
  • Frank Herreman, To Cure and Protect: Sickness and Health in African Art, exh. cat. (New York: Museum for African Art, 1999), 32, no. 47, fig. 47
  • Susan Vogel and Jerry L. Thompson, Closeup: Lessons in the Art of Seeing African Sculpture from an American Collection and the Horstmann Collection, exh. cat. (New York: Museum for African Art, 1990), 170, fig. 101
  • Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 413, fig. 1051
  • Michel Leiris and Jacqueline Delange, African Art (New York: Golden Press, 1968), 346, fig. 405
Object copyright
Copyright Undetermined
Additional information

Object/Work type

ceremonial objects, masks (costume)

Technical metadata and APIs

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