Title: Baule Mask | Carved Bobbin (Guru) | Dan Mask

Artist: Norman Wilfred Lewis, NYC, United States.

Year: 1935

Medium: Pastel

Period: Harlem Renaissance

Style: Figurative Expressionism; African Art.

Notes & Analysis of the Artwork

Taken from the mask of Baulé and Dan Cultures

• A group of native African people.

Sought to serve the distinction between the models of naturalism.

• From Greco-Roman models to African sculptures.
• Wanted to highlight its understandings/
• Abandonment of his earlier teachings and works.

Engages with social and political inequalities faced by a black artist.

Highlighted in its forms, movement, and resemblance. 

• Focuses on the patterns
• Noticeable in its distinctive shapes/sizes.
• Navigation with the curves of the artwork.
• Fluidity in rhythm.

Said to be “like enjoying a new kind of music”.

Feelings and emotions delivered:

Baule Mask: The red, how it has this blood/family vibe.

Dan Mask: the shape of the mouth and the structure of the face.

• Black if giving power and strength. 

Carved Bobbin: the elongated neck, the shape of the mouth, and the face.

• Color and shape tell of power and leadership.
• (Guru) gives an elder/leadership distinction from the others.
• The connection to the green gives a humanistic touch.