


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.
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