Origin: Dan (Republic of Liberia, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire)

Local name:

MŻo/A/3554: gunye ge (in dan, Dã̀ã̀)

MŻo/A/3556: gunye ge (in dan, Dã̀ã̀)

MŻo/A/3558: gle or ge (dan, Dã̀ã̀)

MŻo/A/3559: gle or ge (dan, Dã̀ã̀)

MŻo/A/3561: gle or ge (dan, Dã̀ã̀)

Dating: second half of the 20th century

Dimensions:

MŻo/A/3554: height 27.0 cm, width 17.0 cm, depth 6.5 cm

MŻo/A/3556: height 27.0 cm, width 14.0 cm, depth 7.0 cm

MŻo/A/3558: height 45.8 cm, width 18.0 cm, depth 10.5 cm

MŻo/A/3559: height 27.5 cm, width 19.0 cm, depth 10.5 cm

MŻo/A/3561: height 24.0 cm, width 17.0 cm, depth 12.0 cm

Materials: wood, vegetable fibres, cotton, wax, metal

Techniques: carving techniques

Acquired by:

MŻo/A/3554: Jacek Łapott, arts and crafts shop, Man (Ivory Coast), 2001.

MŻo/A/3556: Jacek Łapott, arts and crafts shop, Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast), 1987

MŻo/A/3558: Jacek Łapott, arts and crafts shop, Man (Ivory Coast), 2001

MŻo/A/3559: Jacek Łapott, arts and crafts shop, Man (Ivory Coast), 1987

MŻo/A/3561: Jacek Łapott, arts and crafts shop, Man (Ivory Coast), 1998.

Description:

The Dan people, also known as Gio (Liberia) and Jacob (Ivory Coast), are an ethnic group of the Mande family living in the mountainous western fringes of Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia and Guinea. Their population is estimated at nearly 1.7 million, the largest concentration is around the city of Man. The Dan people come from what is now the border between Mali and Guinea. In the 9th century, political turmoil, population growth, and the depletion of land for settlement and cultivation caused the Dan people to migrate south from the Nimba Range (north-eastern Liberia) to the tropical forests [Johnson 1986].

The basis of the economy is agriculture. Dan obtain fields by clearing forests, they grow cassava rice, sweet potatoes and corn. An important product intended mainly for trade is palm oil obtained from many wild oil palms [Johnson 1986], and nowadays also cocoa, coffee and rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis).

Agriculture is the main occupation of men, women help during weeding and harvest. Men are also engaged in hunting, fishing and farming. In Dan's yard we find cattle, sheep, goats and poultry. Masks are the most important form of art of the Dan people in Liberia [Johnson 1986]. The Dan people call them gle or ge—terms that refer to both the actual masks and the individual spirits believed to embody the masks in ceremonies. In the literature, the terms ge and gle are used interchangeably to refer to both the Dan masks and the unseen, supernatural spiritual forces that live in the forest but wish to enter the civilized world of the village [Johnson 1986; Reed 2003].

For the gle to be embodied in a ceremony, a man in the Dan community subjected to initiation rites must have a dream in which get revealed the exact nature of the gle, its intended function, and the image of the ceremony through which the gle is going to be manifested. The council of elders, upon learning of the dream, decides whether ceremonial attire should be created for the male initiate to wear and perform.

The wooden mask is accompanied by an outfit made of raffia, feathers and leather. It is believed that each gle has its own personality, preferences, dance and speech patterns. The person wearing the mask during the ceremony acquires all its features. Originating from a dark and mysterious forest, gle is considered unpredictable. [Johnson 1986]

In the Dan culture, miniature masks called ma go are very popular, nowadays - in the era of mass tourism, they are called "passports" - similarly to gle masks, they are carved to personify guardian spirits. Their main function is to protect their owner from evil [Johnson 1986]. These masks can also be used for divination and as sacred oaths [Johnson 1986]. In some cases, the owner of a full-size mask may carry a miniature version of a large mask to serve as a ma go [Fisher, Himmelherber 1984].

Local names use language codes according to the Ethnologue Languages of the World system (https://www.ethnologue.com/)

Bibliography:

Bacquart Jean-Baptiste, 1998, L'Art tribal d'Afrique Noire, Paris: Editions Assouline.

Delange Jacqueline, 1967, Arts et peuples de l'Afrique noire, Paris: Éditions Gallimard.

Fischer Eberhard, Hans Himmelherber,1984, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, Zurich: Museum Reitberg.

Johnson, Barbara C., 1986, Four Dan sculptors: continuity and change, San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

John Picton, 1999, West Africa and the Guinea Coast, in: Tom Phillips (ed.) – Africa. The art of a continent, Munich-Berlin-London-New York: Prestel, pp. 327-477.

Reed Daniel B., 2003, Dan Ge performance: masks and music in contemporary Côte d'Ivoire, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Verger-Fèvre Marie-Noël, 1989, Les masques de l'ouest ivoirien et l'art occidental, [in:] b.a., Corps sculptés, corps perés, corps masqués. Chefs-d'oeuvre de Côte-d'Ivoire, Tours, pp. 118-131.

Arts et peuples de l’Afrique noire

Edited by Lucjan Buchalik

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The purchase is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport as part of the National Institute of Museums and Collections' own program "Expansion of museum collections".