Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Face Mask (Kpelie'e)
Not on view
Of various origins and aesthetic appeal, the seven works from West and Central Africa included in the exhibition circulated from Europe to America between 1913 and 1922 and entered the collection of John Quinn. Thanks to Quinn’s detailed archives, now in the New York Public Library, rare details are known about one of the most important private collections of African art assembled in the United States before 1924.
This classic Senufo Kpeliye’e mask, a delicate feminine representation that honors deceased Senufo elders, was first published in 1913, when it belonged to Joseph Brummer. Shortly before World War I, Brummer developed commercial ties with the Washington Square Gallery, where the mask was purchased by Quinn in 1916 for $50. It was one of his first acquisitions.
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