Kifwebe masquerades featured prominently at various Luba and Songye ceremonial and celebratory events including initiations, the deaths of chiefs, communal work efforts, and new moon rites. In those contexts, kifwebe functioned as a regulatory body, enforcing obedience to royal hierarchies. The masks were conceived as extraordinary beings imbued with human, animal, and spiritual attributes. These associations are visually manifested through this work’s human facial features, zebra or bushbuck stripes, and rounded, full-moon form. In performance, these spectacular creatures might confront spectators, blow smoke through the openings in the mask, and emit unusual sounds. These astounding displays of magical power simultaneously excited and instilled fear in the audience.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Kifwebe (mask)
Artist:Luba artist
Date:19th–first half of 20th century
Geography:Democratic Republic of the Congo
Culture:Luba peoples
Medium:Wood, pigment
Dimensions:H. 14 × W. 13 1/2 × D. 7 1/4 in. (35.6 × 34.3 × 18.4 cm)
Classification:Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Object Number:1979.206.5
Dr. Charles Stéphen-Chauvet, Brussels, Belgium, until (d.) 1950; [Antony Moris, Paris (?)];[John J. Klejman, New York, until 1953]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1953, onloan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1956–1978
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
Museum of Primitive Art. "Faces," February 14, 1973–September 9, 1973.
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nelson Rockefeller Vision: In Pursuit of 'The Best' in the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas," October 7, 2013–October 9, 2014.
Museum of Primitive Art. Traditional Art of the African Nations in the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: University Publishers, Inc., 1961, no. 716.
Museum of Primitive Art. Masterpieces in the Museum of Primitive Art: Africa, Oceania, North America, Mexico, Central to South America, Peru. Handbook series. New York, NY: Museum of Primitive Art, 1965, no. 31.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 426.
American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 97.
Neyt, François. Luba: To the Sources of the Zaire. Paris: Musée Dapper, 1994.
Roberts, Allen F., and Mary Nooter Roberts, eds. Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History. New York: Museum for African Art, New York, 1996, no. 28 *21.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
