Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Mask
Not on view
Alfred Stieglitz sent his friend and colleague Marius de Zayas to Paris to build relationships with dealers on his behalf. When war disrupted the art trade in Europe, one dealer, Paul Guillaume, agreed to provide De Zayas with fifteen African sculptures for an exhibition at 291. Six of them are featured in this section of the exhibition, among them this strikingly stylized mask. In its original context, it could have been intended for use by male masqueraders embodying diverse spirits. In 1924, in a demonstration of the aesthetic ideas projected on African art at the time, it was described in France as being "Cubist" in manner.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
