Male Face Mask (N'tomo)
Late 19th or early 20th century
Bamana Segou region, Mali Northern Africa and the Sahel
Mali
This mask depicts a young man with an elongated face in a style that originated in the Segou region. Adolescent males danced with masks like this during their initiation into Ntomo, the first in a series of power associations that Bamana boys joined when they transitioned from youth to adulthood. The images on this mask of an antelope and two female figures encouraged young men’s prowess in farming and courting, respectively.
Wood and metal