unidentified Congolese

Description

The Hemba are best known for their beautiful figures of chiefs (CMS no. 124), which have been studied in detail by François Neyt. Hemba masks are less well known and we have only a few brief notes on their meaning. They may be called soko mutu (Neyt 1977:503, alternatively suku muntu ), meaning "brother of man" in Swahili, or ibombo ya soho "monkey face" in KiHemba, the Hemba language (Cornet 1978:310). Father Cornet indicates that they may not have been intended as face masks but as belt masks worn at the waist by a dancer. They are remarkable for their extreme stylization, with large, upward-slanting eyes, enormous, grinning mouth, and a nose that projects downward like a hook. This example is illustrated in Neyt's study of the Hemba (1977:ill. 112-113). -- Professor Christopher Roy, School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa Contact the Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa: https://stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu/about/contact/ The Stanley Collection single object 2008 Dances Southern Savannah Sankuru/ Lualaba Rivers Initiation Hemba 90,000 KiHemba, many also speak KiSwahili Eastern Zaire along the Zaire River Luba, Bangubangu, Songye, Kunda Near the end of the 16th century, the Hemba began their migration from an area to the northeast; probably modern day Tanzania. In the 1800¹s under the direction of Niembo, and his son, Myhiya, the Hemba moved into their current location along the Zaire River. The Luba unsuccessfully tried to incorporate the Southern Hemba into their growing kingdom. The Luba did succeed, however, in greatly...