Mask Pende called "Picasso" African Art of R. D. Congo

Mask mbangu pende rdc congo. Dating: c. 1930-1940. Dimensions: 24 X 18 cm. Materials: wood. Provenance: ex private collection, de jonghe belgium. Provided with a certificate of provenance from an independent expert. If this mask is famous, it is also because there has been a lot of questioning about the contributions of negro art to picasso's painting. Mbangu, a pende initiation mask, had a considerable influence on the western artistic avant-garde. This rare example of african asymmetric mask was associated with illness and misfortune but at the same time symbolized healing and hope. In congo as fiction, the kinese painter aimé mpane took the mbangu as a model for his two-sided portraits that refer to the demoiselles d'avignon, the 1907 painting in which pablo picasso invented cubism. "african initiation masks were considered objects of anthropology, but they inspired cubism and suddenly it became art!.

Ref. : QEAJHA2C