id: 136459 accession number: 1960.37 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.37 updated: 2025-05-05 16:15:50.596000 Serpent Headdress, late 1800s–early 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Guinea, possibly Baga-style maker. Wood (Nauclea pobeguinii) and paint; overall: 148 cm (58 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Norweb Collection, 1960.37 title: Serpent Headdress title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: late 1800s–early 1900s creation date earliest: 1875 creation date latest: 1925 current location: creditline: The Norweb Collection copyright: --- culture: Africa, West Africa, Guinea, possibly Baga-style maker technique: Wood (Nauclea pobeguinii) and paint department: African Art collection: African Art type: Mask find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 148 cm (58 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty opening date: 1960-11-30T05:00:00 Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961). title: Landscape opening date: 1962-01-09T05:00:00 Landscape. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 9-April 22, 1962). title: The Imagination of Primitive Man opening date: 1962-01-18T05:00:00 The Imagination of Primitive Man. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (organizer) (January 18-February 25, 1962). title: Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture opening date: 1975-09-24T04:00:00 Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975). title: Images of the Mind opening date: 1987-07-07T04:00:00 Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'CMA 1960: "Year in Review," Bulletin XLVII (December 1960), p. 250, no. 13, repr. p. 234.', 'opening_date': '1960-12-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Kansas City, MO: The Imagination of Primitive Man, January 3-March 14, 1962, no. 18.', 'opening_date': '1962-01-03T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'CMA 1975: Traditions and Revisions, no. 117.', 'opening_date': '1975-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'CMA 1987: Images of the Mind, July 7-August 23, 1987, repr. p. 22,', 'opening_date': '1987-07-07T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE Jacqueline (and Maurice?) Nicaud by purchase. Possibly village of Kanfrande [Kanfarandé], District of Boke, French Guinea. date: ca.1954–1960 footnotes: * citations: Mathias Komor, New York, NY date: by 1960 footnotes: *
Letter February 24, 1960 between Sherman E. Lee and Emery May Norweb, curatorial files.
citations: Emery May Norweb (aka Mrs. R. Henry Norweb) by purchase date: 1960 footnotes: *
Letter February 24, 1960 between Sherman E. Lee and Emery May Norweb, curatorial files.
citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art by gift date: 1960– footnotes: * citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Wixom, William D. 1961. Two African Tribal Sculptures. Bulletin, XLVIII (March 1961), pp. 38-45, repr. p. 38, figs. 1-3. page number: url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Case Western Reserve University. 1975. Traditions and Revisions : Themes from the History of Sculpture. Cleveland, Kent, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art ; Distributed by the Kent State University Press, cat. 117. page number: url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Henry John Drewal. 1989. African Art : A Brief Guide to the Collection : The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum, fig. 28. page number: url: The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. 2022 Second ed. New York: Oxford University Press, fig. 3.6, p. 83-84. page number: url: Franklin, David, C. Griffith Mann, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 2012. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, p. 286-7. page number: url: Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” August 10, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr0592 Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” October 25, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr0627 William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, and Ralph T. Coe. The Imagination of Primitive Man: A Survey of the Arts of the Non-Literate Peoples of the World. Kansas City, Mo: The Museum, 1962. page number: Mentioned: p. 11, 17, cat. no. 18 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 302 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n326 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 302 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n326 Wixom, William D. “African Art in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” African Arts 10, no. 3 (1977): 16–88. page number: Reproduced: p. 23, fig. 11; mentioned: p. 24 url: https://doi.org/10.2307/3335296 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 410 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n430 Cleveland Museum of Art. Images of the Mind. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987. page number: Reproduced: [p. 22] url: Robbins, Warren M., and Nancy Ingram Nooter. African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. page number: Reproduced: p. 143, fig. 247 url: Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. page number: Reproduced: cat. 12, p. 54 - 55 url: Petridis, Constantine. “Spirit-Bringer-of-Riches: News on Cleveland's serpent headdress.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 56, no. 5 (September/October 2016): 14-15. page number: Reproduced: p. 14; Mentioned: p. 14, 15. url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2016-05 Petridis, Constantine. "Not Just a Snake: New Light on the Serpent Headdress at the Cleveland Museum of Art." Tribal Art 21, no. 1 (Winter 2016): 122-127. page number: Reproduced: p. 122, fig. 1a & b; p. 127, fig. 9 url: Curtis, Marie Yvonne. Baga. Milan, Italy : 5 Continents Editions, 2018. page number: Reproduced: p. 77, pl. 12; mentioned: pp. 39, 123 url: Smith, Fred T., Judith Perani, Joseph L. Underwood, and Martha J. Ehrlich. The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 90, no. 4.4 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.37/1960.37_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.37/1960.37_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.37/1960.37_full.tif