{
"data": {
"id": 144495,
"accession_number": "1969.2",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Buffalo Mask, early to mid-1900s. Africa, West Africa, Burkina Faso, possibly Bwa-style maker. Wood, plant fibers, paint, and iron; overall: 69.8 cm (27 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1969.2",
"current_location": "108A African",
"title": "Buffalo Mask",
"creation_date": "early to mid-1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1900,
"creation_date_latest": 1970,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, West Africa, Burkina Faso, possibly Bwa-style maker"
],
"technique": "Wood, plant fibers, paint, and iron",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Mask",
"measurements": "Overall: 69.8 cm (27 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.698,
"height_inch": 27,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301313,
"title": "Year in Review: 1969",
"description": "Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).",
"opening_date": "1970-01-27T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 304550,
"title": "A Cleveland Bestiary",
"description": "A Cleveland Bestiary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 15-December 16, 1981).",
"opening_date": "1981-10-15T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "CMA 1968: African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, cat. no. 31, repr.",
"opening_date": "1968-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "CMA 1970: \"Year in Review 1969,\" CMA Bulletin LVII (Jan., 1970), p. 47, no. 128, repr. p. 41.",
"opening_date": "1970-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "CMA 1981: A Cleveland Bestiary, October 14-December 9, 1981, cat. no. 11, repr. p, 17.",
"opening_date": "1981-10-14T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Katherine C. White [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Exhibited at CMA in 1968, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection; published as fig. 31
"
],
"date": "at least 1968\u20131969",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"CMA Bulletin January 1970, figure 128.
"
],
"date": "1969\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"933.68"
],
"did_you_know": "Once broken, the right horn of this mask was repaired; this indicates that it was valued.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Among the Bwa people, masks with human, animal, and fantastic traits typically represent protective bush spirits. This mask\u2019s horns and muzzle identify it as a bush buffalo. Masked dancers appear during the dry season for initiations, funerals of elders, market days, harvest celebrations, and annual renewal rituals to protect the well-being of the community.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1969.2-buffalo-mask"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Fagg, William. African Tribal Images: the Katherine White Reswick Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cat. no. 31",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. \u201cThe Year in Review for 1969.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1 (January 1970): 2\u201350.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 41, fig. 128; mentioned: p. 147",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152307"
},
{
"citation": "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. 411",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n431"
},
{
"citation": "Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 16, p. 60; Reproduced: p. 17",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Henry John Drewal. African Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection : the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1989.",
"page_number": "fig. 17",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.",
"page_number": "p. 153",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Connell, Timothy C., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World Art Transparencies. Cincinnati: West Educational Pub, 1998.",
"page_number": "Acetate 43",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp.67-8. no. 70; listed: p. 118.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Donley, Gregory M., \"A New Face for African Art\", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 42 no. 04, April 2002",
"page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2002-04/page/n5"
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cat. 5, p. 40 - 41",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 43 no. 09, November 2003",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cover",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2003-09"
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"A New Installation for African Art in Cleveland.\" Tribal: the Magaine of Tribal Art. 9 (3) no. 36 (Autumn-Winter 2004): 68-73.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art; London, Scala Publishers Ltd, 2012.",
"page_number": "pp. 288-9.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Basquiat, Jean-Michel, Sam Keller, and Iris Hasler. Basquiat: The Modena Paintings.Berlin : Hatje Cantz ; Riehen/Basel : Fondation Beyeler, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 35, fig. 2",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.2",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_web.jpg",
"width": "600",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "117240",
"filename": "1969.2_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_print.jpg",
"width": "2267",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "966765",
"filename": "1969.2_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_full.tif",
"width": "4096",
"height": "6144",
"filesize": "151023476",
"filename": "1969.2_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt0_web.jpg",
"width": "595",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "273113"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt0_print.jpg",
"width": "2267",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "3768208"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt0_full.tif",
"width": "4096",
"height": "6144",
"filesize": "75529648"
},
"date_created": "2009-11-03T15:23:12",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt1_web.jpg",
"width": "595",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "259287"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt1_print.jpg",
"width": "2267",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "3676604"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt1_full.tif",
"width": "4096",
"height": "6144",
"filesize": "75528060"
},
"date_created": "2009-11-03T15:24:12",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt2_web.jpg",
"width": "646",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "278307"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt2_print.jpg",
"width": "2461",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "4080017"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt2_full.tif",
"width": "4096",
"height": "5658",
"filesize": "69556112"
},
"date_created": "2009-11-03T15:35:17",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt3_web.jpg",
"width": "604",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "285889"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt3_print.jpg",
"width": "2321",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "3496226"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.2/1969.2_alt3_full.tif",
"width": "3413",
"height": "5000",
"filesize": "51210696"
},
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "Gift of Katherine C. White",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 144495,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1969-01-22T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1900,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "early to mid-1900s",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Bushcow Headdress",
"Bush Cow Mask"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 07:25:21.180000"
}
}