{
"data": {
"id": 155862,
"accession_number": "1991.165",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Headdress (\u1eb8pa) called At\u00f3f\u00f2j\u1ecd\u0301w\u00f2 (\u201cYou Can Look at It for a Whole Day\u201d), 1920\u201330. Moshood Ol\u00fa\u1e63\u1ecdm\u1ecd B\u00e1migb\u00f3y\u00e8 (Nigerian, c. 1885\u20131975). Wood and paint; overall: 134 x 57.9 x 62.5 cm (52 3/4 x 22 13/16 x 24 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund and Gift of Mary Price, 1991.165",
"current_location": "001A ArtLens Exhibition",
"title": "Headdress (\u1eb8pa) called At\u00f3f\u00f2j\u1ecd\u0301w\u00f2 (\u201cYou Can Look at It for a Whole Day\u201d)",
"creation_date": "1920\u201330",
"creation_date_earliest": 1920,
"creation_date_latest": 1930,
"artists_tags": [
"male",
"African (from 1900 to present)"
],
"culture": [
"Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yor\u00f9b\u00e1 peoples"
],
"technique": "Wood and paint",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Mask",
"measurements": "Overall: 134 x 57.9 x 62.5 cm (52 3/4 x 22 13/16 x 24 5/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 1.34,
"height_inch": 52,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.75,
"width": 0.579,
"width_inch": 22,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"depth": 0.625,
"depth_inch": 24,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.625
},
"diameter of base": {
"width": 0.318,
"width_inch": 12,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.5
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 287107,
"title": "African Master Carvers: Known and Famous",
"description": "African Master Carvers: Known and Famous. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-July 16, 2017).",
"opening_date": "2017-03-26T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 375970,
"title": "B\u00e1mgb\u00f3y\u00e8: A Twentieth-Century Yor\u00f9b\u00e1 Sculptor",
"description": "B\u00e1mgb\u00f3y\u00e8: A Twentieth-Century Yor\u00f9b\u00e1 Sculptor. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (organizer) (September 9, 2022-January 8, 2023).",
"opening_date": "2022-09-09T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 705279,
"title": "ArtLens Reimagined: The Intersection of Art, Technology, and Innovation",
"description": "ArtLens Reimagined: The Intersection of Art, Technology, and Innovation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 23, 2026-September 1, 2031).",
"opening_date": "2026-07-23T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Masterpieces of African Art. The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (October 21, 1954-January 2, 1955).",
"opening_date": "1954-10-21T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "",
"opening_date": null
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Leon Underwood (also known as George Claude Leon Underwood, 1890\u20131970) by purchase from the artist Moshood Olusomo B\u00e1migb\u00f3y\u00e8",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"\"Bamboya [sic, Bamigboye], the Yoruba carver of Omu, Ilorin, province of Nigeria, who carved the Elepa [sic, Epa] mask in Plate 27...He produced this mask and many other fine works over thirty years ago when he did not know he was an artist.\" \"In possession of the author.\" Underwood, Leon. 1948. Masks of West Africa. London: A. Tiranti. Plate 27, pp. 13\u201316, 36\u201337, 46
",
"Green, James, Oluseye Adesola, Anne Turner Gunnison, Efeoghene Igor, William R. Rea, Cathy Silverman, and Yale University Art Gallery. 2022. Ba\u0301migbo\u0301ye\u0300 : A Master Sculptor of the Yoru\u0300Ba\u0301 Tradition. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery. p. 115
"
],
"date": "1945\u2013?",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Vincent Price",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Reproduced in 1958 Fagg/Elisofon book The Sculpture of Africa as figure 144.
"
],
"date": "By at least 1958",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Mary Grant Price, California or Boston, MA",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"M.G. Price may have received this as a gift from V. Price following their 1974 divorce. She moved to Boston, MA, at an unspecified date. Oral history interview with Robert M. Light, 2008 Apr. 25, Smithsonian Archives of American Art
"
],
"date": "?\u20131991",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH by gift and partial purchase from R. M. Light and Co., Inc. (Santa Barbara, CA)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1991\u2013",
"sortorder": 4
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Performing this \u1eb8pa mask was an impressive feat of strength; it weighs nearly 45 pounds!",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": "INTERACTIVE
Examine this artwork with Look Closer
Use the interactive lens to see up close the intricate carvings and to listen to the headdress\u2019s hidden stories.",
"description": "This \u1eb8pa, or headdress, is called At\u00f3f\u00f2j\u1ecd\u0301w\u00f2, which means \u201cYou can look at it for a whole day.\u201d Look closely at its many details. The central carving shows a king on horseback surrounded by attendants. This headdress would have been worn as part of a performance for an important festival. Performing in these masks is considered a great honor for the people wearing them.
Are there any important festivals, ceremonies, or traditions in your community?",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Green, James, et al. Ba\u0301migbo\u0301ye\u0300 : A Master Sculptor of the Yoru\u0300ba\u0301 Tradition. Yale University Art Gallery, 2022.",
"page_number": "p. 115-118",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Underwood, Leon. 1948. Masks of West Africa. London: A. Tiranti.",
"page_number": "Plate 27, pp. 13\u201316, 36\u201337, 46",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "John Pemberton III et. al. The Horse Rider in African Art (London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2011), pg. 186.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Brooklyn Museum. Masterpieces of African Art. Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences, 1954.",
"page_number": "P. 102",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Robbins, Warren M. African Art in American Collections: L'art Africain Dans Les Collections Americaines. New York: F.A. Praeger, 1966",
"page_number": "P. 164",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Trowell, Margaret, Hans Nevermann, and Hans Nevermann. African and Oceanic Art. Panorama of World Art. New York: H.N. Abrams. 1968",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 87",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "\"Front Matter.\" African Arts 6, no. 1 (Autumn 1972):",
"page_number": "Reproduced: inner front cover.",
"url": "https://www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org/stable/3334630?refreqid=excelsior%3A2adec6cc6f566dee14d5bd2188c0cdda&seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents"
},
{
"citation": "Turner, Evan H. \"Selected 1991 Acquisitions.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (1992): 63-83.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 65, 83; Reproduced: p. 75",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161350"
},
{
"citation": "Chemeche, George, and John Pemberton. The Horse Rider in African Art. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 2011.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 106",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lawal, Babatunde. Yoruba. Milan, Italy: 5 Continents, 2012.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pl. 54",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"African Master Carvers: Nine sculptors of traditional African artworks rise from anonymity.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 32-33.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 32; Mentioned: P. 32, 33",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2017-02/page/n15/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "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. 174, no. 6.15",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Heinrich, Will. \"More Than 90 Art Shows and Exhibitions to See This Fall,\"The New York Times, September 8, 2022. Reproduced.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/arts/design/art-design-fall-season.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhkQVUbCybcR8Q86RGLnvnAxvs1nGO7ICWOSDlEiuocB4zF4ErEfq1lIdsv2jDRDPlwDIgSft0ghOlOIx4qDACyvpqPnJlCLXxo-IjiBjxzgcvHBvVl-Ge6K2PjIrs6mOGy5x7Wa2G5UaCPwmRhcFg-2eZtfFGr3HwJx63XQKUiipQlg6BXVt0tTiwAZSKKo_DjFx5_Xd2GZRvf4QM3MPpLDXCRxZXPruJdL3gBTA7OX3h94m0j6NpDOd1xPK33LRYoeseWkqy5T4AnMKeEg6ayWE_1HFYa"
},
{
"citation": "Green, James. \"Islamic Influence in the Work of Yor\u00f9b\u00e1 Sculptor B\u00e1migb\u00f3y\u00e8,\" \u00ccM\u1ecc\u0300 D\u00c1RA, October 16, 2022.",
"page_number": "Reproduced",
"url": "https://www.imodara.com/magazine/islamic-influence-bamigboye/"
},
{
"citation": "Elisofon, Eliot, and William Fagg. The Sculpture of Africa: 405 Photographs. London: Thames & Hudson, 1958.",
"page_number": "p. 114\u2013115, fig. 144",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.165",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund and Gift of Mary Price",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": "f8645e86189e4b66b19639f09660af5a",
"sketchfab_url": "https://sketchfab.com/models/f8645e86189e4b66b19639f09660af5a",
"gallery_donor_text": "Maltz Family Foundation ArtLens Gallery",
"athena_id": 155862,
"creators": [
{
"id": 397348,
"description": "Moshood Ol\u00fa\u1e63\u1ecdm\u1ecd B\u00e1migb\u00f3y\u00e8 (Nigerian, c. 1885\u20131975)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "Nigerian wood-carver. He carved traditional objects (houseposts, bowls, stools) as well as innovative ones (coffee tables, bread boards) in a relatively plain style. He also carved masks, among the finest being an Epa mask (London, BM) on which two women are surrounded by smaller male figures atop the mask superstructure. This piece adheres to Yoruba conventions in that the figures are idealized, static, stoically poised, emotionless and non-narrative, though they display the fullness of life. Large in size, symmetrical and conventionally proportioned, his pieces have relatively smooth surfaces. Wall plaques with narrative scenes, stools, knives, intricate patterning and details are among his more \u2018modern\u2019 works. He taught carving in Omu.
dele jegede in Grove Art Online
https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T096558",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1885",
"death_year": "1975",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 0
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1991-12-16T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1920,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1920\u201330",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": "The object is largely carved from a single piece of wood, which shows characteristic radial cracking toward the base as would be expected for a wooden object of this age and size. On either side, two smaller figures carrying fans in the uppermost register are carved separately and attached with nails. These openings would have allowed greater flexibility in carving the interior figure. The spacing between the figures on all registers is just enough to allow a hand to pass through. The pigments present have been studied by conservators and scientists at the Yale University Art Gallery as part of the exhibition B\u00e1migb\u00f3y\u00e8: A Master Sculptor of the Yor\u00f9b\u00e1 Tradition, and preliminary results are published in the accompanying catalogue. Analysis of the white paint points to the use of clay, possibly kaolin; the black paint includes a charred vegetal material, and analytical results for the red, brown, and yellow paints are typical of naturally occurring earth pigments.",
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Orangun Epa Headdress"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-09-22 21:18:55.648000"
}
}