1979.35.A-B Nwenka mask

The Nwenka mask is said to date from the time of creation, when Wuro, the Creator God, molded the world from moist clay and made the first humans. Wuro retreated from the world but left his three sons behind to help mankind. Nwenka embodies the spirit of Dwo, one of Wuro's sons, and is a medium of communication with Wuro. The blacksmith, one of the first human beings, was made its keeper and authorized to carve it and other masks out of wood.  

At harvest and funeral celebrations, Nwenke dancers (sing. Nwenka) wear thick costumes of hemp and execute an athletic spinning dance that serves as a metaphor for the creation of the world.

The Nwenka mask is accompanied by the Nyaga mask, which represents a large antelope with enormous backward curving horns. Combed hibiscus fibers were lashed to the mask, which was worn with a fiber costume.

Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, Arts of Africa, 2015.

By 1964: Jay C. Leff, Uniontown, Pennsylvania [1]

n.d.: Schindler Collection, New York

1979: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift from above [2]

[1] Included in the exhibition "African Sculpture from the Collection of Jay C. Leff," Museum of Primitive Art, New York, November 25, 1964-February 7, 1965.

[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1979.35.A-B