The exhibition Traces focuses on one artwork from UMMA’s African holdings: a Chokwe mask that was collected in 1905 near the Angolan city of Dundo by the German explorer Leo Frobenius. Its presence at UMMA today—almost 7,500 miles away from the context in which it was originally created, used, and valued—is the result of a long and tumultuous journey, spanning a hundred years, three continents, and numerous people whose lives are forever connected to the artifact that passed through their hands.
Traces tells the stories of some of these individuals as it reconstructs the “biography” of the mask. Drawing on the Museum’s African art collection and complemented with national loans, the exhibition is informed by research that exposes the mask’s many layers and restores some of its historical complexity. Visitors will be able to look closely, and in great detail, at this intriguing artwork and its fascinating story.
Lead support for Traces: Reconstructing the History of a Chokwe Mask is provided by the James and Vivian Curtis Endowment. Additional generous support is provided by the University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women's Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, the African Studies Center, and the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies.
Images
Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Pwo (woman) mask, ca. 1890, wood, tukula powder, clay, string, metal, fur, snakeskin, cloth, chicken foot, tax token, button. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern, 2005/1.201
Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Caryatid stool, 2nd half of 19th century, wood, glass beads, brass tacks. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Helmut and Candis Stern, 2005/1.204
Artist unrecorded, Chokwe or related peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Hamba (ancestor) figure, ca. 1920, wood, string. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Helmut and Candis Stern, 2005/1.206
Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Female figure, date unrecorded, wood. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen in memory of Nancy Turner, 2015/2.177
Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Pwo (woman) mask, date unrecorded, wood, tukula powder. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen in memory of Nancy Turner, 2015/2.178