Bamileke Artist, Cameroon, “Elephant Headdress”, 19th century.  Glass beads, wood, cloth, and raffia,  17 1/2 x 23 3/8 x 20 1/8 inches. Purchase through funds provided by patrons of the Second Annual Collectors Evening, 2011.  2011.1, High Museum of Art, Atlanta. © High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

During the nineteenth century, when this work was made, elephant masks were among the most prestigious of all the masquerades performed by groups of wealthy, titled men in the small Bamileke kingdoms of the Cameroon Grassfields. The elephant, like the leopard, was a royal symbol, though both animals have long since become extinct in Cameroon. They were also considered the alter egos of Bamileke kings, who were described as having the ability to transform into either creature at will. Elephant masks were referred to as “things of money” because they were profusely ornamented with glass beads made in Venice or Czechoslovakia.

Fang Artist, Cameroon, “Male and Female Reliquary Guardian Figures”, ca. 1875–1925. Wood, ancestral relics, brass, and glass, 18.25 inches, Fred and Rita Richman Collection, 2002.291.1-2, High Museum of Art, Atlanta. © High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

In the dense equatorial region of central Africa, Fang sculptures like these were carved as guardian figures to sit upon bark boxes containing a family’s ancestral relics. As sentinels, the sculptures are upright, frontal, and symmetrical; they are alert and at attention. A Fang elder described how, “Their faces are strong, quiet, and reflective. They are thinking about our problems and how to help us. We see that they see.” The harmonious, balanced contours of reliquary guardian figures convey a sense of tranquility valued in both art and life in Fang culture. Their boldly geometric forms also inspired artists of early twentieth-century Paris such as Henri Matisse, André Derain, and Constantin Brancusi.