IDNO

P.71324.GIJ

Description

A close up view of a masquerader in an Ikem Play. The mask consists of a naturalistic female face that depicts inset eyes, arched black eyebrows, nose, open painted mouth, ears, black dots on the cheeks and a black line from the nose to the mouth. The hairstyle is an elaborate coiffure painted black and consisting of a cone shaped hair with twisted braids The face is varnished. Around the upper body is square shaped frame that is covered in a printed cloth. Around the neck is a necklace. In the background are attendants and spectators.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Umuahia

Cultural Affliation

Ibibio

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

circa 1930 - 1939

Collection Name

Jones collection

Source

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.71320.GIJ to P.71399.GIJ were kept in box 3, now numbered C303/.

Publication: Same image published on John McCall’s G.I. Jones website with the following information: [Source: www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, AF ]
1. Index to Ibibio, Ijo and Ogoni
2. Ibibio
3. Ikem Masquerade (6th image).

Context: Jones writes about the Cross River Style and the Modern Anang (Ibibio) style . He notes, “The Cross River masquerade called Ikem spread from Old Calabar to the Ibibio country in the early decades of the twentieth century and Anang carvers were producing by the 1930s, if not well before this, skin-covered heads in this style equal to the best that had been made in Ejagham country and in Old Calabar. There were certain minor differences that distinguished these Anang heads, the most obvious being their drooping upper eyelids. The Ikem masquerade and heads in this modified Cross River diffused into the Umuahia area and as far north as Ozu Item. But the Ikem masquerade seems to have inspired the Akang to produce similar masquerades and their own variant of these heads in what was locally held to be a completely naturalistic style. The hair, eyes and lips were painted in natural colours and in place of the covering of skin the face and neck were painted with clear varnish(as in the photograph). The associated masquerade, which received different names in different areas, was spread widely to their Ibibio and Ibo neighbours. During the colonial period there was an increasing demand for Anang sculpture but primarily for masks, heads and figures in this modern naturalistic style. For it was a very successful compromise between the Traditional Anang (Ibibio) and the ‘traditional European’ style, meaning by the latter term Victorian naturalism and the classical Greek sculpture which inspired it. Europeans bought this sculpture because it looked sufficiently African but not too African. Nigerians bought it because it looked sufficiently modern and European. In response to this demand Anang carvers developed a minor local industry in the Ikot Ekpene district mass-producing inferior masks, heads, and dolls. The inferiority was due primarily for the buyers’ reluctance to pay for something better (Jones, 1984, pp. 184-185).”

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 16/1/2008]