IDNO

P.71397.GIJ

Description

Ikem masquerade play. A masquerader wearing an Anang carved female face mask over a square frame covered in a printed cloth and wearing a striped wrapper or waist cloth. The face of the mask is a very naturalistic and human, with accentuated dark eyebrows, eyes, fine nose , marks on both cheeks, and lips, with an elaborate black coiffure parted in the centre and in large plaits or braids, around the neck is a large necklace. The masquerader is holding and umbrella in one hand and a handkerchief in the other. To the side of the masquerader is a man “attendant” holding a musical instrument?; he is wearing a white top and plaid wrapper. Behind is a group of spectators and in the background are thatched houses and trees.

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/.

Context: “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 early 1930s, if not well before this, skin-covered heads in this style equal to the best that had been made in the 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 style 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 with a clear varnish. 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.” (Jones 1984, pp.184-185)

Cole and Aniakor also describe the Ikem style, “Quite similar headdresses were also made for the Ikem masquerades by the Efut Ejagham of Calabar, and Jones documented another example of a male type near Item. Jones’ designation of “Cross River Style” for these and other skin covered masks is understandable since the peoples of the region carved for one another in several substyles, traded dances and associations, and thus confounded any but the most broad classifications.”

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)

Cole, H. & C. Aniakor, 1984. Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos (Museum of Cultural History, University of California)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 7/11/2007]