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La Roche LaffitteAfrican Ngil Mask. Watercolour on Handmade Paper on Vélin d'Arches.
About the Item
Watercolour on handmade paper of a 'Ngil' mask applied to Vélin d'Arches paper by French artist La Roche Laffitte. Titled to the centre and signed by the artist to the left.
A beautifully observed and detailed study of a 'Ngil' mask in light yellow/ochre on high quality hand-made paper. An extremely chic and elegant watercolour.
This contemporary artist, born in 1943 specialises in watercolour studies on hand-made paper. With his highly detailed and precisely painted studies he invites us into the magical world of cultural objects, flora and fauna. The treasures of nature along with tribal regalia is his main inspiration. All of his work is beautifully observed and executed down to the smallest detail.
The secret brotherhood of the ngil used large wooden masks (called nkukh or asu ngi, i.e. 'the face of the ngi'), with stylised human figures, grotesquely accentuated features, decorated with engravings reminiscent of warriors' scarifications. These masks were more or less large, sometimes polychrome, some with monoxys horns (in South Cameroon and Rio Muni), others simply coated with whitish kaolin, the symbolic colour of spirits. Father H. Trilles had several opportunities to see and even photograph them during his journey through Fang country, from Rio Muni to South Cameroon (1899-1901).
The initiation was an opportunity to reveal to the neophytes, in the greatest secrecy, that the masks were not mysterious beings from the beyond but only wooden accessories, topped with feathers, made to impress the laymen.
A majestic mask, charged with the forces of the beyond
We can see that these Ngil masks, so sought after a century later as a major ornament in African art collections, were particularly "charged" objects despite their refined forms and graceful engraved decorations. As a support for beliefs linked to the evil power of spirits and the hope of overcoming the annihilation of death, especially that caused by witchcraft practices, Asu ngi masks thus evoked the constant link between the living and the dead.
- Creator:
- Dimensions:Height: 31.89 in (81 cm)Width: 21.26 in (54 cm)Depth: 0.08 in (2 mm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Cotignac, FR
- Reference Number:
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