Catalog Record
Illustrations (some color), color illustration on cover. Chiefs' masks were first made by Pende sculptors in the 1910s. The author seeks to identify the artist who made a mask (pictured in the article), currently in the Africa-Museum in Tervuren, Belgium, as Gabama a Gingungu (ca. 1890-1965). In the 1870s, most Pende sculptors were blacksmiths who sculpted only a few weeks a year. Smithing largely died out during the colonial period, although a few multi-purpose smiths worked among the eastern Pende in the late 1980s. Gabama emerged as a sculptor in 1910 in the village of Nyoka-Munene. None of his sculptures are known to have survived in Pendeland, although some are held abroad. Gabama is known for several things -- his chief's mask, which portrays a potent man with a female face; a clown-mask face piece; and for professionalizing sculpture. His atelier was thriving in the late 1980s. Gabama was not a smith and was itinerant until 1933, carving masks for payment in chickens. When he returned home, he courted the European trade - in wooden masks, jewelry, and smaller ivory masks. He became a circumciser and was elected "chief of the dance arena." Pende sculpture, which emerged largely in the mid-twentieth century, has always been meant for an indigenous audience and foreign connoisseurs. However, unlike western modern artworks which are known by their makers' names, the makers of Pende masks held in foreign museums and private collections are largely unknown AFAINDEX5