Bwami Society Mask (lukungu)

Artist Lega artist

Dateearly 20th century (before 1930s)

MediumIvory

Dimensionsheight, width, and depth: 4 3/4 × 2 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (12.1 × 5.7 × 3.2 cm)

ClassificationsBone and Ivory

Credit LineGift of Lee and Dona Bronson

Object numberG.78.29.10

On View

Not on view

Label TextThe Bwami society is historically responsible for guiding the moral development of Lega individuals. Although simple in form, Bwami visual arts are intellectually complex. Any single object can be used to teach many lessons, and an object accumulates layers of meaning and beauty over time. Due to Bwami’s secretive, instructive nature, the Belgian colonial government outlawed it in the 1930s, and artworks flooded the European market.

Originally described in the 1800s as “crude” and “coarsely executed,” Bwami arts became valued by artists and elites and praised for their extraordinary expressiveness, classical lines, and simplicity of form. Meanwhile, Bwami continued, discarding carvings like these in favor of less recognizable instructive arts and thus resisting colonial authority.
[A. Maples, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2024]ProvenanceLee and Dona Bronson, Beverly Hills, CAExhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "A Survey of Zairian Art: The Bronson Collection," April 23-June 4, 1978; Washington, DC, Museum of African Art, October 1-June 15, 1978; Los Angeles, Museum of Natural History, February 28-September 15, 1979, illus. 37.

Winston-Salem, NC, Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem State University, "Through African Eyes: The Rhythm of African Life and Art," October 5-December 16, 1990, cat. p. 77; illus. 23.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," June 27, 2023-March 24, 2025.
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