Images(6)

Sawfish Helmet Mask (oki)

Artist Niger River Delta Region artist (possibly Bidjogo)

Dateearly–mid 20th century

MediumWood, mirrors, nails, paint, and pigment

DimensionsH. 24 1/2 x W. 18 3/4 x L. 89 3/8 in. (62.2 x 47.6 x 227 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from various donors, by exchange

Object number85.1

On View

On view

ProvenanceCollection of M. and Mme. Roux, Paris, who acquired it in Nigeria circa 1950; Helene and Philippe Lelouop, New York
Published ReferencesNorth Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1985-86), illus. (b-w) 16.

Southern Living 27 (December 1992), illus. 30.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (color) 47.

"Bringing Art to the People: An Internship in Museum Education at the NCMA," a paper by Laura Michelle Bassett on the "Saw-Fish Headdress" (Winter, 1992).

See Reference Library for typed lecture by Chris Roy, 3/12/92, "African Art."

Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Sawfish Headdress, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 58, illus. (color).

Scott Schaefer, "The Realization of a Dream," Sotheby's Preview (January 1999), illus. (color) 35.

Art Taylor, "Museum Loans," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (March/April 2002), mentioned 7.

Martha G. Anderson and Philip M. Peek, eds., Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta (exhibition catalogue) (Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2002), mentioned 26, illus. (color) 26 and back cover.

Holland Cotter, "Niger Delta Art, Riches of a Plundered Land," (exhibition review) The New York Times (November 7, 2002), mentioned E2, illus. (color) E1.

David Pagel, "Dreaming of Africa," (exhibition review) Los Angeles Times (June 26, 2002), illus. F1.

Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Sawfish Headdress, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 124, illus. (color) 125.
Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, "Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta," May 19-November 17, 2002, cat. p. 26, illus. (color) 26 and back cover.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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