Facing the Mask uses the mask, a central element for many African societies, as a marvelous point of entry into Africa, its arts, its diverse cultures, and its richly varied traditions.

Masking is one of the most important social and religious ritual activities of many African people. In southern Algeria, the rock paintings of Tassili-n’Ajjer, 4000-700 B.C, show that masks were already used thousands of years ago. Today, numerous African people continue to employ masks as did their ancestors. Some African mask traditions are still performed in their original, traditional ways. Others have been adapted to respond to changing needs, and new masks are created to cope with changes in the contemporary world.  The masks represented in this publication are only a small sample of the hundreds of different types that can be found in Africa. We hope that this small selection will help to demonstrate the importance of masks as ritual objects and works of art.  Exhibition catalogue by Frank Herreman with an essay, Behold the Mask: A Yoruba Scholar's Experience by Babatunde Lawal.

Published by the Museum for African Art, New York, September 2002. 72 pp.

ISBN 0-945802-33-1. LCCN 2002107633. 

Softcover: $19.00