The art of the Bamileke tribe, to which the Bacham belong, is distinguished by its lively, vigorous, expressionistic style. The Bacham are a very small tribe comprising not much more than a single village, but they produce a striking and imaginative kind of carving. Bacham art has been compared to cubist painting in which different angles of the subject are viewed at the same time. This dramatic wood scultpure was created as a ceremonial mask. Though recognizably human, it seems to borrow details from the animal and insect kingdoms. The monumental scale is what most stirs the imagination. As with many colossal works from the classical world, it suggest the existence of a race of giant. Such a mask, ambitious in scale, monumental in its presence, embodies the magic and mystery that is Africa itself.
- (PF.2120)
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