UBI/GREBO Multi-Eyed Board Mask with Feather Crest (mid-20th cent., 64 cm)

A large, highly abstracted wooden board mask, completely flat across its primary plane. It features multiple pairs of prominent, projecting tubular eyes, a rectangular block nose, and a painted red vertical stripe. The top edge is heavily adorned with thick, upright feathers.

1. Aesthetic Style and Regional Traits

The Grebo (and related groups) are famous for this specific, radical masking typology: the flat board mask. This design completely abandons the natural curve of the human face, presenting instead a stark, two-dimensional canvas upon which highly geometric, projecting features are added. This mask, with its multiple pairs of tubular eyes, famously inspired early European cubist artists (like Picasso) in their quest to deconstruct human portraiture. The Grebo board format is one of the few African mask traditions documented as having direct influence on early-20th-century European modernism.

2. Ritual Function and the Multi-Eyed Spirit

The most striking feature of this mask is the multiplicity of projecting eyes. In the dense forest cultures of the Ivory Coast and Liberia, spirits are often conceptualized as omniscient and terrifying. A mask with multiple eyes represents a spirit that can see simultaneously into the physical world, the spirit realm, the past, and the future. Danced by male secret society members during times of war or social crisis, it was designed to overwhelm and intimidate. The proliferation of eyes is operational rather than decorative — each pair extends the spirit's visual coverage.

3. Physical Patina and Age Verification

The mask retains significant traces of its original ritual life. The central red stripe (often symbolizing blood, danger, or spiritual heat) and the painted circles around the eyes are faded but clear. The inclusion of the thick crown of stiff bird feathers adds a crucial organic, chaotic element to the rigid wooden geometry, confirming its use as an active, mid-20th-century ceremonial object.

Summary

A quintessential Grebo board mask that perfectly exemplifies the radical, projecting cubism that revolutionized modern art. Its terrifying, multi-eyed omniscience, combined with authentic polychrome fading and original feathers, makes it a world-class ethnographic artifact.