Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art , in New York City, on Google Art Project. Scroll through the collection and click on images, or use the museum viewer, to look at the different works of art on display.
From the gallery, select the work Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba and respond to the series of questions provided to explore it in depth. Use the filter function to locate the image more readily within the collection.
Complete this activity after you have explored the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City, site through the Google Art Project
1. Describe the work by providing the following information:
a. Who is the artist?
b. When was the work created?
c. What medium is the work (e.g., sculpture, painting)?
d. What materials were used (e.g., clay, bronze, oil, acrylic)?
e. How large is the work? Provide dimensions.
2. How does the Queen Mother Pendant Mask relate to what you’ve learned about African art in this chapter? In your response, consider:
a. The use of the object.
b. The significance of the materials used.
c. The social and political systems of African cultures during the period.
3. Does there seem to be a specific message or feeling conveyed by the work? What might the intended message be, and how did the artist convey it? Consider aspects such as:
a. The materials used.
b. The formal structure of the composition (i.e., scale, proportion, symmetry).
c. The style of the work of art (i.e., realism, abstraction, idealization, exaggeration).
d. Distinguishing attributes – elements of the work that identify the subject as a particular person or belonging to a particular kingdom or culture.
e. The function of the object.
4. Impressions of the work:
a. What were your first impressions of the Queen Mother Pendant Mask?
b. Did these impressions change with more careful looking? How?
c. What other works of art, from this chapter or others, does the Queen Mother Pendant Mask work bring to your mind?
