I can’t seem to escape wooden carved masks at auction these days. They keep turning up and I’m not quite sure why. It’s working out for me because I’m on the lookout for items to offer for a silent auction that’s coming up a week from now. So, I’ve bought a few hoping that they’ll be snapped up by bidders.
My most recent find were several masks that were of the street-artist variety – with metal hooks and holes on the back for hanging on walls. None were authentic masks that had been worn in African cultural rituals. I have picked up a few masks lately, but it’s always hard to tell if they were actually used in ceremonies. No matter, because they were lovely pieces.
I assumed that these masks had perhaps been picked up by a tourist either on a trip to Africa or bought by someone in the States from one of the many ethnic shops that sell African-style carvings.
One of the masks had the name of the maker carved in the wood along the back rim: Roger Francois. Obviously, I was curious about the man who had made this crudely hewed mask with raised eyes, lips, eyebrows and nose. The mouth was opened as if the mask were about to make a statement. Something resembling white chalk had dusted the face in some spots.
I wondered how old the mask was, but there was no way to tell because the artist didn’t carve a year beside his name.
Roger Francois, I learned, was a Haitian artist who was born in Petite Riviere de l’Artibonite around 1928. He began as a wood sculptor and added painting to his repertoire decades later. He paints Haitian women both nude and clothed, along with market scenes and animals. He also creates voodoo paintings. His works are bold and colorful, and some of his images appear larger than life.
He has exhibited in Belgium (he’s said to be in the collection of a museum in Brussels), Germany, France, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Here are other examples of his masks, carvings and paintings.
Francois was only one of several veteran Haitian artists whom I’d bumped into recently. At another auction, I managed to snare a group of paintings by several of his contemporaries.
While paintings are normally signed, I hadn’t come across any carvings that were. So, I was delighted to discover one with an artist’s signature.
