arts finals paper

Silwal 1

Samanata Silwal

Dr. Jill foltz

Arts 1301-51003

29 September 2017

Egungun Costume Analysis

The supernatural belief to people where the costume which Yoruba people wears in the “Egungun Festival” which masked dancers, the spirits spins and spread the blessing to all the people with prosperity, children, and good health. The costume in the museum is from late 20th century. It was gifted to Dallas Museum of art in 2008 by Pace Primitive Gallery, New York. The dimensional of the costume is Height: 68 in. (1 m 72.72 cm) Width: 27 in. (68.58 cm) Depth: 16 1/2 in. (41.91 cm). The techniques and the material used for this dress are wood, glass beads, sequins, cloth (fabrics), shells, metal, and appliqué. The costume is to show a Yoruba people culture. It also represents African culture. This analysis of Egungun costume helps people to understand the piece of art through visual elements.  

            According to the style and the use of fabric, the art shows the dynamic effect on the piece. It shows dynamic because it shows horizontal, vertical and all kinds of line in the artwork. The lines used for this outfit is horizontal, vertical and curvilinear. The horizontal is used in the shoulder area, vertical is used in from leg to shoulder upper side o right-angle area and curvilinear is used in both right and left-hand side to make the dress flow when they do.  The lines used in this outfit help viewer the style and design of the dress. Although this outfit has geometrical shapes, if a person was wear in their body it will show the organic shapes in this dress. There almost all kind of lines and both organic and geometrical shapes have been shown in this piece of beautiful art.

In the world of art, the color, value, texture, and space are elements that are also more important that basic information about the artwork.  Looking at the costume there are lots of colorful glass bed used in it. The base of the outfit fabric is used red which gives a lot of signs. The colors used in this specific art are warm. When you observe more carefully the audience can see all kinds of color used in this work. The high value is significant to light & bright which is used as glass bed colors to give it attractive look to the outfit. The low value is significant to dark & shadow which is used at the edge of the outfit as a boarder as black plain fabrics.  This outfit gives more glows in night light and shows its high low value rather than in daylight. The outfit takes a big space if a person wears it. A person must be strong and big in body space to handle the weight of the dress. The art shows repetitions of colors and design which is done through the glass beads. While the viewer sees this artwork their focal point will be in the glass crystal bed which is shiny and provides glows. This attracts the audience eye when they see “Egungun costume.”

            Finally, the artwork shows the African tradition and culture through this outfit because it is used in the annual Egungun Festival. In Dallas Museums of Arts, there was many others group culture and artwork in display all have different elements. Every viewer has a different perspective to the artwork; the art is itself a way people look at an object or a thing.