Sometimes a passion for collecting springs from mundane circumstance.

Sometimes a passion for collecting springs from mundane circumstance. For Toby and Barry Hecht, it began as a matter of interior decorating: after moving into a of the present day house about eighteen years ago, a friend intimateed that an African mask might travel well with their contemporary furnishings. As Barry Hecht discloses it, "We visited two galleries in recently made known York and bought a not many pieces that turned out to be reproductions. However, my interest was kindled, and I started visiting exhibitions at the Museum of African Art upon Capitol Hill (which later became the National Museum of African Art). each few years the museum would proffer a course to be a docent. I took it, and I stayed in succession for ten years. I now minister to on its board and in succession the Acquisitions Committee at the Baltimore Museum of Art."

At first the Hechts assembleed African art from across the continent. Later they focused upon northern and eastern Nigeria, including the Benue River Valley, the Niger Delta, the Cros River, and the Nigeria-Cameroon border area. The decision to specialize was influenced by means of the 1985 exhibition "Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos" and prospect to the William Arnett collection, quick in emergenciesed in "Three Rivers of Nigeria" (1978) Besides, Barry Hecht says, "I reasoned that I could acquire higher-quality material and learn more if I concentrated in succession one area. Since there are a large number of ethnic arranges with a variety of mode of addresss in this region, I did not be stirred limited in any way."

Hecht is an exceptional collector in the balanced attention he gives to the aesthetic and the scholarly: the place, time, and function of an end as well as its provenance. As a deduction he has amassed an extensive, indeed outstanding, library--well used, nearly memorized, and a constant source of delight, next to the first only to the works of art. He stresse patience and scholarly preparation in collecting, which includes visits to museums and reputable galleries. "I've risk up a filing system in such a manner that I can easily retrieve a number of examples of a particular adumbration of object I am considering for purchase. It consists of photos and intimations to journals and auction catalogues. Illustrations in PhD theses are underutilized resources. I sometimes contact scholars to share with them material I have seen and to finish their input about the origin and use of an final cause To me, the pleasure of collecting and writing about African art derives from the aesthetics of the final causes learning about their origin and use, and making a contribution to the art history of eastern Nigeria."

The following examples depict about one-third of the collection. The captions, written through Hecht, include his notes and intimations on style and origin together with published respects to similar examples.

Mangam mask. Kaleri, Nigeria. Wood; 635cm (25")

These masks are associated with the ritual called Mangam and with promoting an abundant first stomach (Rubin 1969; 110-13). Although frequently ascribed to the Mama (or Kantana), they are also used according to nearby groups such as the Rindri, Kaleri, Bu and Chesu. A number were photographed in the field on K.C. Murray in the early `50 and others according to Christian Duponcheel in 1965 (personal communication, 1993) A scarcely any Kaleri masks collected by O house of worship in 1910 are now in the Liverpool Museum. A rare photograph of a dancer wearing a mask and style of dress was published in 1955 (Fievet 1955: figs. 11 47)

house of god makes brief reference to the religious festivals: "On these occasions brace men don carved wooden masks, with lengthy horns, in representation of a animal, and fringes of dried grass depending therefrom effectually conceal the countenance of the wearer, who is study to represent some person or thing lengthy since dead" (Temple 1919:268-69). According to Duponcheel (personal communication, 1993) these masks set forth not a bush cow, as is repeatedly thought, but Ubawaru, a mythical ancestor who gives knowledge to the the public Elsy Leuzinger (1977:210) also give in charges to the masks of the Mama being used in the Kambon mask play of the "Udawaru" society, and worn for funerals and sacrificial system [i]or[/i] mode of worships Other masks in this fashion have been illustrated in the literature (Leuzinger 1977:221; Eyo 1977:224; Sieber & Walker 1999:96)

Oglinye mask. Idoma, Nigeria. grove fiber; 27.3cm (10.75). According to Sidney Kasfir, the Oglinye masquerade inserted the Idoma area with the Akweya and Igede, pair groups who had prior contact with Ogoja, an area located between Igede and the Middle Cros River (Kasfir 1988:85-108) It is performed in succession the last day of a period marking the second burial of a deceased member of the Oglinye society. This comb mask represents a woman and is worn with a white interstice suit, which extends over the head of the masquerader. Initially Oglinye came into Idomaland as a headhunter's dance, if it be not that it later lost this function. Today an institution for social ascendency it still relates to male aggression as it is manifested from one side the emergence of manhood and the values of a warrior.

A commonly illustrated field photo of an Oglinye crown was taken by Roy Sieber in 1958 This mask was attributed to Ochai, the greatest in quantity revered Idoma carver of the twentieth hundred years (Sieber 1961:8). Other examples have been illustrated through Kasfir (1979: figs. 115, 117 118)