Made by Mbuti women for dances, festivities, coming-of-age ceremonies and kept as items of wealth, the asymmetric, spontaneous and animated patterns of bark cloth paintings reflect and respond to their rainforest surroundings - giving shape to Mbuti perceptions of place.
The design of this bark painting with its lineal lines of dots, is very unusual with Mbuti bark cloth painting and is thought to relate to one particular Mbuti woman who painted is this style.
This bark cloth was field collected by the two doctors in the 1950's in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and has been in a private German collection till recent times.
The bark cloth has been custom mounted and presented on a deep blue linen cloth backing.
Estimated Period: Pre-1950's
76 cm x 46 xm (As Custom Mounted)
(Click on images to enlarge)
