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Dressing the Head African Hats October 23 - December 11, 1999

Hurst Gallery is pleased to announce our new exhibition of African Hats. Dressing the Head incorporates a wide range of forms: crests, helmets, hats, wigs, skullcaps, bonnets, and other African adornments for the head. Traditional African headwear expresses the diversity of the continent. The hat may serve a religious or ceremonial function or indicate the occupation or office of the wearer in civic, social, or secret society. It may indicate the marital status of the man or woman. These forms are embellished with dazzling colors and an amazing array of material, including animal horns, cowry shells, feather plumes, elephant hair, boar tusks, shirt buttons, coins, glass beads, metal appliqués, and tassels. The hats themselves are composed of wood, cloth, animal hide, metal, shell, gourd, basketry, and braided hair. The accompanying illustrations (see images above and below) show examples from the Hurst Gallery exhibition. The horned headdresses, or ipiedza, is worn by male hunters and warriors of the Somba of Northern Ghana. Title-holders among the Kuba in the Democratic Republic of Congo wear prestige hats covered with glass beads and cowry shells, kayleem, in public appearances and ceremonies. The adult Bamileke men of Cameroon wear a cotton hat, ashetu, which has a multitude of projecting cylindrical elements or burls, reinforced with wood to give a three-dimensional effect. Below are a few examples from the exhibition. Please contact the gallery for further information.

JH-3437 Hat with horns Somba, Togo H: 13.5 in.	JH-3734 Hat with burls Bamileke, Cameroon H: 8.5 in.	JH-3532 Dagomba Headdress Dagomba, Ghana H: 9.75 in
JH-3687 Helmet Yoruba, Nigeria H: 11.5 in	JH-3346 Diadem, Luba Democratic Republic of Congo H: 18.5 in	JH-3677 Lega Headdress Democratic Republic of Congo H: 20 in
JH-3703 Kuba Headdress Democratic Republic of Congo H: 4 in	JH-3649 Bamileke Headdress Bamileke, Cameroon H: 4.25 in	JH-3198 Mbala Headdress Democratic Republic of Congo H: 6 in
JH-3648 Bamileke Headdress Bamileke, Cameroon H: 8.24 in	JH-3569 Status Headdress of Kuba Democratic Republic of Congo H: 5.5 in	JH-3729 Hat with plumes Pokot, Kenya H: 14 in