Very beautiful mask in wood, kaolin and pigments, typical of the Adouma ethnic group of Gabon

Height: 45 cm, width: 22 cm

The Adouma people

The Adouma are settled on the banks of the Ogooué, in the south of Gabon, where their migration ended around 1750.

Having long engaged in numerous traffics on the river, they have become masters in the art of making pirogues - in okoumé wood - which has earned them the nicknames of "men of the river" or "master piroguiers". Even before the slave trade, the Adouma were involved in the slave trade, which they resold to the tribes of Bas Ogooué, from whom they obtained agricultural and craft products: salt, flintlock rifles, gunpowder, peanuts, palm oil and other cotton fabrics, raffia loincloths or mats that they resold further afield.

Adouma art

The Adouma are known to have a very rich cultural life! However, their artistic production is not very abundant and is limited to a few masks such as the one presented here, masks that are largely inspired by neighboring ethnic groups - Kwele, Vuvi or even Fang - but whose main characteristic remains the rectangular eyes.

Variants of the name Adouma

We sometimes also use: Aduma or Duma