Despite the considerable geographic distance between them, the Loma and the Senufo share not only a similarly named institution in the form of Poro, but also a genre of ‘horizontal’ wooden masks used for their generally protective and law enforcement capacities. Brooklyn has a number of wonderfully potent examples, some of which have (regrettably) not been on view for some time.

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Extending our reach even slightly further (and in response to an influential question posed in the 1990s in an African art journal—Is there history in horizontal masks?), there is an intriguing case to be made for connections to more well-known horizontal masks in Brooklyn’s collection that have long been on view, and will return later this summer in our new African Innovations re-installation (more on that very soon).

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Both the Banda mask, by a Baga artist, and the Komo mask, by a Bamana artist, suggest intriguing visual and functional parallels with the Loma Ngafui mask in New Orleans.

Maybe next season?

Ngafui Mask for the Poro Society. Unidentified Loma artist, 19th or early 20th century, Liberia or Guinea. Wood, cotton, feathers, monkey fur, leopard fur, cowrie shells, metal and seeds. New Orleans Museum of Art, Museum purchase: West Freeman Foundation Matching Fund, 72.140.

Series creator David Simon linked that scene in the “Brooklyn Museum” with a story associated with Tootie Montana (a New Orleans legend and “chief of the chiefs” among the city’s Mardi Gras Indians for many years) who once remarked upon seeing a similar mask in New York – “they got that from us.”

While the Ngafui mask in New Orleans is rare and stunning (and, indeed, has been written about my predecessor, William Siegmann, Curator Emeritus of African Art), I would be remiss in my role as cheerleader for all things African art not to point out the related, wonderful masks and other associated works at Brooklyn.

The mask above was used by the Poro society, an initiation society for men which is found in a variety of quite distinct West African societies, including the Loma. The work here that immediately comes to mind is a double-faced staff, likely used by a leader in a Loma Poro society. This work certainly shares in the spectacular crown of feathers to which Albert initially responded.

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Oracle Figure (Kafigeledjo). Unidentified Senufo artist, late 19th or early 20th century, Korhogo district, Côte d’Ivoire. Cloth, wood, glass beads, feathers. Gift of Fernandez Arman to the Jennie Simpson Educational Collection of African Art, 72.102.3.

A related work, by a Senufo artist, is an oracle figure known as a kafigeledjo. The feathers on this object, also restricted to a senior member of the Poro society among the Senufo, are part of a deliberate “anti-aesthetic,” meant to provoke intense anxiety in the viewer—which makes sense, as these were used to suss out lies and hidden misdeeds.

Perhaps the producers could consider a follow-up episode inside the building—Brooklyn certainly does seem to be on the radar of HBO’s production designers!

Here’s the character Maryann creating a “meat tree”…see the resemblance to the Bird Lady? Michelle Forbes (the actress who plays Maryann) gave an interview for TV Guide in which she talks about the tree: “It was filled with real meat and reeked as the weeks wore on. There are bobcats and coyotes roaming around that ranch where we shoot, so they had someone sit by the tree with a gun at night to protect it.”  Love that—all bird ladies warrant protection.

(Conservators please avert your eyes!)  Bird Lady is spotted several times in Sookie’s house where Maryann is squatting.  Seen here in episode ten, she’s covered in eggs and eggshells and if you watched episode eleven those eggs have even more meaning. Now, as we *try* to wait patiently for Sunday’s season finale, we’ll leave you with a few things to ponder….

…this quote we found from Michelle Forbes:

…this awesome finale still shot (!!!!!)  sent to us from the fabulous people we’ve been speaking with at HBO:

…lastly, don’t forget to stop by and see our Bird Lady—she’s 5,500 years old and waiting for you on our third floor in Egypt Reborn….

Getting to ask Suzuki our questions directly was incredibly exciting and the answers we got were pretty thrilling too! How cool is this…

How True Blood found the “Bird Lady”

The script for Episode 1 of Season 2 called for “a primitive piece of art; like a dancing girl” to be placed on the character Maryann’s coffee table. Suzuki and Cat Smith, Art Director, went to Google to look for images that fit these requirements, hoping to find something that inspired them. They looked at many different types of ancient images including Mycenaean, Etruscan, and Minoan examples. Entering search terms something like “Egyptian female statues,” they came across our very own “Bird Lady.” They printed out a selection of appropriate images and presented them to Alan Ball, the show’s creator.

He was immediately drawn to the “Bird Lady,” seeing something so elegant, beautiful and perfect in her form that she became the obvious choice. As Suzuki pointed out, though she is not the first to do so, this ancient figure looks both modern and primitive at the same time. In terms of the show, she said using it helped to emphasize that Maryann’s character is timeless.

We also found it interesting that Suzuki said they looked at a lot of Egyptian images and chose this one precisely because it is not a “typical” ancient Egyptian representation. This was precisely the thinking behind curator James F. Romano’s choice of the “Bird Lady” as the signature image for the reinstalled Egyptian galleries, which opened in April 2003. As usual, he wanted to get people to stop, look and think twice.

How True Blood created their “Bird Lady”

As part of Alan Ball’s vision for the show, which involves going the distance to add a level of authenticity, an artist was hired to make a version of the “Bird Lady” based on renderings off the web. Cindy Jackson made three statues in case one got broken during filming. Suzuki wanted a base that let the figure float and emphasized its sense of movement. So the artist drilled a rod into the bottom of the statue that connects to a flat base. We explained that we obviously couldn’t do that to a 5,500 year old object but we do have a special mount that safely produces the same floating effect.

HBO’s version of “Bird Lady” made for the series True Blood by artist Cindy Jackson from a mold she created and casting plaster.  Images courtesy Suzuki Ingerslev. 

Lastly, a few final bits of “Bird Lady” and True Blood trivia.

One of the characters refers to the statue as “Mycenean or something.” Maryann intentionally raises her arms in the same pose during the episode; this gesture was directly inspired by the choice of the “Bird Lady” for the statue. And yes, the “Bird Lady” can be read as a clue to Maryann’s eternal nature, but no, there is not necessarily any further connection.

Many thanks to HBO’s True Blood team for responding so quickly and warmly to our questions. We are glad you love the “Bird Lady” as much as we do.

We were first notified of this surprise appearance from a comment in our online collection by Marlene F. Emmett, who spotted a statue that sure looks like our “Bird Lady” in the first episode of the second season of the HBO series True Blood. When I heard about it from Shelley via e-mail, I began to search the web and found an art history shout-out to us at this blog.

Great eye, ladies, and thanks for letting us know about it! Shelley meanwhile got some screenshots to me so I could study them:

Sam Trammell with “Bird Lady” in the second season premiere of the HBO series True Blood.

Of course, this is not our actual “Bird Lady,” but the prop in the pictures is clearly based on our most complete examples, like the one on our website. I know this because we included two fragmentary “Bird Lady figurines” in our recently closed exhibition, The Fertile Goddess and I did a lot of research on Predynastic female figurines from Egypt in order to write the labels.

Close-up of “Bird Lady” from True Blood.

Like the figure used in True Blood, the Brooklyn Museum figurines have white paint on their lower halves, representing a skirt, and their legs are not indicated. They were all excavated from graves at one site in Egypt in the early twentieth century. Other Predynastic figurines with raised arms and beak-like faces exist but they don’t have the skirt and their legs are indicated.  For an example of this type see this figure at the British Museum.

I would love to know how True Blood got the idea for this prop! Did someone from the show come to Brooklyn and see ours? Did they see it online or in a book? It is certainly an iconic and much reproduced image but not necessarily one I’d expect to turn up in a television show.

I am also very curious about where they found the replica that is used in the show. I did find a few websites that sell replicas based on our “Bird Lady” (here, here and here) and even a photo of one of these replicas on Flickr. However, these have very different bases from the one on True Blood. Maybe they had a different base made or even commissioned an artist to make a replica. I’d be grateful to hear from anyone who might know the answers to these questions.