An African mask is only a fragment of the art canvas. Masks are dramatic, musical costume events of which the headgear plays only a part.   

The way we are used to seeing masks, as a lone sculptural statement, mounted on a stake or plastered against a wall, is an incomplete performance. 

 The Dallas Museum of Art is rectifying that indignity with an exhibition of masks paired with their full body costumes, often accompanied with photographs and videos of the dancing masquerade.    

There is so much more to masks than face covering, and learning that they rarely covered the face is only the beginning of the education that is offered in “African Masks: The Art of Disguise,” which opens Sunday August30, 2010.  

We like disguises. That is probably why we like to celebrate Halloween costumes during every month with 31 days (much to the chagrin of our neighbors). This exhibition sounds like it will be right up our alley. About 50 objects from the museum’s collection and local collectors will be on display, and observers will be able to see masks of many different styles and purposes. Full masquerade costumes will also be displayed, so viewers can get the full effect of the ensembles 

Read details and see these 7 nice masks from the Dallas Museum in the members section:  ...

A Yoruba dance mask, with a mini-zoo on top, from Nigeria.

An installation view at the African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers, in Tenafly, N.J., showing a 10-foot-high carved figure of Salif Keita, the 1960s Malian soccer hero.

There’s the National Museum of African Art in Washington. And the Museum for African Art in New York, reopening in a new Fifth Avenue home next spring. And there’s a third you’ve probably never heard of, the African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers here.

This museum is small and unorthodox in its setting: a stained-glass-windowed hall attached to a Roman Catholic church. But it’s the real African deal, with a collection covering the continent, top to bottom, coast to coast, old to new.The Permanent Collection, Part I, remains on view for a year at the African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers, 23 Bliss ...