Masks for the dance

The more than 150 tribal masks in this publication are an anthology of the extensive collection of the Dutchman Tom van Groeningen (1948) of extraordinary masks from the Kullu Valley in the State of Himachal Pradesh in north-west India. Van Groeningen is not the average collector of tribal art who chooses on the basis of beauty, provenance and profit, but one who rather focuses on the stories and people behind the masks. He embeds objects in the religious, cultural setting of India, puts them into the context. "All my masks have danced," he says with a twinkling in his eye. What drives Van Groeningen? How did his collection grow? What makes his masks so appealing to the imagination? These are the other questions which are answered in this rich publication.