"This book accompanies an exhibition at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. This is the first exhibition devoted exclusively to decorated wall panels, sculpture and masks created during initiation rites of the young men of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. The works consist of panels with brightly painted figurative elements that are carved in high relief. These are displayed to signal the successful completion of the rite and to recognise the initiate's newly acquired adult status. The exhibition includes an important group of Nkanu wall panels recently acquired by the Museum, many of which have not yet been exhibited. There are also a series of wall panels, sculpture and masks, on loan from the African Museum, Tervuren, Belgium. Additional objects are on loan from the Volkerkundlicke Sammlung der Universitat Gottingen, Germany and from three private collections."--BOOK JACKET.