In early 1968 Bill Siegmann – the Legendary Brooklyn Museum African art curator requested the Liberian authorities a permit to tour the Bassa county, finding out that his only predecessor was the author Graham Green in the thirties.
This highlights the total lack of study regarding Liberia's second biggest clan
Comprising approx 16% of the total population.
Graham Green described the Bassa in his travel account – journey without maps in less then complementary way:
"I developed a bitter dislike of the very appearance of the Bassa men – the coast had completely corrupted them, had made them liars, swindlers, lazy …".
Siegmann formed a more relaxed view – in his 1969 report on the Bassa:
"whether the Bassa ever developed crafts ? the general impression is that they did not ! , the coastal trade has completely destroyed craft specialization and fine workmanship".
but Siegmann was quick to notice the Bassa's main asset, their ability to change and adopt." Education and gaining a "civilized job" are greatly respected" this enabled the Bassa to men most of the positions in Liberia's civil service.
In addition they managed to form a relative homogeneous society in which the possession of wealth is of less importance then the wise and generous use of it. and as a whole they are regarded by themselves as well as by their neighbors as a "peaceful people and poor warriors" and most importantly "Disputes are talked and not fought".
This mode of thinking with no strong central governance was manifested in their fragmented towns and village which may be formed anytime, many are half towns of 10 to 20 people in a permanent settlement located in a vicinity of a larger town.
Each "village" is built in an additive manner in which one house leads to the other and no overall plan can be deciphered.
Regarding tradition - Circumcision and clitoridectomy are universally practiced but conducted with no great ceremonial fuss, mainly after a very short duration in a bush school, Poro but no Sande was practiced.
Later observations concluded that this the seemingly arbitrary planning is in fact a defense mechanism enabling house by house combat and that the lack of craft in the coastal areas is in sharp contrast to the wealth and beauty produced by the Forest Bassa whose sculptures perpetuated traditional techniques,
The total lack of Bassa masks in the market till the early seventies can be seen in Harley's attributing a typical Bassa mask as a Sande in his "notes on the Poro".
the masks lack of internal patina raised at the time concerns regarding their authenticity, only later when the dance itself was documented in which the mask is shown attached obliquely to a basket hood structure worn on the forehead, with no direct contact to the dancer itself – this "new" art form was accepted.
What caused the forest Bassa to release their sacred ritual objects in the seventies, objects that were kept hidden for years, remains a mystery.
Maybe the extension of the roads network deep into the jungle by the Maryland
Logging company – whatever the reason may be from the seventies onwards the beauty and wealth of Bassa art is gaining it's due place in the cannon of African Art.