AH2 Ch' 28 Art of Africa in the Modern Era 14002007

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AH2 Ch. 28Art of Africa in the Modern Era
1400-2007

• Africa is a diverse continent, not a nation!
• In general, African art has a dominantly
  ritualistic purpose.
• Please note that there are many approaches to
  thinking about art history sociology (society
  study), religion, artist, audience/viewer,
  humanity/environment relationship, politics,
  Feminism, and semiotics (symbol study).

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• What was the function of the Doll or Biiga to the
  Mossi? In what ways is the work similar to and
  different than the Western tradition of the doll?
• See the next slide.

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Fig. 28-3 Doll (Biiga), from Burkina Faso. Mossi
culture, mid 20th century, wood, height 11¼ high

• Women make appeals to the spirits to ensure
  success in childbirth. Art is an important part
  of these appeals, especially for the
  fertility-challenged.
• a childs plaything
• ideals of mature beauty are shown
• elongation of breasts encourages lactation

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• How do traditional African societies find answers
  to difficult and troubling questions? Who do they
  seek to aid them in this task? Is this kind of
  seeking limited to African cultures?

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Fig. 28-4 Akiode (?). Twin figures (ere ibeji),
from Nigeria. Yoruba culture, 20th century. wood,
8 high

• female twins
• the Yoruba people have one of the highest rates
  of twin births in the world.
• When a twin dies, a diviner may order an ere
  ibeji, like this figure.
• The mother cares for the birth of the artwork
  by providing food to the artist.
• When finished, she brings gifts.
• The Yoruba believe that honoring a dead twin in
  this manner will yield the parents wealth and
  good luck.
• These figures emphasize health and well-being.
• They represent hope, survival, and prosperity.

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Sub. for Fig. 28- 6 Two Masks in Performance,
Bwa culture, from Dossi, 1984. wood, mineral
pigments, and fiber, height approx. 7

• Bwa initiation rituals instruct adolescents about
  nature spirits via masks (animal and human
  forms). Some are entirely abstract
  (nonrepresentational of humans or animals).
• Through patterns, the masks deliver messages
  about the proper moral conduct of life.
• The Bwa were targets of slave raiders. Their
  response, in part, was to acquire wooden masks
  from their neighbors to better communicate with
  the spirits that could help them. (new adversity
  produces new tradition)

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Sub. For Fig. 28-7 Female Ancestral Mask (Nowo),
from Sierra Leone. Mende culture, c. 1906. wood
19 high

• a beautiful "butterfly" emerges from an ugly
  "chrysalis."
• The mask represents the Mende ideal of female
  beauty for initiates to female adulthood.
• It is also as if the figure is emerging from
  water, as the initiates do.

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Addl. Spirit Figure (boteba), Lobi culture, 19th
century. wood, 31 high

• Traditional societies believe spirits control
  agriculture. Communication with spirits (nature,
  ancestors, and children) is important to ensure
  success in life. Specialists "divine" the
  supernatural world to give the intangible some
  identity.
• A diviner may prescribe the creation of such a
  wooden figure to be a spirit form that the
  owner can directly address for help during
  adversity.
• Carved in the Lobi pose of mourning. It takes on
  the burden of grief, so the owner can get on with
  life.
• It may be installed in a shrine with other boteba.

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Fig. 28-9 Power figure (nkisi nkonde), Kongo
culture, 19th century. wood, nails, pins, blades,
and other materials, 44 high

• Diviners (with intuitive perception about omens
  and hidden knowledge about the future) invest
  magical or medicinal powers in wooden figures in
  Zaire (Kongo and Songye). Plant, animal or human
  materials (bilongo) are applied specific to the
  clients problem.
• Among the most potent images of power in Africa.
• The bilongo turn the figure into a living being
  ready to attack evil forces affecting the human
  client/owner. The figure hunts down a clients
  enemies and destroys them.
• Nails activate the powers. They activate it
  so to speak.
• The nails may also be removed as part of a
  healing or oath-taking gesture.
• a visual document of conflict and community
  hardship

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• What is the function of a Baule Spirit Spouse?
• See the next slide.

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Fig. 28-10 Spirit Spouse (blolo bla), Baule
culture, early 20th century. wood, 17 high

• The Baule people in Côte dIvoire create "spirit
  spouses" for men who are not married and women
  who bear no children. The "spirit world" is
  parallel to this life. Everyone lived in the
  "spirit world prior to birth.
• A man who has not married or a woman with no
  children may dream of his or her spirit spouse.
  For such a person, a diviner may prescribe such a
  Spirit Spouse.
• The throne adds status to the figure, thus adding
  attraction for the spirit to take up residence
  there.
• Caring for and pleasing the spirit spouse may
  restore balance and stability to the clients
  life.

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• What culture produced Kente cloths?
• See the next slide.

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Kente cloth, from Ghana, Ashanti culture, 20th
century
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Addl. Royal portrait figure (Ndop) of Shyaam
a-Mbul a-Ngwoong, Baluba culture, Kuba kingdom,
18th century copy of mid-17th century original,
wood, 21 high

• Portrait of a King, Kuba culture, central Zaire
• While it isnt a physical likeness, it is a
  sophisticated and elaborate portrait.
• These ndops contained the kings double during
  his life and embodied his spirit after he died.
• These figures feature carved royal regalia
  throne, cap, and belt.

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Addl. Ekpo Mask, from Nigeria, Anang Ibibio
culture, late 1930s, wood, 24 high

• Ekpo society masks are worn while punishing and
  scaring transgressors.
• The mask, not the person delivers the
  punishment (beatings or executions).
• The mask depersonalizes the Ekpo, just as a
  uniform of an American police officer represents
  the authority of the state.

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Fig. 28-19 Reliquary guardian (nlo byeri), from
Gabon, Fang culture, 19th century, wood, 17 high

• The Fang people (Gabon) seek a balance of
  opposition. Their villages symmetrically impose
  order on a chaotic world.
• Their art tries to "tranquilize" them and "scare"
  religious foreigners.
• this figure is attached to the top of a communal
  container of outstanding ancestors bones. It
  guards their relics from malevolent spirit
  forces.
• symmetrical, just like Fang villages
• The Fang culture emphasizes the imposition order
  on discord.

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Addl. Ancestral screen (duen fobara), Ijo
culture, Nigeria, 19th century

• Most African sculpture is carved from a single
  piece of wood (one figure from one board or log).
  Ijo screens (Nigeria) are an exception, they are
  "joined."
• complex funerary art
• This commemorates a specific individual, yet it
  is not a physical likeness. Instead identity is
  communicated through attributes of status (size,
  centrality, crown).
• These memorial screens house the dead so he can
  continue to participate in the economic and
  military associations affairs.

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Addl. Magdalene Odundo. Asymmetrical Angled
Piece. 1991, reduced red clay, 17 high

• Some women have economic independence through
  ceramic art.
• Some women are recognized artists, like Odundo.
• She uses a coiling technique.
• From Kenya, Odundo works in England, teaches in
  Europe and the United States.

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• Nature spirits frequently depicted.
• Major deities (gods) rarely depicted because
  they are "too far removed" from everyday life.

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• Death is a transition to another life. The living
  may call upon a spirit of a specific deceased
  person to help in this world and to protect them
  from evil spirits.

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• Can you name any African-American
  rituals/traditions that are linked to any example
  from this chapter?

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The End