Traditionalism and Internationalism: 19th and 20th Century African Arts
    
       
  The 19th Century :: The 20th Century :: The Recent Past  
       
       
  THE 20TH CENTURY

Benin Art (Nigeria)

A royal ancestor shrine:

A Benin shrine features cast-copper-alloy heads of divine royal ancestors, which represent the enduring qualities of kingship. The central sculpture depicts a sacred king and his entourage. Elephant tusk reliefs commemorate the kingdom's history. The varied objects and materials contribute to the imaging, renewal, and perpetuation of royal power.

32-8: Royal ancestral altar, Benin, Nigeria, photographed in 1970. Clay, copper alloy, wood, and ivory.
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  4. Altar
Akan and Asante Art (Ghana)

Female sculptors:

Each genre tends to have its own formal conventions. Akan people make figures with flat, disc-shaped heads, seen in such examples as a ceramic ancestral portrait and two wooden fertility figures. Each artist works from and incrementally alters these conceptual models.

32-9: Woman sculptor finishing an ancestral portrait, 1965, Akan, Ghana. Terracotta.
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Osei Bonsu:

The conventionalized, flattened clay head is an Akan style trait that is also found in wood sculpture carved by Asante men. Many Akan people considered long, slightly flattened foreheads to be emblems of beauty and mothers actually gently molded their children's cranial bones to reflect this value.

32-10: OSEI BONSU, akua'ba, Asante, Ghana, ca. 1935. Wood, beads, and pigment, 10 1/4" high. Private collection.
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Bonsu also carved the following wood sculpture, commonly referred to as a "linguists staff" because its carrier often speaks for a king or chief.

32-11: OSEI BONSU, "linguist's staff" of two men sitting at a table of food, Asante, Ghana, mid-20th century. Wood and gold leaf, section shown ca. 10" high. Collection of the paramount chief of Offinso, Asante.
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Yoruba Art (Nigeria)

Olowe of Ise:

To achieve greater height, Olowe stacked his weapon-carrying equestrian warrior on top of a platform supported on the heads and upraised arms of four figures, two men and two women.

32-12: OLOWE OF ISE, veranda post carved for the chief of Akure, Yoruba, Nigeria, ca. 1900-1938. Wood and pigment, ca. 14' 6" high. Denver Art Museum, Denver.
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Costumes and Masquerades

African art is nearly always an active agent in the lives of the continent's peoples. This also encompasses clothing and masks made of perishable materials. Throughout history, African costumes have been laden with meaning and have projected messages that all members of the society could read.

Complex images of leaders project political and spiritual powers. These messages often derive from "aesthetic overload," epitomized by the complex, lavish assemblage of King Kot a-Mbweeky III.

32-13: Kuba King Kot a-Mbweeky III during a display for photographer and filmmaker Eliot Elisofon in early 1970, Mushenge, Democratic Republic of Congo.
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  5. Kuba King Kot a-Mbweeky III
Masquerades

The masquerade arts are crucially important. Masked dancers embody ancestors or various nature spirits. Masks vary in function or effect, from weak spirit power and strong entertainment value to vast executive powers. Thus, masks and masquerades mediate between different societal groups, the powers of nature and those of human agency, and even life and death.

Senufo masking:

Senufo men dance many masks, mostly in the context of Poro, the main association for socialization and initiation, a protracted process that takes nearly 20 years for men to complete.

The most recurrent Senufo mask has a small face with fine features, several extensions, and varied motifs.

32-14: "Beautiful Lady" dance mask, Senufo, Côte d'Ivoire, late 20th century. Wood, ca. 1' 1/2" high. Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva.
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Large Senufo masks are composite creatures, combining characteristics of antelope, crocodile, warthog, hyena, and human.

32-15: Gbon masquerader of the blacksmith caste at a funeral, Senufo, Côte d'Ivoire, photographed by Anita Glaze in 1986.

1. Sande Masquerader

Dogon Masquerades:

Elaborate Dogon masquerades dramatize creation stories. According to legend, women were the first ancestors to imitate spirit maskers; men later took masks over. A Satimbe mask commemorates this legend. In ceremonies called Dama, Satimbe is among the spirit characters who escort dead souls away from the village, to the land of the dead. The deceased, periodically invited back into the human community, are enjoined to benefit their living descendants.

32-16: Satimbe mask, Dogon, Mali, early 20th century. Wood. Private collection.
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Women as mask dancers:

Women control and dance certain masks in several cultures of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Evoking ancestral spirits newly emergent from their underwater homes (symbolized by the turtle), Mende masks refer to ideals of female beauty, morality, and behavior.

32-17: Female mask, Mende, Sierra Leone, 20th century. Wood and pigment, 1' 2 1/2" high. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles (gift of the Wellcome Trust).
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Kuba spirits and ancestors:

At the Kuba court, three masks (moshaambwooy, bwoom, and ngady amwaash) represent legendary ancestors. They reenact creation stories while reinforcing basic Kuba societal values. The masks and their costumes echo the sumptuousness of the Kuba king himself.

32-18: Mwashamboy and Bwoom maskers in a royal ceremony among the Kuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, late 20th century.
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32-19: Ngady Amwaash mask, Kuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, late 19th or early 20th century. Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge.
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