ART DISCUSSION 3

African art - a magnificent contribution to world culture

Art negre short winter I have already become a completely different person. I

believe that I am slowly beginning to really understand what is im- ' lt was disgusting ... I wanted to get out. I didn't leave. I stayed:' portant for us if we want to call ourselves artists at all ... We have to

This famous remark was made in 1907 by Pablo Picasso ( 1881- gather up our courage and be prepared to give up almost everything

1973), the artistic genius of the 20th century, after his first visit to the that we as good central Europeans have always held dear and consid­ Trocadero, at that time the Paris museum of ethnography. II sums up ered indispensable ... '

the fascination but also the shock experienced by Europeans when In 1912, Emil Nolde ( 1867-1956), a member for a short time

first confronted with African artworks. But in the following years, many of the group of artists called Die Brucke, describes a further aspect of

artists in the Western world became infected by the virus of art negre this fascination: 'How is it that we artists are so pleased by the things and used it as a source of inspiration for new solut ions, both formal produced by primitive peoples? It was our era that introduced the idea

and conceptional, in their own work. Thus, Franz Marc ( 1880- 1916), that every clay pot or adornment, every article of daily use or article of a member of the Blauer Reiter group, wrote to his friend and col- clothing had f irst to be designed on paper. - When primitive people

league August Macke ( 1887-1914) in a letter dated 14 January create their works they have the material in their hands, between their 191 1: "I have spent a lot of time in the ethnographical museum study- fingers. The will that is expressed is the desire for and the love of ing the art of 'primitive peoples'. I f inally stopped, amazed and shaken, forming. Absolute primit iveness, intense and often grotesque expres­

in front of the carvings of the Cameroonians which are perhaps sur- sions of strength and life in the simplest of forms - let these be the passed only by the sublime works of the Incas. I find it so obvious that things that we delight in.' we should seek the rebirth of our feeling for art in this cold dawn of Certain pioneers of modernism are thought of as the 'discover­

artistic intelligence and not in cultures that have developed over a ers' of African art. They found out for themselves and for their deliber­

thousand years like that of Japan or the Italian Renaissance. In this ately primitivistic art that, in contrast to common Western beliefs, many

25,000 BC - Rock art in southern Africa 9000 BC - Rock art in the Sahara 7th millennium BC - Pottery in Tibesti (Chad) c. 2000- 1700 BC - Nubia is incorporated in the Egyptian empire

6

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"1 was astonished to see how they [African figures] were conceived from the point of view of sculptural language." Henri Matisse, 1906

1. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO , TEKE-TSAYI REGION

Mask /Connerly owned by Andre Derain) before 1939, wood, pigments, height 34 cm (l3.4 in.) Geneva, Musee Barbier-Mueller

African artefacts are more than just ethnographic objects or exotic

curiosities. The Fauvists and Cubists in France and the German Ex­

pressionists were the first to perceive and accept that objects from

Africa were 'genuine works of art'. These artists were dominated by a

spirit of optimism, a quest for new stimuli, and their experiments led

them not infrequent ly to African artworks.

The avant-garde transgressed the boundary between percep­

tion and conception. The year 1906 turned out to be particularly sig­

nificant in this respect: in the spring of this year Fauvists such as

Henri Matisse (1869-1 954) and Andre Derain (1880-1954; p. 7)

sought lo create a balance between colour and form in one plane, in­

dependently of the natural model. In autumn of the same year Ma­

tisse acquired his first African sculpture on the way to the artists'

salon held by Gertrude Stein, where he showed it enthusiastically lo

Picasso. The latter was not as impressed by this fig ure as by other

African artworks which he saw later on, probably because this piece

from the region of Viii in central Africa did not have the abstract and

expressively charged features which (unlike the creations of the

Baga, Grebo, Kata or Fang) were more in line with the revolutionary

aspirations of the Spanish artist. Picasso then acquired some African

objects In 1908 and placed them in his studio. His collection grew

constantly. As William Rubin wrote In 1984 in his important book

Primitivism in the Ari of the Twentieth Century, "he would buy a

mask just because of the shape of its ears or the profile of the nose,

or because he was pleased by some aspect of the overall design - or

even just to amuse his friends.' He bought many objects at the flea

market. For, as Picasso said: "One doesn't need a masterpiece to ap­

preciate the idea.' African sculptures provided him with a stimulus for

new solut ions, but, as he also emphasized, they served as "witnesses

rather than models'. This can also be said of his pioneering work Les

Demoiselles d'Avignon, painted in 1907, which is considered as one

of the seminal works of Cubism. While the painting was not present­

ed to a broad public until quite a long t ime afterwards, it quickly found

acceptance among some, if not all, avant-garde artists. And among

other things this success was due to new impulses obtained from ex­ pressive African art.

4th century AD - The Kingdom of Aksum (Ethiopia) becomes Christian from 800 - Spread of Islam on the east African coast 10th-13th century- Old Empire of Ghana with Kumbi Saleh as its capital (Mauritania)

2. REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

"Coldsn-cam Stone" 2000 years old, quamjte, pigments, 24 x 30 x 7 cm (9.4 x 11.8 x 2.8 in.) Cape Town, South African Museum

3 . MALI , NIGER INLAND DELTA

Ficure of a horseman firs, half of Lhe 20th century, bronze, heigh, 7 cm (2.8 in.) Landshu1, Skulpturenmuseum im Holberg, Fritz and Maria Koenig Foundation

4 . GHANA/ REPUBLIC OF IVORY COAST, AKAN REGION

Gold weight: man ninning 20th century, copper alloy, height 8.8 cm (3.5 in.) Washington (DC), National Museum of African Art, Smi1hsonian Institution, Gifr of Ernst Ansbach

collectors' taste quicky developed in Europe and the US. While many modern artists in

Europe were fascinated by the abstractness and expressivity of Al- Individual modern artists in Europe thus made discoveries and rican artworks, these qualities were less appreciated by collectors and

found inspiration in artworks from Africa which in France in 1912, to- dealers in Africana, who were rapidly increasing in number. Guillaume

gether with objects from Oceania, were jointly referred to as art negre. and Ration were instrumental in shaping a largely Franco-Belgian col­ Similarly, Nolde, in the interest of his own work, also drew on objects of lectors' taste that still prevails today.

African and Oceanic art, even though or perhaps also because he saw In these early years, collectors were especially impressed by himself as a colleague of their creators. exquisite and detailed workmanship, smoothly polished or shiny pat-

The admirers of African art included not only painters and sculp- inated surfaces, and restrained realism. But sometimes the African

tors, but also many writers. Thus, in the autumn of 19 17 the poet Jean objects had a rough and "unattractive" patina as a result of long use, Cocteau (1889-1963) wrote to the well-known French art dealer and some Western collectors and dealers went as far as to scrape Paul Guillaume: "Negro art has nothing to do with the deceptive the surfaces down lo the bare wood and then polish them with wax

flashes of children or madmen, but with the most noble traits of human until the pieces shone like the furniture in middle-class European civilization.' And the f irst publications appeared just a few years after households.

its 'discovery". The first was Negerplastik (Negro Sculpture), a book It was chiefly 'classical' works from the Baule and Guro regions

that appeared in 1915, written by the art historian Carl Einstein with of the Ivory Coast and from the Kuba, Luba and Viii regions in central the help of the renowned Parisian art dealer Joseph Brummer, who Africa that showed the preferred stylized realism. Appreciation of provided him with illustrations and financial support. these works, just as in the case of court art from the old Kingdom of

Especially through the activities of legendary gallery-owners Benin, was, rather inevitably, based on and determined by 19th cen­

such as Paul Guillaume and Charles Ration, a market for African art tury middle-class European conventions. Even today this 'classical

11th century - Urban structures in lfe (Nigeria) 11th-1 2th century - lslamization of sub-Saharan regions of West Africa

12th century - Rock churches of Lallbe\a (Ethiopia)

8

taste" still dominates in large and important parts of the art market,

with the result that many conceptionally unusual and Inventive African

sculptures, such as the kifwebe masks from central Africa or figures

from the Mumuye region of eastern Nigeria, are relatively little ap­

preciated by many collectors and lovers of African art. In addition, the

Western-constructed canon of African art was very narrow, so that

many works and styles were considered as being 'of no value" or even

as 'fakes" just because they did not correspond to fam iliar classifica­

tions and visual habits.

Aesthetic judgements are not absolute, they are relative. They

are always children of their time and determined by the standards of

their age. Thus aesthetic evaluations of African artworks have always

been dominated by the contemporary zeitgeist and its tastes and pref­

erences. Objects from Africa were first brought back to Europe around

five hundred years ago by European traders and seafarers, after their

first contacts with the inhabitants of a continent that was still largely

unknown; these objects were treated with wonder and respect and

placed in the curiosity cabinets of European rulers and trading houses.

Exquisitely carved ivory works from the coastal regions of what is

today Sierra Leone or Nigeria were admired and marvelled at just as

12th- 16th century-Songhai Empire with Gao as its capital (Mali)

Empire, performs pilgrimage to Mecca (Guinea/Mali)

much as fine raffia plush fabrics from the Congo area in central Africa.

They were valued in particular for their exotic material and the artistic

skill with which they were made. But their place of origin was of little

interest and in many European inventories they were recorded to­

gether with other non-European works under the general heading 'In­

dian" or 'Turkish".

western criteria of evaluation

A deep-seated change in the evaluation of African artworks oc­

curred during the era of colonialization. Friedrich Ratzel, one of the

founding fathers of German anthropology, wrote in the first volume of

his Volkerkunde (Anthropology), a general overview published in

1885: "No people can surpass the West Africans in the creation of

ugliness ( ... Most of their sculptures are) brutally natural or extremely

and exaggerated ly ugly. And then the clumsy handwork, especially in

images of idols."

This contempt for and lack of understanding of African art, as

well as of Africans and their cultures in general, can be understood

1325 - Mansa Musa, ruler of the old Mali

14th-15th century - Old Kingdom of Congo in central Africa

9

today only by considering the historical background. In the second half of the 19th century, politics and science had joined up to form a sym-

biosis of colonialism and evolutionism. At this lime in Europe, objects

from Africa were used as justificatory evidence, as ethnographic material that could give insights into what were alleged to be earlier stages of human development. The Western world was believed to re-

present the peak of human evolution, while Africa and Oceania docu-

mented phases in the history of mankind which Europe had already left behind it. Africa's material culture was regarded as evidence that "Africans' were at a very low cultural level.

But this derogatory view of Africa and of works created on the

"black' continent was thrown out of joint when thousands of ivory carv- ings and bronze castings were brought to Europe in 1897 following

the conquest by Brit ish troops of the West African Kingdom of Benin. It was clear that the highly skilled craftsmanship and casting tech- niques shown by the metal objects from Benin (p. 49) met the criteria

of European 'civilization'. They therefore presented a challenge to the

European self-image that had justified the colonizing of Africa with the

argument that "the African race' was inferior, incapable of civilization, and therefore in need of European leadership. Before the beginning of

15th century - Monumental stone buildings in Great Zimbabwe

5. REPUBLIC OF IVORY COAST, AKAN REGION

Finger ring first half of the 20th century, gold, 5.7 x 5.1 an (2.2 x 2 in.) Houston (TX}, Muscmn of Fine Ans

6. REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, KWAZULU-NATAL REGION

~ 20th cenn,ry, wood, dye, vinyl, acrylic glass, metal, n1bber, diameter 7.2 an (2.8 in.) London, 11,e British Museum

7. CAMEROON, GRASSLANDS, BAMILEKE REGION

Kuosi Society elephant mask '19th-20th ccnt,1ry, doth, glass beads, fur, hair, ivory, feathers, twine, height 170.2 an (67 in.) Dayton (OH), 11,e Dayton Art Institute

the 20th century, Felix von Luschan, the head of the African and Oceanian department at the museum of ethnography in Berlin, had re­

cognized the extraordinary importance of these artworks from Benin

for an understanding of Africa and its history that was revolutionary in comparison with colonialislic prejudices. He saw the objects from Benin not as an early form of primit ive art, but as great art revealing

absolute mastery of the casting process: 'Our Benin bronzes are at

the pinnacle of European casting techniques. Benvenuto Cellini could not have cast them better, nor anyone else, either before or after him, up to this day. Technically, these bronzes simply represent the highest

achievement possible anywhere~

But the aesthetic qualities of non-court art from Africa still failed to find appreciation in Europe, even though works from Africa were far

from being a carefully hidden treasure in the metropolises of Europe. The Musee d'Ethnographie du Trocadero was opened in 1882, for in­ stance, and in Berlin there was already a considerable collection of

African objects by 1873. Moreover, the World Exhibitions held in vari­

ous European cit ies had also presented African objects to the public -

frequently as a means of backing up colonial propaganda. And in the end it was not the museums but the avant-garde artists, as we have

15th-16th century - Expansion of the Kingdom of

Benin (Nigeria) 1482 - Founding of the Portuguese fort of Sao Jorge in Elmina (Ghana)

10

"1he final step will be to recognize the intellectual vitality of the creators of 'exotic' art." Sally Price, 1989

seen, who helped change how we view African objects. Their respect

and appreciat ion transformed objects that shortly before had been

dismissed as "ugly idols" into sought-after works of art.

Evaluation criteria

The Western reception of African art was at first restricted to

flea markets, galleries, museums, private collections and publications

in Europe and the US. For a long t ime no one showed any interest in

the creators and owners of the objects. It was the German anthropolo­

gist Hans Himmelheber who first carried out field studies of African

artists in 1933. He observed and talked with sculptors at work in West

Africa. His published work Negerki.instler (Negro Artists) contains a

detailed discussion of the relationship between "commitment and

freedom" among African carvers in what was at that time the French

colony of Ivory Coast He investigated the relationship between the

artists' creative abilities and their conformity to the local style, and des-

cribed the personal characteristics and the values and ideals of many

individual sculptors. In the following decades, other anthropologists

and art historians also began to make studies of t he circumstances in

which African artworks are created and used.

Thus it is clear that for a long time African art was assessed al­

most exclusively by 'outsiders", in other words people from the Wes­

tern world. The basic patterns of perception and j udgement were

shaped during the colonial period and today still give rise to many,

often fundamental, misunderstandings. An almost exclusive restriction

to formal aspects and failure to consider how and why the objects

were originally created and used gave rise lo a Western view of Af­

rican art which to this day is still dominated by prejudices, distortions,

misunderstandings and errors of judgement, and has little to do with

the realities of life in Africa.

In post-colonial times, African intellectuals have repeatedly at­

tacked the 'colonial view". For instance, the Cameroonian writer and

musician Francis Bebey, in his novel King Albert, criticizes would-be

"foreign experts", who th ink they know exactly what characteristics a

work of art or African music should have in order to be ' really African'

and "truly authent ic'. And Chinua Achebe, anot her important African

writer, also criticizes the Western attitude to African artefacts through

a character in one of his novels: 'I have . .. come up against another

late 15th century - First contacts between Portugal and the Kingdoms of Benin and Congo 1497-98 - Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope 1512 - Afonso, king of Congo, converts to Christianity

11

critic who committed a crime in my view because he transferred to an alien culture the same meanings and interpretations that his own people attach to certain gestures and facial expression. This critic, a

Frenchman writing in a glossy magazine on African art, said of a

famous religious mask from this country: 'Note the half-closed eyes, sharply drawn and tense eyebrow, the ecstatic and passionate

mouth .. .' It was simply scandalous. All that the mask said, all that it felt for mankind was a certain superb, divine detachment and disdain.

If I met a woman In the street and she looked at me with the face of that mask it would be its meaning."

This quotation shows how misleading it can be to apply Euro-

American interpretations of human expressions of feeling to African

masks and figures over-hastily and without reflecting.

Thus history teaches us that 'African art" is a complex notion that inevitably represents a Western appropriation of African artworks

which on their way out of Africa were and st ill are charged with com­

pletely new meanings and placed in completely new contexts. These

African objects were promoted to the status of works of art only through the formal aesthetic view of artists and collectors in the age

of modernism.

"For the archaeologist Africa is still something like a blank spot on the map of human history." Peter Breunig and Nicole Rupp, 2008

African art is currently at a peak of popularity since gaining en­ trance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and, in the year 2000, to Europe's great bastion of art history, the Paris Louvre. In the

Pavilion des Sessions, traditional African sculptures are now on display

together with works from Oceania and the Americas. They have thus gained a conspicuous place for themselves not only in spatial terms

but also within the ranks of "great" world art. Today African art still moves in the field of tension between the

lingering effects of a colonial past, a complex post-colonial present and the powerful myths of the art market. But this problematic situ- al ien should not hinder us from pointing out certain facts which in our

view are indispensable for a fair and balanced approach to African art.

The art of Africa - the art of a continent?

There are more than fifty countries in Africa today, and after

Asia it is the second biggest continent on the earth with an area about three times that of Europe. On this continent there have grown up well

over a thousand different cultures, population groups and languages,

1655 - First catalogue of the Weickmann Collection with African objects in Ulm 1668 - Publication of the book Umbstiindliche

und Eigentliche Beschreibung von Africa (Description of Africa) by the Dutchman Olfert Dapper

12

8. REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN, NAPATAN

Ushebti c. 664 BC, ankerite, height 53 cm (20.9 in.) London, 11,e llritish Museum

9. NIGERIA, NOK CULTURE

~ 500 BC, terracotta, height 38 cm (15 in.) l'aris, Muscc du Quai Branly

10. TANZANIA, SWAHILI REGION

llill!r c. 1900, wood, heigh, 200 cm (78.7 in.) Berlin, Scnndiche Museen zu Berlin - Stifrung Preus­ sischer Kulturbesi~,, Ethnologisches Museum

representing very many different lifestyles, worldviews, religions, tradi­

tions and forms of social organization. Consequently there are also

many contrasting aesthetic tradit ions and styles, not all of which have

been identified, let alone studied.

Since its "discovery', the term "African art' has been used to

refer to the work of caNers and sculptors in Africa south of the Sa-

hara Artworks from North Africa are usually classified under Arab

Oriental art because of the many centuries of Islamic influence in this

region. Art produced by Africans of European and Asian origin in

southern Africa also lies outside the term's frame of reference. Never­

theless, the concept of 'African art' as a homogeneous unit exists only

outside Africa; it is the result of a blurred and generalized view of the

artist ic tradit ions of this continent.

To the cultural and geographical diversity of African art must be

added the chronological dimension, and the promise of discoveries still

to come: the oldest f igural tradition south of the Sahara known to date

is that of the so-called Nok terracottas (p. 12 right), which are up to

3000 years old. Archaeological excavations are also producing in­

creasingly clear evidence of long-distance exchange relationships be­

tween some African regions and ancient Egypt (p. 12 left).

17th century - Founding of the Ashanti Kingdom (Ghana)

1851 - Occupation of Lagos (Nigeria) by the British

,o

Contemporary art worlds in Africa are also extremely dynamic,

the spectrum ranging from works by contemporary artists with a West­

ern-style academic training to sculptures that are still produced for

ritual purposes. Common to all these works is that they reflect the life-

worlds - the societies, the religious conceptions, the political and so­

cial structures - of their makers and creators. Each work of art was

and is embedded in its own specific contexts and meanings. As a rule,

therefore, generalizing statements in respect of African art are over­

simplified and seldom accurate.

Africa - a continent with no history?

African works of art are still regarded by some people today as

"primitive', ' unspoilt' or 'archaic'. This usually has little to do with the

works themselves, but is ult imately a continuation of the social crit i­

cism of the European avant-garde artists and their revolt against ra­

t ionalism, materialism and the loss of fantasy. Such views are an echo

of colonial propaganda, which postulated Africa as a static and time­

less continent urgently in need of the leading and developing hand of

1807 - Slave trade prohibited in Great Britain

1873 - First British war against the Ashanti (Ghana)

13

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II

the European colonial powers. And since Africa and its inhabitants

were denied a history, the continent's sculptural traditions were also

seen as being without growth.

The truth is that the African continent is by no means lacking in

history. Just as in other parts of the world, African societies, states and

kingdoms were created through long historical processes. And many

regions of Africa were not isolated from the rest of the world: for thou­

sands of years, people, goods, ideas and technologies were transport­

ed, particularly on rivers and lagoons, but also through deserts and

rainforests, often over very long distances. The appearance and disap­

pearance of long-distance trade routes, markets and trade centres,

the flourishing of cults and associations, friendly ties or armed con­

fl icts with neighbours, the formation of new economic and political alli­

ances or marriage relations - all these things affected African soci­

eties and their art. Through a succession of small changes, and

sometimes dramatic upheavals, artistic traditions grew and developed

in their own distinctive way in Africa, as in any other part of the world.

For Western eyes, the most obvious changes were brought about by

Islamic (p. 13) and European influences (pp. 15 right, 16 right, 31, 87,

91 ). Other developments are often less apparent to "foreign' eyes.

11. NIGERIA, YORUBA (?)

C1labash vessel 19th century(?), gourd, diameter 61 cm (24 in.) London, l11e British Museum

12. TANZANIA, NYAMWEZI REGION

High-backed chair of a chief late 19th century, wood, height 107 cm (42. 1 in.) Berlin, Siaatliche Musccn zu Berlin - Stifrung Preussischer Kulturbcsir,, Ethnologischcs Museum

13. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, LOANGO COAST/ CABINDA

Elephant's tusk carved (derail) before 1914, ivory, length 68.5 cm (27 in.) Munich, Staatliches Museum nir Volkcrlamde Mlind1cn

Recent historical studies have repeatedly described radical transformation processes in the manufacture, form and use of African

artworks, whether within a society or a region. Thus for instance the

ljiwara masks made by the Bamana in Mali (p. 33), which have be­

come very popular and are represented in museums and collections

around the world, have existed in this form for no more than about a

hundred years.

Most of the African objects known to us today were made only

in the late 19th century or in the 20th century. Research for a com­

prehensive history of African art with chronological depth is ham­

pered by various difficulties, including the rapid decay of wooden

objects due to weathering and insect infestation, a general lack of

reliable and accurate dating methods, and the lack of written tradi­ tions in most pre-colonial African societies. These problems are ag­

gravated by the fact that in many regions there is practically no

archaeological activity and usually very inadequate documentation of

the artefacts collected in respect of their exact place of origin, their

makers and owners, or their use.

However, the fear expressed about a hundred years ago by

many art dealers and Africanists that all "traditional" works in Africa

1878 - Zulu wars against the British; World Exhibition in Paris with a "Hall of Voyages and Scientific Expeditions"

1884-85 - Berlin "Congo Conference" and division of Africa among the European colonial powers

14

would be lost within a few decades, has proved to be unfounded. It is

true that much has disappeared and that many a sculptural tradition

will also disappear in the future. But much that is new has also been

created and some things have only been modif ied. For instance bead

artefacts from Cameroon (p. 11 right) and Nigeria and from southern

(p. 91) and eastern Africa (p. 87) are an impressive demonstration of

the kind of creative interaction with ' new things' that is found in many

African societies. In this case, glass beads imported from Europe or

Asia led to the creation of very original artefacts in what are now

considered to be characteristic styles. European oil paints were also

used creatively for painting f igures in an unmistakable manner in the

19th century. The fact that such works are rarely found in European

collections is usually because the paint was removed by Western col­

lectors looking for 'primitiveness' and the "true Africa", in an attempt to

bring them more in line with Western longings and projections.

12 13

African artefacts beyond "art"

The objects classified under African art were not primarily cre­

ated to be looked at. They were made in order to be used, whether in

this world or in connection with the other world. While Western art lov­

ers are fascinated by the forms of African artefacts, these objects all

had a pragmatic purpose in the society in which they were made. No

matter whether a loom pulley (p. 39) or an ancestor figure, a mask

(p. 19 right) or a stool, all of them were used in some ritual, political,

social or everyday context. Art as an end in itself, art for art's sake,

was practically unknown in tradit ional Africa. If the objects did not ful­

fil their purpose adequately, they were useless. This applied to a leak­

ing water jar just the same as to a power f igure that failed to protect its owner from harm.

To apply the label 'art" to African objects is therefore to place

them in a Western category that had no equivalent in African societies.

The concept of art as something with no practical use, as "l'art pour

l'art', in contrast to the utilitarian objects made by craftsmen, simply did

not exist. As in the medieval period of European history, there was In

Africa no separation between 'art' and "craft'. It is significant that most

1897 - Conquest and looting of the Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria) by British troops

1908 - As a result of international pressure, Leopold II sells the brutally exploited Congo Free State to Belgium

15

14 15

African languages do not distinguish these two categories whereas

the Western world largely continues to do so today.

The spoken word and images, not writing, were the chief means

of expression for societies in Africa south of the Sahara during the

greater part of their history. Sculptures therefore assumed an im­

portant role in social organization and in interpersonal relations and

conflicts. Certain objects were a means of communication not only

between the living but also between the not-yet- living and the no­

longer-living members of a society. The artworks were capable of

mediating between the earthly and supernatural spheres. They were

points of contact between the human and superhuman worlds.

In the worldviews of many African societies, the universe con­

sists of visible material and invisible spiritual elements. The world of

the living and the supernatural world of the not-yet-living and the no­

longer-living exist side by side, overlapping and penetrating each other.

They are not independent and separate from each other, but are mu­

tually conditional. The borders between this world and the other world

are pervious and can be crossed on certain occasions, mostly by ritual

specialists. People with this vocation are able to make use of the

forces from the other world for certain purposes in this world.

14. NIGERIA/CAMEROON , CROSS RIVER AREA, EJAGHAM REGION

Atallakwa11s//i ficure 16th-191h cemury (?), basalt, hcigh1 62 an (24.4 in.) Landshut, Skulpturenmuscum im Hofi,erg, Fritz and Maria Koenig Foundation

15. REPUBLIC OF IVORY COAST, BAULE REGION

Colon figure of a horseman firs1 half of 1hc 20th century, wood, pig111cn1s, heigh, 55 cm (21.7 in.) Munich, 1aa1liches Museum fiir Volkcrkundc Miinchcn

In large parts of Africa, the ancestors are not conceived of as

utterly dead or living in a far distant world, but rather as being present

among the living and able to influence the lives of their descendants.

The ancestors watch over the fertility of animals, fields and humans

and ensure peace, harmony and prosperity in the community. They act

in general as intermediaries between humans and supernatural forces

and beings. However, if moral or other social rules are breached, or if

the ancestors are neglected, they react with punitive sanctions. Be­

cause lhe ancestors are closely linked to the living and important

aspects of their life, it is vital to treat them with respect and to obtain

their goodwill through prayers and gifts. Sculptures are one of the

best means of establishing contact with the inhabitants and forces of

lhe other world. Through them, supernatural beings can participate in

the world of humans, and humans can have an effective influence on

other worlds beyond this one, by invoking forces there to act in the in­

terest of individuals and the community, and by ensuring that harmful

influences are warded off, neutralized or transformed into positive

energ ies.

1911 - The German explorer Leo Frobenius becomes the first European to see artworks from the lie culture

191 5 - Publication of the book Negerplastik (Negro Sculpture) by Carl Einstein 1928-33 - Dakar-Djibouti expedition under the

16

16. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, BENA, LULUWA REGION

Starumc of a mother and child 19th-20th century, wood, height 35.5 cm 04 in.) New York, 1l1c llrooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund

17. ETHIOPIA

~ 17th century (?), wood, height 33 cm (13 in.) Munich , Staatlichcs Musc,un fiir Volkcrhmde Miinchcn

Human and superhuman aesthetics

Although the concept of art for art's sake was practically un­

known In Africa, there were certain aesthetic expectations. These de­

pended on the clients for whom the artefacts were made and the soci­

ety of which they were a part, but sculptors were free to introduce

variations provided they kept to the basic model. Although some ob­

jects were meant to please by the beauty of their form, not every type

of mask, for instance, was intended to be "beaut iful'. Some were delib­

erately ugly because this was required by their role in the masquerade

performance. In some places, the ugliest masks by Western standards

were considered to be the most powerful. Thus the context in which

the works appear also plays a particularly important role.

African artworks in their authentic contexts often stood on

shrines or altars. Altars are conceived of as a kind of power centre that

concentrates the energies of the various objects and substances

placed on them. They are like gates to other worlds, through which

supernatural beings and forces can see into the world of the living and,

in various guises, even take part in it. The purpose of the shrines is to

attract supernatural powers and beings and they are thus tended with

16 17

care and the obJects on them are regularly replaced. But whereas lhe

tending of altars is vital to their function, their aesthetic appearance is

designed to please the spirit beings to whom they are directed, not the

humans who look upon them.

Altars are not meant to give aesthetic, sensual pleasure in this

world but to faci litate access to the other world. The artefacts that

make up these power centres are not venerated as divine but are a

means of intensifying the veneration offered by the living. Only rarely

do the objects and figures represent gods and spirits, if on ly because

no living person knows what these look like. More frequently they re­

present human worsh ippers, usually engaged in acts of sacrifice and

homage or other ritual act ivit ies, in the hope of attracting the attention

of the supernatural beings and persuading them to involve themselves

in human affairs. Another class of objects frequently found on altars

are sculptures made or commissioned by living people as an expres­

sion of their gratitude to supernatural beings for effective help and

support (votive figures in Western diction).

leadership of Marcel Griaule 1930s - Development of "negritude" by Leopold Sedar Senghor and Aime Cesaire among others

1956 - Sudan becomes an independent republic 1957 - Ghana becomes the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence

17

18

The proportions of African figures

The majority of African figures have proportions that are differ­

ent from what our eyes, trained in Western visual tradit ions, are accus­

tomed to. This is in large part due to the symbolism and hierarchization

of body parts. Thus the head or the belly with the navel are often over­

sized, because they are considered to be the link to the world of the

ancestors and therefore more important than the arms and legs, for

instance, which may be abnormally short Many African figures have

projecting primary sexual organs or female breasts, a feature which

Western collectors in the first half of the 20th century found either

particularly attractive or particularly obscene. However, the emphasiz­

ing of these body parts is not a sign of voluptuousness but was intend­

ed as a symbol of fertility or male potency, the cont inued existence and

prosperity of the community, and the social influence that is derived

from having many descendants.

The figures are not normally likenesses of real people, past or

present, but are t imeless, ideal images representing the sacredness of

the social and cosmic orders in the form of high-ranking ancestors. A

realistic image or portrait of the person would go against these inten-

1957 - Founding of the National Museum In Lagos (Nigeria)

18. LIBERIA, DAN-REGION

The sculptor Son at work in Nuqpie Photo Eberhard Fischer, 1960

19. FRANK BURTY HAVILAND IN PICASSO'S PARIS STUDIO, 11 BOULEVARD DE CLICHY 1910, Photo with a mask from the Pw1u region in the backgrow1d Paris, Musec Picasso

20. GABON, PUNU REGION

Ml!fill 19th-20th century, wood, pigments, kaolin, height 34.3 cm (13.5 in.) New York, 11,e Metropolitan Museum of Arr, Louis V. Bell Ftu1d and ll1e Fred and Rita Richman Fow1dation and James Ross Gifts, 2000

l ions, since such "naturalism' is conceived of as accidental and bound

by time and situation. Nevertheless, ancestor figures were often iden­

tifiable through such features as hairstyle, scarification or badges of

rank. In addit ion it must be remembered that there were regional tradi­

t ions of perception which allowed the members of a particular com­

munity to identify by name representations of persons which to an out­

sider may appear to be completely idealized.

African artworks, original meaning and western presentation

When presented in Western exhibitions and collections, African

objects are usually torn completely out of their contexts and brought in

line wit h established conceptions of "art''.

African masks in European collections, for instance, are usually

reduced to the wooden face, while "at home" they are embedded in

performances with music and dance, actions and audience reactions,

and interactions with other masks; they have a set of 'accessories' in

the form of a costume made of vegetable fibres, cloth, feathers or an-

1958 - Publication of the book The Sculpture

ofAfrica by William Fagg 1964 - Nelson Mandela Is sentenced to life Imprisonment by the apartheid regime

18

"when oerain came and saw the white mask, he stood as one transfixed ..." Maurice de Vlaminck, 1906 / 1929

imal skins, and somet imes other items such as stilts, musical instru-

ments, whips or switches. In Europe for decades the vegetable or lex-

tile elements have been removed from wooden masks in order to

make them more appealing lo Western eyes. In their original contex~

some masks were "dangerous' or "ritually significant", and non-initiates

were not allowed to touch or even see them (p. 22) since they were

associated with extremely powerful forces that could cause death, in­

curable diseases or madness; others were merely theatrical costumes,

or caused much merriment when used by jesters and acrobats for

comic performances. All this is of course lost when the object is

placed in a museum.

The majority of masks served special purposes and were used

for instance during initiation ceremonies (p. 29), during social crises, or

as promoters of fertility in women and in the f ields. Many masks em­

body powerful beings in the other world, whether ancestors, bush spir­

its or mythical f igures (pp. 27, 33, 37, 4 1 ). Sometimes masks are used

as visual symbols of human types, such as 'wealthy dignitary", "impo­

tent man", ' foreign trader" or 'beautiful woman". Many masks were

worn on regularly recurring occasions with transcendental signific-

ance, while others were related to very concrete events with unmistak-

19 20

able participants. In the great majority of cases, the masks are con­

trolled, owned and worn by men, even when they represent women

(p. 5 1 ), as in the case of the ge/ede masks of the Yoruba in Nigeria.

The masks of the Sande women's association among the Mende in

Sierra Leone (p. 29) are the most prominent exception here.

The most important point about the majority of masquerades is

not that the masks hide the dancers but that they reveal beings or

powers that are normally hidden and invisible. The most dramatic

masked dances are those that are performed not only in honour of and

for the entertainment of spirit beings, but in order lo embody invisible

beings from the other world and render them visible.

Exhibit ions of f igural sculptures in Western museums concen­

trate mainly on external, formal aspects. Yet In the original context their

most important and most essential elements were often notvisible. For

instance in the case of mirror f igures from central Africa, the powerful

effects are not concentrated in the carved wooden figure itself but in

the special substances that have been 'charged" by a ritual expert,

"programmed' for particular purposes, and hidden in hol lows behind

bundles of cloth or mirrors. The essential feature is invisible to the ob­

server. Consequently, in the original context the skill of the ritual expert

1967-70 - Biafran War 1978 - The "slave island" of Goree is declared a UNESCO World Heritage site 1979 - The National Museum of African Art in Washington DC becomes a part of the Smithsonian Institution

19

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was more important than that of the sculptor, for on it depended t he magic power and effectiveness of the f igure.

There is a great contrast between African practices in respect

of altars and shrines, and the Western practice of selecting master­

pieces of African art for exhibition in museums and galleries. In Africa

importance is attached not to single individual objects but to the gather­

ing together of as many powerful objects as possible. Apart from f ig­

ural carvings, these might include containers, gongs, cowrie shells,

staffs or pieces of chalk, often unimpressive objects to Western eyes.

Beyond the tribal style

Many people still refer to African art as 'tribal art' that is char­

acterized by different "tribal styles". This idea is based on a conception

of African art according to which each 't ribe' is thought of as having

created its own artistic universe, so that each African 'tribe" has only

one single style. This popular 'one tribe, one style" model would mean

that the artists within one ethnic group were restricted by very narrow

stylistic limits. It would also mean that African art and African cultures

21 . DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, ZANDE REGION

Hcadrest/eri11ga vessel before 1909, wood, pigments, length 38 on (15 in.) Tervuren, Royal Museum for Central Africa

22. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, MANGBETU REGION

Pair of figures first half of the 20th century, wood, pigments, hair, 49 an and 43 a n (19.3 and 16.9 in.) Tervuren, Royal Museum for Central Africa

21

were like islands having very little contact with each other. However, ii

was the colonial powers who for political reasons found it convenient

to force the ethnic groups in Africa into the straitjacket of ' tribes".

These divisions frequently had little to do with the lived realities of the

African people. Indeed many 'tribes", such as the Bamana, Degon or

Fulbe in Mali, were constructed as units by the colonial authorities for administrative reasons.

But among people with creative occupations, such as smiths, metal casters or sculptors, there were many itinerant craftsmen who

worked for clients from different ethnic groups. As a result, stylistic

features of the client's society were often mixed with the sculptor's

personal style and the sculptural conventions of his own ethnic group.

Thus, in contrast to the 'one tribe, one style" model, ii is not uncommon

to find transitional and mixed styles. In addition, it is not unusual for

one style to be found among several 'tribes", or for a single 'tribe'

(p. 39) or even a single institut ion to have several different styles. And

many mask and f igure types belong to supraregional cults that are not tied to any one ethnic group or place.

The term 'tribal art" also fails to do justice to court art from the

kingdoms, feudal empires, city states and commercial empires of Af-

1982 - Opening of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is devoted in part to works of African art 1986 - Wole Soyinka from Nigeria is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature

20

"our categories do not reflect African ones, and have changed during this century." Susan Vogel, 1988

rica. This was elite art created exclusively by highly specialized artists

on behalf of dignitaries and rulers for purposes of representation and

legitimation. In many kingdoms, such as the Kingdom of Benin (in pre­

sent-day Nigeria), artists were organized in guilds and worked at the

royal court mainly with ivory and copper, materials to wh ich only the

highest circles had access. The court artists came from different parts

of the kingdom and belonged to various ethnic groups. Research has

now shown that the rulers and nobles of different kingdoms were in

contact with each other and entered into alliances over enormous

geographical distances. There is little doubt that representative and

prestigious gifts were exchanged, which on the one hand became a

kind of suprareg ional mark of the elites, and on the other hand led to

mutual inspiration.

Even within a single workshop, comparatively naturalistic sculp­

tures could be produced beside very abstract ones. For African socie­

ties did not exist completely independently of each other. Stylistic mo­

difications and borrowings, the acceptance of foreign ideas, objects,

techniques and artists, the influence of itinerant artists and markets,

the power of attraction and fascination of art centres and patrons, all

these existed in Africa just as they did in Europe.

An art without artists?

Up lo this day, works from Africa are presented explicitly or im­

plicitly in museums, exhibitions and publicat ions as works by "name­

less beings". The descriptions usually g ive only the country of origin or

the "tribe' to which the work is thought to owe its existence. The artist

or creator of the work remains shrouded in darkness, and nothing is

revealed of his workshop, his customers, or the lime of production of

the object. This is in serious contrast to the current way of handling

Western art, in which interest is focused on the name of the artist and

art history concentrates on the work, life and creativeness of persons

who are known by name and on the historical sequence of artistic de­

velopments. In the case of works of art from Africa, the names of

prominent collectors or previous owners of the pieces carry more

weight in the Western world than those of their creators.

Behind this fundamental ly different approach to creators and

artworks from Africa is the Idea that "traditional" African artists repre­

sent their community and use their skills in the service of century-old

tradit ions. In Europe and the US, African artists are conceived of as

more or less skilled imitators of collective traditions with strict rules

1987 - Assassination of Thomas Sankara, the socialist president of Burkina Faso

1990 - Namibia gains independence

22

21

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23

23. GABON, FANG REGION

~ before 1914, wood, pigments, height 35 an (13.8 in.) Munich, Staatliches Museum fiir Viilkerkunclc Miinchen

24. REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, PONDO REGION

Tobacco containers: cattle before 1890, r:1whide, clay mixed with blood, height 10 cm (3.9 in.), length I1.5 cm (4.5 in.) Cologne, Rautenstrauch-Jocst-Museum

25. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, LUBA REGION

FiGt1rative pendanc before 1908, ivory, height 'IO cm (3.9 in.) Tervuren, Royal Museum for Central Africa

that do not admit any kind of individuality. It was, and often still is, be-

lieved that it was impossible to break away from the narrow stylistic

canon of communal cultural traditions, for wh ich reason the works

should be understood as creations of the artists' communities rather

than those of creative individuals.

And this despite the fact that in the 1930s Hans Himmelheber

had observed in the regions of West Africa visited by him that many

sculptors were "very individual personalities" who constant ly departed

from tradition. There was a serious turnaround in research only in the

closing decades of the 20th century, when more and more authors

began discussing Issues relating to the individuality and personal style

of African sculptors (pp. 45, 73, 75). Famous in this respect is the re­

mark by Roslyn Adele Walker, to the effect that traditional African art­

ists were 'never anonymous' and that their names were known to their

clients and probably also to the people who saw their works. Walker

argued that the names of the artists were not handed down to us for reasons that can be described as racial and cultural: quite simply, no

one asked about them.

Recent research on Yoruba sculptors in Nigeria and in the Re-

public of Benin has shown that certain sculptors had a supralocal and

even supraregional reputation there at particular t imes, and that they

were sent for over great distances to come and carry out commis­

sioned works because of their unmistakable style (p. 45). It has also

been shown that the semantic dimension of asa, the Yoruba word for "tradition', covers not only ideas of continuity and survival, but also

ideas of change inherent to the nature of the creative process. Thus

"tradition" for the Yoruba means not only imitating older models, but ii

also encourages sculptors to exploit and modify the tradit ional models.

Apprentices spent many years observing experienced sculptors and

frequently gained experience themselves by travelling about and

working in different places. But the ult imate aim of their training was

not to copy and imitate their master; rather, the aim was to reinterpret

what they saw and learned, and to redefine older forms - yet at the

same time remaining "readable" for the public and the owners of the

works. Outstanding artists had a masterly knowledge of the conven­

tions and used them as a basis for new solutions which showed the

artist's ' hand' and personal 'signature'. Among the lgbo in the south­

east of Nigeria, change is a fundamental aspect of society that auto­

matically also applies to art. As the world-famous writer Chinua Ache­

be has said: 'The world is a dancing masquerade. If you want lo

1992 - Establishment of Oak' Art as Biennial of Contemporary African Art In Dakar {Senegal)

1994 - End of the apartheid system in South Africa; genocide in Rwanda 1995-96 - "Art of a Continent" exhibition in

22

24 25

understand it, you can't remain standing in one place~ To explain a vidual authorship in the modern Western world, was unknown in many

popular proverb from his home area, Achebe refers lo a fundamental African societies. For the Luba region in central Africa, for instance,

idea of lgbo society, the need for constant change and development. Mary Nooter Roberts concludes that here no particular signif icance is

However, the lack of artists' names behind the works cannot be attached to the remembering of artists' names, in curious contrast to

explained only by the ignorance of Western colonialists and collectors. the practice of Western art dealers and gallery owners, who in recent

The ideal Yoruba sculptor, to take one example, was permanently on decades have attributed many names, with much changing back and

the move, earning his living by accepting commissions in different re- forth of names, to the unknown creators of masterpieces from this re­

gions. But with the passage of t ime, only his works would be well gion (pp. 73, 75).

known, while his name as the maker of the works was forgotten. However, the search for the characteristic signature of a parti-

Frequently, sculptors worked together with colleagues or rela- cular artist or workshop has shifted attent ion away from the norm to­

lives in a workshop and artefacts were attributed only to the master or wards deviation from the norm, and in many cases has served to reveal

eldest member of the group, although the work was actually divided the originality and creative variety of individual sculptors. For a long

among several people. And it is quite possible that details found parti- time studies of African art concentrated on the common features of

cularly admirable by outsiders were the work of a young, unknown works from a single region instead of on their differences but this

member of the workshop. Wood carvers were often forced into an- practice has begun to shift. Western eyes first had to be opened to the

onymity by ritual customs, particularly in cases where the masks and dynamic nature of artistic traditions in Africa and to the creative free­

figures they made were conceived of as supernatural works original- dom allowed to individual artists.

ing from other-worldly spheres. This starts with the choice of the type of wood and the striving

Overall, recent research has clearly shown that the "cult of the to 'do justice to the materials used', which requires a high level of ex­

individual' in the sense of the importance attached to names and indi- perience, sensit ivity and flexibi lity. For many wooden sculptures, the

London, Berlin and New York 1998 - "Olowe of lse: A Yoruba Sculptor to Kings" exhibition in the National Museum of African Art in Washington DC 1998-2002 - Okwui Enwezor is artistic director of documenta 11 in Kassel

23

26

26. NIGERIA, IGBO REGION

liele masquerade Phom Herbert Cole, c. 1975

type of wood to be used was selected according to criteria such as tained the status of icons of 'African art'. But it must be remembered

hardness, weight, weather resistance, shape and size. In addition, the that the selection in this book fol lows criteria, points of view, aesthetic

sculptors usually worked without models or preparatory drawings, judgements and assessments which may be fu lly at odds with those of

which meant that they had to have an exact mental idea of the fin- their makers, owners and users.

ished object before beginning work. And since the sculptures were

often made from a single piece of wood, it was almost impossible to

correct errors.

The geographical sequence of works in the following section of

this book begins on the coast of West Africa and passes through cen­

tral and eastern Africa down to South Africa (see map on p. 25.). The

plates show selected works from museums that are renowned world­

wide for their collections of African art in order to offer an international

cross-section. Our aim was to present a wide range of exquisite mas­

terpieces from different regions and periods, made of different materi­

als and using different techniques. The works in this book were cho­

sen in accordance with current tastes and j udgements in the Western

world. For this reason the selection includes a high number of carved

wooden figures and masks. In addition to these, we have also Included

works with outstanding aesthetic qualities made from other materials,

which, through an extension of Western definitions of art, have also at-

2000 - African art displayed in the Louvre in Paris 2006 - Opening of the Musee du Quai Branly In Paris 201O - First FIFA Football World Cup on the African continent

24

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