APAH African Art

Conical Tower and Circular Wall of Great Zimbabwe

Conical Tower and Circular Wall of Great Zimbabwe

Culture: Shona

Date: 1000-1400 CE

Medium: Coursed granite blocks

Location: Southeastern Zimbabwe

Artist: Shona Peoples

Form: Great enclosure with multiple areas, brick huts, smooth walls - no mortar was used,

Function: Religious center, wall to keep in cattle, palatial complex

Content: Great wall and large tower (tower is religious center), chevron pattern near top

Context: In between gold rich plateau and Indian Ocean ports

Comparison- Pantheon: Both built on hills.

Extra: Built on a hill, giving tactical advantage.

The Great Mosque of Djenne, Mali

Culture: Mali

Date: 1000 CE

Medium: Adobe mud brick

Location: Djenne, Mali

Artist: Mali Peoples

Form: Largest mud brick building in the world,

Function: Moque for people to pray in (separate hall for women). Place to worship ad symbol of cultural identity.

Content: The things sticking out of the wall act as a type of scalffholding

Context: Influenced by Islam and the local Sudano-Sahelian style, also an annual festival was created out of necessity of replastering the mud brick once a year, has been rebuilt multiple times

Extra: Sudanese style architecture characterized by the adobe material and wooden beams sticking out of it. Built on a raised platform. Decorative and utilitarian.

Wall Plaque of Oba's Palace

Culture: Benin

Date: 16th-17th century

Medium: Cast brass and bronze

Location: Benin City, Edo, Nigeria (South/Mid Western Nigeria)

Artist: Edo People

Form: Hierarchy of scale, relief sculpture

Function: To display the king's power and decorative.

Content: King Oba standing in the middle with attendants kneeling beside him with two tiny Portuguese traders in the back, Portuguese are non human looking

Context: It is the people's obligation to assist the king with whatever he needs, whenever he needs it

Extra: Created using the lost wax cast technique. Uses hierarchy of scale. Typically depicts scenes of royal life.

Sika dwa kofi (The Golden Stool)

Culture: Ashanti

Date: 1700 CE

Medium: Wood covered with gold and cast-gold attachments

Location: Southern Central Ghana

Artist: Ashanti people

Form: Size of a piano bench, but shorter; bells on the side are designed to warn the king of approaching danger

Function: Symbolically represents the spirit of the Ashanti nation, represents royal family and succession

Content: Shaped like a stool

Context: The Ashanti Uprising/The Golden Stool War occurred in 1900 because a British governor demanded possession of the stool, the stool is so valuable that the location of it is only known by the king, queen, and highly trusted advisors (replicas are usually used in ceremonies)

Extra: Believed to embody the spirit of the Ashanti nation. Legitimizes rule like a physical Mandate of Heaven.

Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul

Culture: Kuba

Date: 1700 CE

Medium: Wood

Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Artist: Kuba peoples

Form: Idealized characteristics; head is 1/3 size of body = value of intelligence; various ornaments and accessories

Function: To hold the spirit of the king; idol = object that links to the ruler, to commemorate the king, and legitimizes kings rule.

Content: Ndop - portrait figure that usually portrays leaders, expressionless and calm, rounded counters, defined lips and collarbones,

Context: Belief that the Ndop contains the spirit of the king and absorbs the king's life force when he dies; peaceful, spiritual figure that is considered a concrete piece of their history

Power Figure (Nkisi n'tondi)

Culture: Kongo

Date: Late 1800s CE

Medium: Wood and metal

Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Artist: Kongo peoples

Form: Metal and ceramic insertions; painted eyes; hollow stomach

Function: Avenger/guardian spirit objects, helping, healing, protecting, justice, conflict resolution, embodied spiritual forces/ ancestral spirits, used in rituals

Content: Exaggerated form of human

Context: Represents their spiritually centered culture; there are multiple figures that have different purposes

Comparison- Caribbean Voodoo Dolls: More different than similar. Both are used for healing and protecting. Votive Figures.

Extra: Believed to be an intermediary between the human world and the spiritual world.

Portrait mask (Mblo)

Culture: Baule (Ivory Coast)

Date: Early 1900s

Medium: Wood and pigment

Location: Cote d'Ivoire

Artist: Baule peoples

Form: beads and nails added for decor and texture,

Function: Used in ceremonial dances to celebrate specific members of the community or ancestors, reinforce social cohesion and provide the community with a cultural identity.

Content: Idealized figure - broad forehead, long nose, pronounced eye sockets, these features depict intellect and beauty under the Baule standards; introspective (inward look), peaceful; male and female masks

Context: Real people depicted in masks - rare in African art

Bundu Mask

Culture: Mende

Date: 1900s CE

Medium: Wood, cloth, and fiber

Location: West African forests of Sierra Leone and Liberia

Artist: Sande Women’s Initiation Society

Form: sleek and luminous to show the inner light of life; scarifications - makings under the eyes that show the girl's identity

Function: Worn on top of head and used in final dance in initiation of womanhood. Maintain social order and cohesion.

Content: Small mouth and ears to limit the exposure to gossip; rings of fat represent fertility; eyes are slit to conceal the identity and to prevent the girls from looking at men

Context: Women are important in this society, these customs declined in the 1970s because of the Islamic influence

Extra: Represents Sowei, a mythical figure, feminine protector and serves to empower young girls. Symbol of feminine beauty, wisdom and cultural identity

Reliquary figure (Byeri)

Culture: Fang

Date: 1900s

Medium: Wood

Location: Southern Cameroon

Artist: Fang peoples

Form: Balance of opposite characteristics - high value to the Fang peoples

Function: Guardian of reliquary boxes (boxes that store ancestor's bones). Used in rituals and ceremonies

Content: Abstract human body - elongated too, cylindrical arms and legs, big head; enlarged bellybutton indicates vitality and importance of the mother

Context: Ancestor veneration is important; nomadic people

Comparison- Terracotta Warriors: Both originally functions as guardians and both have a new contemporary function of museum attractions.

Extra: Used by the living to ask ancestors, important people, or spirits questions.

Ikenga (shrine figure)

Culture: Igbo

Date: 1900s CE

Medium: wood

Location: Nigeria

Artist: Igbo peoples

Form: small sculpture of wood representing the two-faced Ikenga God

Function: shows family's achievements and accomplishments; position of hierarchy; brought success and wealth

Content: horned somewhat squatting figure; sword represents success in battles

Context: annual celebrations celebrate its creation; and show family's achievements; usually placed in their houses

Extra: Masculine. Celebrates individual’s achievements, earned. Igbo people didn’t develop a strong central government or strong social hierarchy. Honors the power and skill of a man’s right hand as seen by the weapon in the statue’s right hand. Vary in size.

Lukasa memory board

Culture: Luba

Date: 19th-20th century

Medium: wood, beads, metal, shells

Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Mbudye Society

Artist: Luba peoples

Form: a handheld object with various beads and designs in certain locations to be interpreted as history; has the head of Lolo Inang'ombe on the top

Function: made to preserve the history of the Luba peoples; unites the community under the similar history

Content: Various lines, beads, and other decorations represent a course of events in history; i.e. migration patters were sometimes shown, etc.; the head of Lolo Inang-ombe was at the top of the rectangular object

Context: Lolo Inang-ombe founded the highest class of the Luba people (the Mbudye Society), and she represented wisdom and royalty; only the Bana Balute were trained to read them, and the memory boards were up to their individual interpretation.

Comparison- Benin Plaques: both tell history

Extra: Numonic device to tell history.

Female Pwo Mask

Culture: Chokwe

Date: early 1900s CE

Medium: wood, fiber, pigment, metal

Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa

Artist: Chokwe peoples

Form: female ancestral mask, made of available resources, very stylized with what the Chokwe people saw as "beauty"

Function: used in an initiation dance which was performed to chiefs and kings, newly married men and women, and girls who had reached adulthood; the mask is of a female ancestor because the Chokwe people are matrilineal. Protector, educational device, and entertainment device.

Content: The mask is of a female face; many tattoos are on the face, each representing a different emotion or feature of women

Context: The masks honor the female ancestors of the tribe and are used to initiate people into a new journey in their life; Only men wore the masks in the dances, therefor imitating women; pwo means young woman and can also refer to the initiation ceremony itself.

Extra: Believed to embody the spirit of female ancestors. Represents femininity. Symbol of feminism, cultural identity and beauty within the Chokwe society.

Aka Elephant Mask

Culture: Bamileke

Date: 1900s CE

Medium: wood, woven raffia, cloth, beads, shells

Location: Cameron, western grass fields region

Artist: Bamileke people

Form: mask in the shape of an elephant with many colors (blues, yellows, whites, reds) and beads as decorations, each pattern and color representing something;

Function: Used in masquerade ceremonies and symbolized the royal court or respected officials

Content: the mask had two large circular "ears" to either side and a long piece of cloth covered in beads that ran down the body, representing an elephant's "trunk"; holes were cut into the mask for the person's eyes and mouth; mask is covered in beads and decorations in different colors

Context: the elephant represented political power to the Bamileke people; therefore these dances were worthy of the royal court

Extra: Symbolizes wealth and royal power. People who wear the mask are called Kuosi and they are elite families, royalty, and important military people.

Veranda Post of Enthroned King and senior wife (Opo Ogoga)

Culture: Yoruba

Date: 1910-1914

Medium: wood and pigment

Location: Ekiti region, Nigeria

Artist: Olowe of Ise (Yoruba peoples)

Form: King is throned infront of a standing wife; sculpture; the wife is crowning the king

Function: was originally in the Palace of Ikere, and greeted visitors into the palace

Content: Women stands behind the man and is towering over him, which shows the importance of women; King's crown has a bird on it, which represents the king's divinity

Context: created to show the power of the king and queen?; Veranda means porch; no longer at the Palace of Ikere (currently in the Chicago Art Institute)

Extra: 1 of 4 statues created for the palace courtyard. Shows the importance of senior women and functions as a reminder that a king can’t rule without the senior woman/ wife. The senior wife signifies great beauty and high social status. Conveys the balance between a king and his wife. The kings crown was the most important symbol of his authority. The bird perched on his crown symbolizes the presence of older women.