APAH Unit 7: African Art

work in progress

Warrior Chief and Attendants

Warrior Chief and Attendants (culture & location)

Benin/Edo; Benin, Nigeria

Warrior Chief and Attendants (date & material)

c. 1550-1650 CE; brass

Warrior Chief and Attendants (use & facts)

• palace decor

• hierarchy of scale (king is largest)

• adorned palace in Benin (now in British Museum)

• Oba (King) was descendant of original ruler & was deity

• Oba controlled trade, art, justice & attendants in plaques symbolize the heavy weights of his job

• part of 900 plaques decorating wooden pillars in palace & surrounding courtyard buildings in Benin City

• all 900 plaques = continuous narrative & communicated hierarchy of status

• made using lost wax process

• Oba has symbols of power = leopard, sword, spear

• rolls under head = beauty & wealth bc rich enough to be fat

• brass from Portuguese traders

Djenne Mosque (Eastern Facade of Friday Mosque)

Djenne Mosque (culture & location)

Djenne; Djenne, Mali

Djenne Mosque (date & material)

13th century CE & rebuilt 1906-1907 CE; mudbrick

Djenne Mosque (use & facts)

• temple

• largest mudbrick structure in the world

• ostrich eggs on top = ritual purpose/protection & fertility, purity

• annual festival of replastering

• Djenne was great trading center

• Islam introduced in 14^th century & mosque built soon after

• this is 3^rd revision of the building

• wood jutting out = torons, climbed on to replaster

Great Zimbabwe (Conical Tower & Circular Wall)

Great Zimbabwe (culture & location)

Great Zimbabwe; Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe (West Coast of Africa)

Great Zimbabwe (date & material)

15th century CE; dry stone

Great Zimbabwe (use & facts)

• palace, city, & trading center

• huge trading city/palace in SW Africa beginning in 600 CE

• construction began in 11^th century & lasted until 15^th century

• constructed of dry stone (no mortar)

• conical tower = granary?

• walls as high as 36ft & held 18,000 people

• aka “The Great Enclosure”

• largest pre-colonial structure in Sub-Saharan Africa

• king lived on hill, enclosure for other royalty, valley for everyone else

• ended due to overcrowding, over farming, sanitation issues?

• during colonial time, whites thought Africans could not have built this & tried to prove this but failed

Ndop Portrait of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul

Ndop Portrait of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul (culture & location)

Kuba Kingdom; Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ndop Portrait of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul (date & material)

c. 1760-1780 CE; polished wood (camwood) & powder

Ndop Portrait of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul (use & facts)

• represent King of the Kuba Kingdom

• rounded contours define head, shoulders, stomach, & collarbone

• naturalism but not exact likenesses

• expression on face, body position, & regalia represent ideal characteristics of dead king

• individual rulers identified by emblem (ibol)

• carved & anointed w/ palm oil to protect from insects

• cross-legged subjects

• 1 to 3 proportion of head to body (head biggest)

• head emphasized bc it was seat of intelligence (highly valued)

• drum w/ severed head is his ibol

• polished w/ palm oil to ward away insects & make shiny

Byeri Reliquary Guardian Figure

Byeri Reliquary Guardian Figure (culture & location)

Fang “Nio Biere” People; Gabon

Byeri Reliquary Guardian Figure (date & material)

c. 19th-20th century CE; wood

Byeri Reliquary Guardian Figure (use & facts)

• guarded relics

• placed on container to guard relics (talisman)

• relics are skulls & bones of earlier kings

• woman & young people not allowed to look at it

• show tranquility, introspection, vitality

• abstract body, hair of the time, stylized

• rubbed w/ oil to give lustrous finish

• also used as puppets in initiation to teach young men about ancestors

Female Pwo Mask

Female Pwo Mask (culture & location)

Chokwe People; Democratic Republic of the Congo

Female Pwo Mask (date & material)

c. 19th & 20th century CE; wood, fiber, & metal

Female Pwo Mask (use & facts)

• ritual use for initiation

• made & worn by men for initiation ritual w/ costumes including wooden breasts & bustle

• woman accept male concept of ideal female, but if they don’t like the performance, they can “chase away” the bad performer

• begins with homage to older female ancestors & fertility & later younger women

• pwo dance = short steps, sensuous hip movements; mediates tension of separation of boys from moms via sexual movements

• young, fertile, successfully given birth

Mblo Portrait Mask

Mblo Portrait Mask (culture & location)

Baule People; Cote d’Ivorie (Ivory Coast)

Mblo Portrait Mask (creator, date, & material)

Owie Himou; c. late 19th century CE; wood, brass, & pigment

Mblo Portrait Mask (use & facts)

• portrait for use in public ceremony

• part of public ceremony, possibly double of honoree

• crowned with horns

• high forehead & downcast eyes = wisdom

• oval face, elongated nose, small open mouth, downcast slit eyes w/ projecting pieces (animal horns?)

• stylistic attributes = visual vocab suggesting what it means to be respected & honorable in Bauble society

• scarification

• highly polished w/ palm oil

• this one is a portrait of a female leader

Bundu Mask

Bundu Mask (culture & location)

Mende People; Sierra Leone

Bundu Mask (creator, date, & material)

Nguabu Master; c. late 19th-early 20th century CE; wood & pigment

Bundu Mask (use & facts)

• made for ritual female rite of passage

• idealized beauty, small eyes & mouth

• mask sits on head, raffia cloaks body

• lustrous black color

• performed by & for women, made by men

• closed mouth, downcast eyes (demur), small ears (don’t listen to gossip), elaborate hair, circles of fat under chin (able to bear children)

• scarification around eyes

• worn by elders while initiating girls into womanhood

Aka Elephant Mask

Aka Elephant Mask (culture & location)

Bamileke People; Camaroon

Aka Elephant Mask (date & material)

c. 19th century CE; wood, raffia, cloth, & beads

Aka Elephant Mask (use & facts)

• worn by royals in court

• trunk & ears symbolize strength & power

• performace art danced to drum, barefoot

• used by high-ranking royals in court

• energetic feel

Sika Dwa Kofi (Golden Stool)

Sika Dwa Kofi (culture & location)

Asante People; Ghana

Sika Dwa Kofi (date & material)

c. 1700 CE; wooden stool covered in gold

Sika Dwa Kofi (use & facts)

• symbol of ruler’s (Asantehene) power

• said to be dropped from heaven

• still exists with Asante people in Ghana

• soul of the Ashanti nation, more sacred than the king

• always given its own chair & tilted to reserve its use

• 18 by 24 by 12 in

• NEVER allowed to touch the ground & NEVER allowed to be sat on

• no one could be considered a legitimate ruler w/ out the golden stool

• has its own throne next to the king

• used in rituals crowning kings

• turned on its side to symbolize no one can sit on it

Nkisi n’kondi (Power Figure)

Nkisi n’kondi (culture & location)

Kongo People; Democratic Republic of the Congo

Nkisi n’kondi (date & material)

c. late 19th century CE; wood & metal

Nkisi n’kondi (use & facts)

• magical medicine pouch for a healer

• recognizable through an accumulation of pegs, blades, nails or other sharp objects inserted into its surface

• fetishes = protective figures used by individuals or communities to destroy or weaken evil spirits, cure illness, & repel bad deeds

• statue activated by holy person using magical substance

• nkisi = a spirit, the medicine used by the healer

• medicinal combinations called bilongo are stored in the head or belly of the figure, shaded by a piece of glass or reflective surface (represents other world inhabited by spirits of the dead to see enemies)

• nails hammered in used to call spirit to do its bidding

• moyoo = belly, spiritual center of nkisi where medicine was placed

• used by ritual specialists called ngangas

• nganga remember what each nail was for, no written history

Lukasa Memory Board

Lukasa Memory Board (culture & location)

Mbudy Society, Luba People; Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lukasa Memory Board (date & material)

c. 19th century CE; wood, beads, & metal

Lukasa Memory Board (use & facts)

• recorded important information & oral tradition

• used to record important information

• each board is unique

• only senior members can interpret these boards

• history is dynamic & interpreted

• serves as mnemonic device

• small enough to hold in the left hand & read w/ right forefinger

Veranda Post of Enthroned King & Senior Wife

Veranda Post of Enthroned King & Senior Wife (culture & location)

Yoruba People; Nigeria

Veranda Post of Enthroned King & Senior Wife (creator, date, & material)

Olowe of Ise; c. early 20th century CE; wood & pigment

Veranda Post of Enthroned King & Senior Wife (use & facts)

• supported roofs of courtyard verandas in royal palaces

• vertical, columnar nature of this sculpture typical of the use, veranda post to support roofs of courtyard palace

• larger than life sculpture of a royal family

• elongated heads & breasts form diagonal lines

• negative space enables figures to be seen fully in the round

• artist carved posts for rulers of Yoruba kingdom in Nigeria

• king in focus but large-scale wife supports the throne (she is bigger bc her job to protect him & crown him)

Ikenga Shrine Figure

Ikenga Figure (culture & location)

Igbo People; Nigeria

Ikenga Figure (date & material)

c. 19th cenutry CE; wood

Ikenga Figure (use & facts)

• figure for use in personal shrine for Igbo and/or Benen People

• ikenga = power of the right hand (control)

• horns symbolize thinking & fighting w/ their heads

• human face w/ animal attributes

• size variation

• sit on ceremonial stool w/ sword in right hand (expression of power)

• head in left hand symbolizes warrior status

• personal objects relating to status in society

• scarification on temple & horns

• activated by prayer & sacrifice

• one of the most powerful symbols of Igbo people, mainly maintained & owned yb men but occasionally a woman

• combines person’s chi (personal god/ancestors) ikenga (right hand), & ike (power)