AFRICAN ARTS最新文献

{"title":"Ceremonial Bill-Hooks from Sierra Leone","authors":"W. Hart","doi":"10.1162/afar_a_00653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00653","url":null,"abstract":"| african arts SUMMER 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 2 In an article in African Arts in summer 1975 the Italian scholar V.I. Grottanelli announced the discovery in Rome of a hitherto unrecorded late fifteenth/early sixteenth century ivory salt-cellar from Sierra Leone. It was no ordinary run-of-the-mill work, but what he justifiably described as a masterpiece of carving, of exceptional size and decorative detail, not least in the carving of the lid, which showed a large squatting male figure, naked except for a pair of shorts, wearing a broad-brimmed hat, a round shield on its left arm, and its right arm raised gripping the handle of a hatchet as if to strike (Fig. 1). In front of the figure was a smaller figure, its head bowed as if to receive the blow, and half-a-dozen decapitated heads. The ensemble understandably was interpreted by Grottanelli, and by others subsequently, as a scene of actual or symbolic execution. The identity of the large figure has been a matter of speculation. Most have supposed it to represent an African warrior leader or chief triumphing over his enemies. The wearing of the shorts with their codpiece and the appearance of hair drawn back in a pigtail at the nape of the neck have inclined others to think that the figure may be meant to be European (Curnow 1983: 133), although it is hard to imagine the circumstances in which a European would be shown in the pose of an executioner or warrior-chief. However what concerns us in the present instance is the weapon which the main figure holds aloft. Grottanelli explained that the right arm and hand gripping the hatchet were restorations modelled on the caryatid figures around the base of the salt-cellar, but that the restorers had no model for the weapon itself. It was clearly a chopping instrument of some kind, and there were published illustrations of generic African axes that might have provided a more plausible original of the kind of weapon the restorers were looking for, but the solution they settled on, a European-style hatchet, looks inauthentic even to the eye of a casual and nonspecialist observer. It is the aim of the present research note to suggest what kind of weapon the executioner-figure might originally have held and to draw attention to a group of similar weapons which have not hitherto been described in the literature about Sierra Leone. In 1985, while researching brass masks of chiefship among the Temne people of central Sierra Leone, I photographed an unusual weapon with a brass-bound handle and broad iron blade (Fig. 2). It was part of the paraphernalia of the chief ’s brass-masked ritual messenger in Kolifa chiefdom, Tonkolili district. The blade was pierced through in a number of places: two parallel rows of six and seven small rectangular vents through the broadest span of the blade and above them four larger vents around a central hole or hub forming a rough cross or wheel motif. In addition there were a number of pinholes around the edges of the blade and a curiou","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"20-25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45181454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Writing with Others","authors":"Kristen Laciste","doi":"10.1162/afar_a_00650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00650","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":" ","pages":"7-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47550968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Freddy Tsimba, Mabele Eleki Lola! The Earth, Brighter than Paradise","authors":"Dunja Hersak","doi":"10.1162/afar_r_00660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_r_00660","url":null,"abstract":"There were several reasons to celebrate the temporary exhibition of Freddy Tsimba’s work at the newly renovated AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, a stone’s throw away from the center of Brussels. It was an important occasion as it was the museum’s first large-scale exhibition of contemporary African art and its first oneman show. It is also significant that it was an event recognizing an artist living and working in the Congo, unlike many shows that draw upon selections of works of so-called diaspora artists settled in Europe and North America. What is more, it was curated by In Koli Jean Boffan, an accomplished novelist of Congolese origin, who was not only instrumental in the conceptualization of this exhibition, but whose texts of a book in progress featured as a verbal echo of Tsimba’s life and oeuvres. The opening on October 28, 2020, sadly fell during the pandemic, just the day before the second lockdown in Belgium due to COVID19. But, in keeping with Freddy’s trajectory, battling patiently and persistently for years to make his creative endeavors known beyond his Kinshasa compound, the event reopened on December 1 in defiance of COVID’s relentless onslaught and much to the pleasure of surprisingly many curious visitors. According to some of the attendees, word of mouth spread quickly about this exhibition as it was something new and different for an institution associated with African arts of the past. The exhibition was showcased in the large polyvalent space, off the wide, underground corridor connecting the new entrance pavilion to the old museum building. This huge, white cube, devoid of any mise en scène,1 was appropriated by thirty-seven sculptures, fifteen metal masks, four paintings, and a small selection of historical pieces from the museum’s collection chosen by in-house staff and offered to the artist for selection. Upon entering, one was struck by the monumentality of many of these metal sculptures. For me this stark, sterile space actually enhanced the effect of their dramatic themes and materials relating to conflict and oppression (Fig. 1). The whitewashed environment contributed to an almost palpable silence, periodically disrupted by Freddy Tsimba’s voice at the back of the 1 Two figures of pregnant women in the installation I will not give them my diamond II (2014), largest of the three, H. approx. 210 cm., constructed of discarded keys.","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"88-92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49159352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Power Objects: On the Transient Nature of Classifications, with Examples from the Kwilu Region in Congo-Brazzaville","authors":"Dunja Hersak","doi":"10.1162/afar_a_00654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00654","url":null,"abstract":"| african arts SUMMER 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 2 Classifications, typologies, labels, and other organizational tools help us wade through complex cultural contexts and specificities. They may be a point of departure that suggests clarity, providing a veil of reassurance. Yet, if not subject to renewal in terms of temporal and spatial considerations, they can become static mechanisms that constrain and obscure the wealth of changing and seemingly anomalous factors that are essential features of dynamic cultural realities. As Gonseth et al. have stated, “the world cannot be defined solely in terms of classifications ... it has to be looked at through, between, over, and above the expressions of our codes” (2013: 19). In the domain of art, the naming and labeling game (attribution, provenance, identification of object types) is a major concern, with very different issues preoccupying scholars and those in the private sector. Where the monetary value of art works remains the fundamental driver, perennial “stylistic” criteria of authenticity related to ethnic labels are repeatedly evoked and maintained to preserve easily recognizable market indicators. In scholarly circles, Renée Bravmann definitely “opened the frontiers” in 1973 by showing “avenues of mobility” beyond the “frozen cultures” of William Fagg’s 1960s “one tribe, one style” ethnic paradigm (Bravmann 1973: 9, 10; Fagg 1965: 11), yet the “single stories” approach, to which Gagliardi and Biro (2019:1) have recently referred, in which an object is attributed to “a whole group of people or a geographical area,” is still currently used. Maxime de Formanoir (2019) has shown how the so-called Kota label, for example, applied in a 2017 major Paris exhibition to no fewer than 102 “reliquary figures”—aesthetically aligned simply on the basis of morphology and style—has obscuring their exact regional provenance and context of production and use. My concern here goes beyond the preoccupation with style and ethnicity, two vast topics of debate (see Gagliardi et al. 2020: 16–21) which remain prime Western art historical and art market concerns, that are at times a little too intertwined. What interests me has to do with the reading of interethnic visual forms, their local performative and ritual use, interpretation and labeling. To exemplify this I will deal with a cultural feature of the Congo-Gabonese Atlantic coastal region, but essentially from the Congolese sector of Kwilu province of Congo-Brazzaville, where I undertook research in the 1990s. As I have not conducted research north of the Congolese border, this research note unpacks an unbiased and hopefully useful southern view of local specificities that characterize a part of a more extensive, variegated landscape of practices and beliefs. My study of the literature and field research conducted in Congo-Brazzaville has led me to realize the extent to which intertwined, changing realities may be confusing to those unfamiliar with the terrain (Hersak 200","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"26-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48553337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decorative Arts of the Tunisian École: Fabrications of Modernism, Gender, and Power","authors":"A. Kallander","doi":"10.1162/afar_r_00661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_r_00661","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"93-94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41636843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Traditional Igbo Architecture: A Symbolic Evaluation","authors":"Chinedu Ene-Orji","doi":"10.1162/afar_a_00657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00657","url":null,"abstract":"| african arts SUMMER 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 2 In Things Fall Apart (1958) and Arrow of God (1964), Chinua Achebe was concerned to show that Africans before the intervention of Europeans had culture, government, religion, philosophy, astronomy, music, dance, science, art, and architecture. These novels were set in the precolonial era, toward the onset of colonization in Igboland in Eastern Nigeria (Fig. 1). Traditional architecture has long been used as an index to measure humankind’s state of development or their response to their environment in terms of using available materials to afford protection over the elements, animals, and fellow people. Beyond these basic essentials, however, Vitruvius, in his treatise De Architectura Litori Decem (27–23 bce) considered philosophy, music, meteorology, astronomy, and engineering as related to architecture (Dmochowski 1990: v). It is within these and other contexts—like environment, religion, tradition and language—that traditional Igbo architecture will be examined to illustrate its symbolic attributes in this essay. Labelle Prussin (1969: 1) considers architecture first as a building process where humans manipulate materials at their disposal and hence as building technology. It is also seen as a concept that examines the nature and quality of the space created. Finally it is considered as the sublimation of a culture’s symbolism and therefore an array of its graphic and formal system of values. Similarly, Aniakor (2002: 273) appraises Igbo architecture within the matrix of society’s ideas, symbolism, space, building materials, and technology. Even when one views Igbo architecture as the art of space and space organization, a building is a spatial entity formally quantified into three-dimensional form as a structure. This is made possible by master builders who manipulate available materials to form distinct styles of architecture. The skill is a form of expertise, but the building design derives from ideas of the society. This interplay among form, symbol, idea, and expertise is crucial to any understanding of Igbo architecture. Aniakor further notes that “the ability of architecture to symbolize derives from the fact that it is a social institution and thus lies in the social matrix of the human society” (2002: 273). Traditional Igbo architecture, an aspect of the people’s material culture and artistic heritage, will be shown to intersect with and be contiguous with other components of Igbo cultural attributes, worldview, and mores using aspects of the fictive, but materially valid, environment in the novels Things Fall Apart1 (Achebe 1958) and Arrow of God2 (Achebe 1964).","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"66-81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42346387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Reconsideration of the History and Iconology of Yorùbá Equestrian Figure through Two Ifá Verses and the Ojúde-Ọ ba Festival","authors":"A. Akande","doi":"10.1162/afar_a_00655","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00655","url":null,"abstract":"| african arts SUMMER 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 2 This study probes into the iconology, history, and representation of the horseman figure in Yorùbáland and art. Although literature abounds on this topic, many such writings have approached the topic from the investigation of visual cultures and plastic representation of the horse. The present study employs multidimensional and unconventional approaches arising from considerations of iconology, religion, orature, and socioreligious performative festivals among the Yorùbá. The aim is to expand the research frontiers of the history of the horse and representation of the horseman figure in Yorùbáland and add new narratives to existing discourse on the topic. Following extensive and perplexing scholarship on the horse and equestrian figure in Yorùbáland, the present research is premised on sources guided by the Yorùbá maxim ọ̀rọ̀ sùnùkùn, oju sùnnùkùn ni a fi nwòó, meaning, “a bewildering situation requires an infrequent approach.” This maxim is generally recalled when a situation seems to defy known solutions. Such puzzles require unusual approaches. Here, the proverb is recalled to justify different methods of inquiry, especially those unexpected from an art historian like me. Beyond the historical importance of the horse as a war machine and object of prestige—which I can justifiably say has been overflogged by scholars from different academic disciplines—the iconology of the equestrian figure in Yorùbá society is so strong that the horse’s importance is reflected far beyond academia; it even has a place in the play of Yorùbá children. I remember quite vividly how, as a seven-year-old Yorùbá boy, at playtime we used to climb on the backs of our elder siblings and, sometimes, our bigger mates, while they rested on their hands and knees, imitating the horse, while surrounding playmates clapped their hands and sang “kútúpà kútúpà” (mimicking the rhythm of a horse’s hooves in motion and hailing the human “horse”), and “ẹṣin do ndo” (“the horse, high up”), as other children applauded and acknowledged the superiority of the child on the back of the “horse.”1 At that time the interesting and enjoyable thing, for me, was riding on someone else’s back. I also recall that we sometimes fell and sustained injuries from such antics. Now, as an adult, especially an art historian, the performance reverberates in my memories. Now that I am aware that my ancestors were trans-Saharan traders from Mali, I have more personal associations with the idea of horseriding. The history of the introduction of the horse to Yorùbáland suddenly becomes germane to the discourse that connects my present place with my ancestral space.2 My family history was gathered from my uncle, Olaide Abass— professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Lagos—while we were discussing matters concerning our family compound at Ẹdẹ3; he asked if I knew the reason why our family compound is called Ilé-Ìmàle. I told him I thought it was because","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"36-49"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44509010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early African Ivories","authors":"L. Afonso, Carlos Almeida, J. da Silva Horta","doi":"10.1162/afar_a_00652","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00652","url":null,"abstract":"| african arts SUMMER 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 2 Based on archaeological excavations conducted in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho (Ghana), this paper outlines a new cluster of early African ivories located in central Ghana.1 This group dates from the same time of other clusters widely recognized by the literature on early African ivories, such as those located on Serra Leoa,2 Owo, Benin, Calabar, and Kongo.3 Ivories belonging to some of these clusters are well documented in historical sources of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including records in European collections as early as the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of other ivories were found in archaeological contexts dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, namely in Portugal (Manso, Casimiro and Gomes 2021) and Ghana (Posnansky 1976). When compared against each other, the internal cohesiveness of these clusters becomes clearer, as well as their differences. We structured this paper into three sections in order to present our arguments for outlining Ghana’s cluster of early African ivories. First, we discuss the position of Begho in the trans-Saharan trade and how it fostered the development of local industries, including the production of small ivory objects. Second, we present evidence for considering the two fragments of side-blown ivory trumpets found by Posnansky in Begho as a product of the Akan peoples4 and we rebut the arguments of Ezio Bassani, who classified them as a subset of the Kongo cluster (2008: 35–38). Our reasoning stems from the relevance of Posnansky’s archaeological findings and from a deeper stylistic analysis of these objects. Third, we contrast Ghana’s ivory trumpets with trumpets from other early African clusters—namely Serra Leoa, Benin, Calabar, Kongo and another cluster in West Africa whose specific location remains undetermined, in order to strengthen the idiosyncrasy of Ghana’s ivories.5","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"10-19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44982454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria","authors":"Chinedu Ene-Orji","doi":"10.1162/afar_r_00662","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_r_00662","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"95-96"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43200040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Remembering a Great Man: A Conversation with Kwame Akoto of Almighty God Art Works","authors":"Silvia Forni","doi":"10.1162/afar_a_00629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00629","url":null,"abstract":"| 29 On a Sunday afternoon in April 2021, I met virtually with painter Kwame Akoto, proprietor of the Almighty God Art Works studio located off the Suame Roundabout in Kumasi. The last time we had met in person was 2018, when I stopped by his studio to see his latest production and to bring Doran’s greetings. Akoto had learned of Doran’s passing in September 2020 from LA gallerist Ernie Wolfe, a mutual friend, who had called him immediately to share the news. During our recent conversation, Akoto was eager to share his feelings and memories of his long relationship with Doran Ross. This piece summarizes our exchange, where Akoto alternated recollections, hymns, and prayers as his tribute to “a great man.” Doran first met the prolific artist Kwame Akoto in 1995 on one of his frequent visits to Kumasi, when he would traverse the city taking stock of the community of sign painters working at a given time. For many years, Akoto, commonly referred to by his friends as “Almighty,” produced a large range of commercial paintings such as shop signs, banners, and other forms of advertising, as well as self-driven creative works mostly purchased by international customers. Over the previous decade, Almighty God Art Works’ commercial production or “sign writing” had progressively been supplanted by digital printing in line with the evolution of the local advertising industry. Digital placards are cheaper and more versatile than handpainted signs, and most businesses today favor photographic compositions that allow for advertising a broader range of products. For Akoto this change in business patterns has meant more time to dedicate to “creativity work.” This is where Akoto experiments with different visual languages and messaging to create paintings that are at once deeply serious and whimsical, poetic and very matter-of-fact. Christian themes, portraits of local and international figures, moral recommendations, and self-portraits are just some of the recurrent elements of Akoto’s iconography— often quite literally expressions of his worldviews and beliefs and plays on the tension between realism and paradox (Ross 2014a: 9). Despite the variety of subjects depicted, Almighty’s very direct","PeriodicalId":45314,"journal":{"name":"AFRICAN ARTS","volume":"55 1","pages":"29-31"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48254832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}