Showing papers in "African Arts in 1980"

Patronage and Maconde Carvers

Abstract: L'organisation du commerce des sculptures sur bois executees par les sculpteurs Maconde du Mozambique emigres au Tanganyka, dans la ville de Dar es Salaam. Les rapports du sculpteur avec le marchand qui ecoule sa production.

Patronage and Akwete Weaving

Abstract: Patronage and its effects on the arts of sub-Saharan Africa is an important issue. In addition to observing the art object and the artist's input into its production, it is valuable to consider the input of the consumers, and how they acquire and use art. Not only can we gain insight into the social and economic relationships between producer and consumer, but we can also begin to understand how and why certain influences come to be imposed on the arts. The Akwete weaving tradition of southeastern Nigeria lends itself to a study of the arts from this dual perspective. In this area, an Igbo-speaking group residing along the Imo River produces cloth used by other groups of peoples confined to the delta and speaking Ijaw-related dialects. The latter may be referred to as out-group patrons, living outside the geographic and cultural boundaries within which the cloth is manufac-

Bambara and Malinke Ton Masquerades

Abstract: Les danses masquees organisees par les associations de classe d'âge, ton, chez les Bambara et les Malinke du Mali. Leur organisation, leur symbolisme et leur evolution.

Patron-Artist Interactions in Africa

Abstract: The papers on patron-artist interactions in this issue were originally presented at the annual African Studies Association Meeting on November 3, 1978, in Baltimore. The papers were part of the panel "Systems of Patronage in African Art," organized by Norma Wolff and Judith Perani. This introduction to some of the issues and problems regarding artistic patronage in traditional Africa is based on my discussion of the papers at the meeting. The following articles represent a range of different types of artist-patron relationships that can lead to useful comparisons. In addition, they have broken away from certain conventional approaches to African art. This departure is most clearly felt in the discussion of "out-group patrons": if nothing else, the essays show how longstanding and how integral a part of artistic activity those out-group dealings have been. So, while the grave was already dug for the notion that each tribe is a separate artistic universe, these authors give it a very fine Second Burial. As a corollary, we can see that tourist production is not an aberrant phenomenon but can be approached as part of the overall question of foreign patronage. Furthermore, the focus on artist-patron relationships brings an important economic and sociological dimension, which has often been lacking, to the study of African art.

Religion and Art in Africa

Abstract: The separation of art and religion in modern Western civilization makes it almost impossible for us to conceive of their full integration in Africa. So inevitable is it for us to isolate these elements that we have difficulty in describing cultures where art and religion permeate the entire society as well as each other. Western religious and aesthetic categories simply do not afford access to the phenomena; consequently I propose three rather inelegant neologisms "art-ing," "goding,"and "self-ing" as avenues for exploring spiritual manifestations at the intersection of art and religion in traditional African cultures.

Isoko artists and their audiences

Abstract: interaction provided by artisan guilds, wealthy patrons, or market-conscious entrepreneurs, there are still observable guiding patterns and criteria for artistic production. Generally speaking, Isoko artist and audience/patron interaction is informal, with control of the product primarily in the artists' hands; however, in the following observations of a broad range of Isoko art forms, I will elaborate on some significant dimensions to this picture.' The Isoko of the northwestern Niger Delta fringe are usually grouped with the Edo and Edo-related peoples of southern Nigeria, such as the Urhobo, Ishan, and northern Edo clans. Bounded by the

Woyo Pot Lids

Abstract: Many cultures have used visual symbols to represent proverbs from their oral traditions and have incorporated these symbols into the decoration of objects for daily use. The Woyo people of Cabinda took this representation of proverbs one step further, creating a pictographic language to convey their feelings about specific situations. The medium was a wooden lid with motifs carved in relief, which covered a casserole when it was carried from the kitchen to the eating area. The communication took place between husband and wife, or between parents and son or daughter, and the message usually concerned fundamental principles for a successful marriage. This tradition was part of the nineteenth-century Woyo lifestyle; missionaries report that it had disappeared by the beginning of the twentieth century (Vaz 1969:28). Eleven pot lids belonging to Dr. and Mrs. Michael Samuels are on permanent display at the Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. They were acquired from Padre Joaquim Martins, who collected the pieces in Cabinda in the 1940s and 1950s. One piece (Fig. 1) from the Samuels collection was included in Sabedoria Cabinda: Simbolos e Prov rbios (1968: 482-84), written by Joaquim Martins. (According to Dr. Samuels, the author is not the same person as Padre Martins.) The following is taken from Martins's interpretation of this lid, which bears five designs. Martins gives the proverb associated with each and a narrative reading of the message as a whole, a format I will follow in interpreting six other lids in the collection: 1. Central handle with one peak: "This gravestone has only one peak." It marks the grave of a poor person, for a rich person's gravestone would have three peaks; 2. Ax with handle: "An ax is used to being fitted with a handle, but not so a person"-people must have freedom of choice; 3. Round Ntumpu-Mvemba fruit: "The fruit Ntumpu, dedicated to the divine Mvemba, will answer one question for you if you are a good person." Mvemba is the guardian of the family and symbolic of family loyalty; 4. Pear-shaped Chiali-Mioko fruit, which resembles a pair of open hands: "Open hands to the chiefs, the diviners and everyone-you must receive." The fruit is a symbol of generosity; 5. Key: "This is your key, which your ancestors left for you," signifying that one should receive and guard one's inheritance, be it large or small. This lid contains premarital advice for either a son or daughter. According to Martins, the parental message as a whole reads, "Even though the family has been poor, you will have peace and good harmony if you allow each other liberty, if you seek the protection of Mvemba and are true and loyal, and if you are generous to each other. In this way you will receive the true inheritance of your ancestors." One lid in the Samuels collection could have been presented either to a son contemplating bigamy or to a couple intending to marry in spite of parental disapproval (Fig. 2). It has two carved symbols. One is of two goats tied to a stake: "Those who hitch two goats close to each other are to blame when the ropes get tangled" (Vaz 1969:76-77); the other is the spiral shell Ta-nsosso: "Air the disagreement, swallow the rage, and don't hold a grudge" (Vaz 1969:64-65). The shell is a visual pun linking the sound of its name, Ta-nsosso, and the sound of displeasure Cabindans make to insult those who offend them. The central projection is simply a handle, without significance. In this example, the parents' advice is clear: "We're offering this to express our disapproval. If the marriage doesn't work out, you have only yourselves to blame." Another pot lid advises a son as to how a wife should be treated (Fig. 3). It has seven symbols: 1. Double bell (center) which belongs only to a chief; when it is struck, all must go to hear the chief's pronouncement (Vaz 1969:78); 2. Bird caught in a trap: "'I have caught you in my trap,' says the hunter. 'Only by the tail,' replies the bird" (i.e., a wife can always leave her husband and return to her family if mistreated) (Vaz 1969:37); 3. Mouth: "The mouth defends its owner" (Martins 1968:257); 4. Grater for preparing manioc leaves: "If you want to cook nsaka, first get your nkuimbi-nsaka" (He who wishes to obtain 1. PREMARITAL ADVICE FOR A SON OR A DAUGHTER. DIAMETER 16cm.

Kakungu among the Yaka and Suku

Abstract: called mungela or m'tsenga (Alstonia congensis or Ricinodendron),2 the mask was worn surrounded by a full-length fringe of palm leaf strips called futi or kindua and partially covered with skins of larger animals. Noise-making seed pods were generally suspended amid the fiber fringe. Kakungu masks were owned and sometimes worn by the charm specialist of the initiation camp called isidika (Suku: kisidika), but it was only one of a series of instruments employed by him to assure the well-being of the boys. Within nkanda initiation, the kakungu mask customarily appeared on the day of circumcision, the day of departure from the nkanda camp, and occasionally for the subsequent breaking of food restrictions. Its appearance served to frighten the young candidates into obedience and respect for their elders, and to threaten any person secretly harboring evil intentions against one of the initiates. Among the Northern Suku, the kakungu mask was called out by its assistant (kilendi), who shouted a proverb intended to jolt kakungu into action and sang verses to encourage it. Kakungu would approach the gathering and frighten those present with the characteristic sound "iiiiiiiiiiiiih! iiiiiiiiiiiiiih! iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih! hum, hum, waka, waka, waka." The kakungu wearer would first seek out the young leader of the candidates, seize his arm, and not release him until the boy's father presented a gift to kakungu. If there was hesitation, the boy would suffer the consequences, namely, the kakungu sickness--illness or misfortune stemming from a curse-placed upon those disrespectful toward the ways of the elders-ancestors. A kakungu mask might also appear in the event of a crisis; for example, to cure an initiate 2. KAKUNGU MASK. SUKU, LUMBI REGION, 54cm. MRAC.

African Art at the Royal Scottish Museum

Abstract: of widespread public interest in manufactured products and was intended to be a museum of the industry of the world This aim was interpreted in the widest sense, and as a result the collections of the museum developed to include not only technology and science but also geology, natural history, decorative arts, and ethnography of the world Although active collecting began in 1855, part of the holdings was formed earlier, having originally belonged to a museum begun by the University of Edinburgh in the eighteenth century This museum had traditionally been the responsibility of the professor of natural history and much of the collection was zoological, but some ethnographical material was included, largely from the Pacific and the Americas, with a few early nineteenth-century items from West Africa The first director of the Industrial Museum of Scotland, George Wilson, was a man of enormous energy and foresight A doctor by training, he devoted himself to gathering examples of industrial arts from all over the world Wilson recognized the importance of illustrating the history of industrial processes and also stressed the need to acquire comparative material from "less-civilised nations": he was anxious to

Isoko Bronzes and the Lower Niger Bronze Industries

Abstract: Etude des objets en bronze trouves chez les clans Isoko du Nord-Ouest du delta du Niger (Nigeria), dont une partie ont ete fabriques par les Isoko eux-memes. Revue des recherches effectuees sur les bronzes du Bas-Niger a la lumiere de ces nouvelles donnees.