Art History-Images-Chap 25

• 25-1: Kojo Bonsu. Finial of a spokesperson's staff
  
  • Ghana, Ashanti culture
    
  • Wood and gold
    
  • Depicts a proverb saying that political power is like an egg, grasp it too tightly and it will shatter, hold it too loosely and it will slip from your grasp
    
  • This was the top of a staff held by a ruler
    

     
     

• 25-2 Doll (Biiga)
  
  • Mossi culture; wood
    
  • People of Burkina Faso made it
    
  • Biiga=Child
    
  • Plaything for little girls
    
  • Shows ideals of mature beauty
    
    • Elaborate hair styles, lovely clothing, developed breasts
      
  • Wears hair as most little girls do: long projecting lock over face
    
  • Elongated breasts recall the practice of stretching by massaging for lactation
    
  • Scars at the naval mimic those applied to women following the birth of their 1st child
    

     
     

• 25-3
  Akiode. Twin Figures (ere ibeji)
  
  • Yourba culture; wood
    
  • Female
    
  • Encourage the birth and growth of children, the figures encourage the birth of children and emphasize health and well-being
    
  • Have glossy surfaces, rings of fat as evidence they were well fed and marks of mature adulthood
    
  • Represent hope fort he future, for survival, and prosperity
    

   
   

• 25-4 Two Masks in Performance
  
  • Dossi, Burkina Faso, Bwa Culture
    
  • Wood, mineral pigments, and fiber
    
  • Importance marked by tall narrow plank
    
    • Abstract and represent the spirits that have taken neither human nor animal form
      
    • Graphics are easily identified
      
    • The crescent at the top represent eh quarter moon, under which the initiation is held
      
    • White triangle represent bull roarers (sacred sound makers)
      
    • 'X' represents the scar that every initiated Bwa wears as a mark of devotion
      
    • Zigzags represent the path of the ancestors
      
    • The red hook is supposed to be the beak of a hornbill
      

   
   

• 25-5 Female Ancestral Mask (Nowo)
  
  • Sierra Leonne, Mende Culture
    
  • Wood
    
  • High glossy forehead, plaited hair style decorated with combs, and creases of abundance around the neck represents the Mende ideal of female beauty
    
  • Compared to an African butterfly; therefore the girls are like beautiful butterflies emerging from its ugly chrysalis
    

   
   

• 25-6 Bwami Mask
  
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lega Culture
    
  • Wood, kaolin, and hemp fibers
    
  • Associated with yananio, the second highest grade
    
  • Head fashioned into an oval into which a concave, heart shaped face is carved
    
  • Masks are colored white with clay and fitted with a beard made from hemp fibers
    
  • Displayed by holding in the hand or attached to a thigh
    

   
   

• 25-7 Spirit Figure (Boteba)
  
  • Burkina Faso, Lobi Culture
    
  • Wood
    
  • In a pose of mourning
    
  • Boteba mourns so that the owner won't have to be sad
    
  • Takes on the burden of grief
    

   
   

• 25-8 Power Figue (Nkisi Nkonde)
  
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kongo Culture
    
  • Wood, nails, pins, blades, and other materials
    
  • Plain and wooden when first created, bilongo added specific to the owner
    
  • Nail punched in to get the attention of the spirit
    

   
   

• 25-9 Spirit Spouse (blolo bla)
  
  • Cote d'lvoire, Baule Culture
    
  • Wood
    
  • Especial attention to details
    

   
   

• 25-10 Dance Staff Depicting Eshu
  
  • Nigeria, Yourba Culture
    
  • Wood
    
  • Shown as a boy blowing a loud noise to annoy people and also as a wise old man
    
  • Two faces are joined by hair
    
  • Heads crown a dance want meant to be carried in performances by priests and followers of Eshu
    

   
   

• 25-1 Kojo Bonsu. Finial of a Spokesperson's Staff
  
  • Ghana, Ashanti Culture
    
  • Example of the art of leadership
    
  • Illustrates a story that has multiple meanings when told by a witty owner
    
  • Carved in 1960s-70s
    

   
   

• 25-11 Kente Cloth
  
  • Ghana, Ashanti Culture
    
  • Silk
    
  • Originally reserved for state regalia
    
    • Man wore a single huge piece wrapped like a toga with no belt and the right shoulder bare
      
    • Women wore two pieces, a skirt and a shawl
      
  • Begins with a warp pattern that alternate red, green, and yellow (oyokoman ogya da mu)
    
  • Traditionally only the king was allowed to wear this pattern
    

   
   

• 25-12 Royal Portrait Figure (ndop) of Shyaam a-mbul
  
  
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo, Baluba Culture, Kuba Kingdom
    
  • Wood
    
  • While the king was alive his ndop was believed to be his double
    
  • After death it was believed to embody his spirit, which was thought to have power over the fertility of the land and his subjects
    
  • On the front of his dais is a board for playing mancala (he supposedly introduced he game)
    

   
   

• 25-13 Olowe of Ise. Door from Royal Palace in Ikere, Nigeria
  
  • Yourba Culture
    
  • Wood, pigment
    
  • Asymmetrical composition combines narrative and symbolic scenes in horizontal rectangular panels
    
  • Tall figures carved in profile end in heads facing out to confront the viewer
    
    • Long necks and elaborate hairstyles make them appear taller
      
  • Figures are in such high relief that the upper portions are carved in the round
    

   
   

• 25-14 Ekpo Mask
  
  • Nirergia, Anang Ibibio Culture
    
  • Wood
    
  • Given repulsive qualities
    
    • Swollen features, matte black skin, eneven teeth
      
  • Skulls at top are images of death
    
  • Scar on forehead symbolizes the membership in the diviner's cult
    

   
   

• 25-15 Kanaga Mask
  
  • Mali, Dogon Culture
    
  • Wood
    
  • Most common
    
  • Rectangular face supports a superstructure of planks that depict a woman, bird, or lizard with splayed legs
    

   
   

• 25-16 Reliquary Guardian (nlo byeri)
  
  • Gabon, Fang Culture
    
  • Wood
    
  • Carved in naturalistic style with carefully arranged hairstyle
    
  • Fully rounded torso, heavily muscled legs and arms
    
  • Frequent applications of cleansing and purifying palm oil
    

   
   

• 25-17 Ancestral Screen (duen fobara)
  
  • Abonnema village, Nigeria. Ijo culture
    
  • "Foreheads of the dead"
    
  • Made of pieces of wood and cane that were joined, nailed, bounds, and pegged together
    
  • Wears a hat the shows that he is a member of an important men's society called Peri
    
  • Flanked by assistants, followers, or supporters of the canoe house
    
  • Originally held weapons
    

   
   

• 25-18 Spirit Mask in Performance
  
  • Cote d'lvoire, Guro culture
    
  • Polychrome wood
    

   
   

• 25-19 Ouattara. Nok Culture
  
  • Acylic and mixed mediums on mood
    
  • Dense with allusions to Africa's artistic and spiritual heritage
    
  • Name refers to a culture that thrived in Nigeria and whose naturalistic use of terra-cotta sculpture are e earliest known figurative art from Sub-Sahara
    
  • Thickly applied paint has built up a surface reminiscent of the painted adobe walls
    
  • Conical horns at the upper corners evoke the ancestral shrines common in rural communities
    
  • Motif of concentric circles at the center looks like the traditional bull-roarer sound maker
    

   
   

• Magdalene Odundo. Asymmetrical Angled Piece
  
  • Reduced red clay
    
  • Asymmetrical
    
  • Flawless surface like traditional Kenyan pottery