AFRICA

IMAGE AND IMAGINATION IN

Africa is an enormous continent with diverse climates and geography, encompassing tropical rain forests, savannas, and deserts. Environmental factors have affected the many, varied cultures that call the continent home. Most of the works in the Museum's African collection are from tropical West Africa, an area rich in sculptural traditions.

African art cannot be fully comprehended using traditional art historical methods alone. The loss of much of the organic material from which objects are made, due to such factors as climate and insect activity, has hindered attempts at complete and accurate chronologies. In addition, few artists' biographies have been recorded. A more useful way to study African art is to examine common, recurring themes that are encountered such as fertility, the spirit world, successful farming, social well-being, rites of passage, and commerce.

Most African objects are not made for mere decoration or as "works of art". Instead objects are interwoven into people's daily lives or used in special ceremonies. Masks are carved and worn for a variety of ceremonies and many relate to ancestral, agricultural, funerary, or initiation activities. When a mask is viewed in isolation, much of the contextual experience is lost––the rest of the body-concealing costume, the motion of the wearer, and the sound of the music which usually accompanies the dance. Figures are often carved in human or animal likenesses and, similarly, they frequently have roles in specialized activities, serving as intermediaries between people and the supernatural world.

Much African sculpture is carved with contrasting shapes and forms. Organic forms can be mixed with geometric ones, and three-dimensional forms might contrast with flat areas. Surfaces might be left smooth and plain or be covered with textured, relief-carved ornamentation. Most figures have static, frontal poses but geometric patterns, as well as the rhythmic repetition of body parts, serve to move the viewer's eye over the piece.

Even the casual viewer is touched by the beauty and power of African art. It is evocative, vigorous, mysterious and exciting. It reveals some of the richness and imagination of a multi-cultured continent and its people.

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Broad Themes in African Art – Jeff Wilcox, Registrar

A number of broad themes run through much of African Art: There are six themes, but there is a fair bit of cross-over between them.

1. Continuation of Life Concerned with fertility of crops and humans Birth and motherhood One generation giving rise to the next

2. Transitions Rites of passage / coming of age ceremonies / initiations Transition from childhood to adulthood and the passing on of knowledge Transition from life to death

3. Bringing order and security to one’s world Ensuring the food supply (rain) Preventing disease Keeping spirits placated in order to help or at least not interrupt human undertakings and the making of shrines are important tools

4. Issues of authority and control in society

5. Displays of status, wealth and power

6. Death Transition to the spiritual world of ancestors

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Fertility Figure (akua'ba) Ghana, Asante people Wood and glass beads (69.1058) Gift of James V. Mosely

Akua’ba figures are the best-known sculptures from Ghana. The name akua’ba comes from the legend of a woman named Akua who was distraught at being barren. She took her problem to a diviner who told her to commission a small wooden child from a carver, and to then care for it as for a living child. She did this, but was ridiculed by her fellow villagers for her foolishness. The figure became known as Akua’ba, which means “Akua’s child.” Eventually Akua conceived and gave birth to a beautiful daughter. In the end, Akua’s detractors came around to adopting these same measures to cure barrenness. The practice is still current today.

Women usually wear akua’bas for specified periods of time, tucked into their waistcloths. After effecting pregnancy, akua’bas are often placed in shrine as offering to the gods who empowered them in the first place. Some become family heirlooms. There are reports that akua’bas may be passed on to children to use as playthings, i.e. dolls, but others say this is never allowed. Evidently there is variation in this practice from community to community.

Akua’ba figures are always female. The reasons for this are: 1) Akua’s first child was a girl. 2) Akan society (Asante is part of the larger Akan group of people) is matrilineal and therefore female children are especially desired in order to perpetuate the family line. 3) Women prefer girls to boys because the females will automatically be available to assist in the household chores, including the care of smaller children.

Akua’bas are meant to be beautiful images. In being so, it is hoped they will impart beauty to the newborn child. The akua’ba form––with its the flat disc-shaped head––is a strongly exaggerated convention of the Akan ideal of beauty––that is, a high oval forehead, slightly flattened in actual practice by gentle modeling of an infant’s soft skull. Most akua’bas have abstracted horizontal arms, cylindrical torsos with breasts, and a lower columnar body without legs that ends in a round base. (Full-bodied akua’ba figures are a late phenomenon.) The ringed necks are a standard convention for rolls of fat, and hence a sign of beauty and prosperity. Mouths are small and set low on the face. Marks on the cheeks are indicative of those made on persons’ faces to ward off certain illnesses. However, it is questionable if the marks should be interpreted as scarifications since the Asante do not practice scarification––at least they don’t do it on humans today, if they ever did. Some akua’bas may be dressed, but most are now seen unclothed. The related Fante people typically make their akua’ba figures with an

MAA 11/2004 AFRICA elongated rectangular-shaped head. On the shape of the heads of akua’ba, one theory–– not generally accepted any longer––is that round-heads indicate a mother’s preference for a girl, and a rectangular-headed figure was used when a male baby was desired.

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Assemblage In Honor Of The God Eshu, The Trickster Nigeria, Yoruba people Wood, leather, cowrie shells (71.142) Gift of Edward Merrin

Among the Yoruba people, the gods are known as “orisha.” The Yoruba believe there were two primordial orisha, Orunmila and Eshu. These two gods may be seen as embodiments of the principles of certainty and uncertainty.

The Yoruba believe each person chooses his or her own destiny in the presence of the Creator god prior to birth. Orunmila, the orisha of destiny, embodies certainty, fate, equilibrium, and order. It is believed that Orunmila can be petitioned in order to help people gain knowledge of their pre-chosen destinies. Through him, they can learn which forces control their future, and how to manipulate these forces in their favor.

The orisha, Eshu, on the other hand, is defined by uncertainty, chance, violence, mischief, trouble and disorder. He is the messenger of the gods, serving as a go- between with humans. To gain the attention of Orunmila, a person must first approach the trickster, Eshu. He is also considered the god of the marketplace and the crossroads. He is involved with male sexuality and romantic entanglements, and he may be depicted as male or female. In some ways, he may be said to teach people my means of negative example.

The Museum’s object is an assemblage of images, not representations of Eshu himself, but rather figures that are made to honor him. The assemblage would have been displayed at a shrine or altar, or carried in a ceremony. The object has two male/female couples––the males can be distinguished by their beards. Each figure kneels on a tall round pedestal, and they hold gourds and staffs. They are bound about their necks and at the bases by leather strips. Long strips of leather, strung with cowrie shells, fall from around their necks. Cowrie shells were once used as money by the Yoruba and are a reference to wealth––wealth that can come from successful dealings in the marketplace– –the domain of Eshu. The contrast of the white cowries and the dark wood of the figures is a reference to the contrasting personality of Eshu.

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Weights For Measuring Gold Ghana, Asante people Brass (65.108 and 68.448.1, .3, .4, .6) Gift of J. Lionberger Davis and Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Eilenberg

Small weights, called mrammuo, were traditionally used for the commercial measuring of gold dust or small nuggets of gold––the currency of the Asante people. Gold was weighed on simple balance scales using counterweights of precise known values. Some sixty weight values are known, though only half that many were in common use. It was formerly thought that specific shapes or geometric motifs were used to indicate specific weight values, however current scholarship has proved that there is no such relationship.

The majority of such weights were made of cast brass by the "lost wax" technique where an object, shaped in wax, was encased in a mold; then the mold and wax were heated until the latter melted out. The resulting cavity was filled with molten brass to reproduce the original item. However, direct casts were sometimes made from items found in nature, such as dead insects, crab claws, peanuts, etc. After casting, the weights were adjusted by clipping or filing, if too heavy; or by the addition of twists of wire or by pouring small amounts of molten lead into crevices, if too light. Early weights (from 1400-1720) were mostly abstract or geometric shapes. The weight standards were based on Islamic models. Later weights, dating from about 1700 to 1900 (the Museum’s are from this later phase) were more commonly figurative, imaginative, naturalistic, and detailed. Weights were sometimes also used as jewelry, charms, or as a means to illustrate proverbs told by storytellers.

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Standing Male Figure (ibeji) Nigeria, Yoruba people Wood, terracotta beads, and pigment (71.152) Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Milton Gross

Pair of Standing Female Figures (ibeji) Nigeria, Yoruba people Wood, pigment, fiber, cowrie shells, glass, cotton string and clay (75.199a and b) Gift of Mrs. Ingeborg DeBeausacq

Ibeji statuettes are made by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, a country with a high incidence of twin births along with a high rate of infant mortality. (The Yoruba have an average 45 twins to 1,000 births, whereas the U.S., in comparison, has 10 to 1,000.)

Twins (ibeji) are sometimes called “children of Thunder.” They are consecrated to the Yoruba god (orisha) Shango––the god of thunder and lightning. Twins are considered to have exceptional abilities. They bring affluence and well-being to those who respect them. If one twin dies, the parents will often consult a diviner who normally tells them to procure a carved ibeji to serve as a dwelling place of the dead child’s spirit. The Yoruba believe that if the deceased twin’s spirit isn’t placated, it may tempt the surviving twin to join it in death. The spirit of the deceased twin, or its protector, Shango, may also cause trouble among the living. Thus a wooden ibeji figure is created to venerate the spirit of a deceased twin. Ibeji figures are normally cared for in homes and are clothed, fed, bathed, fitted with beads, and rubbed with cosmetics, powders, oil, and indigo. Carved ibeji figures are likely to be found in any Shango cult shrine. At least once a year, in some areas, Yoruba mothers dance with their ibeji images, either held tightly in the palms of the hands, or tucked carefully into their waistbands. As they dance, the women may make rocking or cradling motions.

The Museum has several ibeji statuettes, two of which form a pair––in the case of the pair, presumably both children died. The pair has attached strings of cowrie shells. (In earlier times cowries were used as money, and they continue to be a sign of prosperity and wealth.) Studies based on hair styles have been done to determine from which areas of Nigeria the different types of ibeji statuettes originate; however, the Museum’s figures have not yet been assigned to any certain area. Interestingly, though, several of the Museum’s figures do have blue coloring on the hair. The use of indigo on the hair may be correlated to the 19th century custom whereby mothers who had a child born through the intercession of the thunder god, Shango, had a ram butchered and prepared for 7 days of feasting, and had the newborn baby painted with camwood and his head painted blue with indigo.

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Female Bush Spirit , Baule people Wood, gold, and feathers (62.47.1) Gift of Richard Miller

Figures carved by the Baule people are sometimes mistakenly referred to as “ancestor figures,” but in fact they represent two types of sprits: spirit mates in the other-world, or bush spirits who inhabit nature beyond the edge of human settlements. Both types of figures are similar in form and are referred to by the Baule as a “person in wood” (waka sran). Unless collected in-situ, the actual function of a figure cannot readily be determined.

This figure, however, likely represents a bush spirit and was probably displayed in a shrine where placating offerings were periodically made to it. Shrines are often located on the floor in the corner of a room and offerings are given that include blood. Feathers and dried blood still adhere to the feet of the Museum’s figure, and nuggets of gold have been hammered into the forehead. Figures like this are made to represent the ideals of beauty, for the more beautiful the figure, the better it will localize and placate the spirit for which it was made, and thus it is hoped the spirit will in turn reward the owner of the figure with positive, rather than negative, behavior.

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Pair of Sandogo Society Divining Figures Ivory Coast, Senufo people Wood (61.85.8 and .9) Gift of Samuel Rubin

The Senufo women’s parallel to the men’s Poro society is called Sandogo––a society that unites females in a community. The Sandogo society seeks to protect the purity of matrilineages and maintain good relationships between villagers and a hierarchy of gods, ancestors and bush spirits. Certain members, called Sando, are trained to communicate with the spirit world and to discover hidden knowledge through divination rituals. Diviner’s shrines are small huts barely large enough for the diviner, her client and her apparatus. Shrine statuary nearly always includes a fairly small female and male couple carved in wood. When not in use, the figures are usually kept in a lidded basket. The figures represent nature spirits that are believed to inhabit the bush, streams, and fields beyond the village. Ambiguous and capricious, these spirits both cause and cure sickness and other problems, and it is they, through the diviner, who order a course of action for the client.

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Seated Female Shrine Figure Ghana, Asante people Attributed to Yaw Mprah, ca. 1912-1979 Stylistically dated to the 1950’s Wood, clay and glass beads (71.144) Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Milton Gross

Three types of shrines are common among the Asante: shrines to royal ancestors, shrines to river deities, and witch-catching shrines. Shrines are specially-housed accumulations of sacred materials, which often accrue over considerable periods of time and sometimes become quite elaborate. The Museum’s figure came from a shrine. Such a figure is often referred to a “Queen Mother.” The figure does have a number of characteristics that mark its prestige, but it probably should not to be interpreted as a depiction of a queen or royal figure. Rather is should be understood as a witch-catching shrine figure––a sort of spiritual assistant––but not an actual deity. Witches are much feared by the Asante and many other African cultures. Witch-catching shrines are set up so that they may localize spirits and thereby engage them to do the bidding of humans.

In Akan society (Asante is a subgroup of the Akan) the chair or throne is a prestige item. Only persons of very high rank are seated on chairs––the chair itself represents a European import. The figure’s upright square posture gives it an air of dignity and control. Her beaded jewelry marks her beauty and refinement. The figure was perhaps not originally nude, but may have been dressed––and if so, the dress would have added to her prestige. Her feet are bare, but they rest on little platforms or footstools. (Footstools are linked to prestige in that they keep the feet from touching the dirty and corrupt ground.) The figure has barely visible scarification marks on her cheeks. Scarifications are common on Asante carved figures, but they are not common on actual Asante people. (It may be that scarification was once performed on people and then the practice subsequently declined––or it may have never been common on people, just on carved figures.) The powdery surface is another indication that this is a shrine figure because, when the spirits are consulted, it is common for substances to be rubbed onto or poured over them. Kaolin, a whitish clay, is widely used a cleansing agent, and its presence on this figure is perhaps a sign of purity.

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Female Spirit Companion (blolo bla) Ivory Coast, Baule people Wood (69.968) Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Martin J. Gerson

Male Spirit Companion (Spirit Spouse) (blolo bian) Ivory Coast, Baule people Wood (69.969)

The Baule people believe that every person has a mate or companion of the opposite sex who lives in the “other-world.” A man has an “other- world woman” (blolo bla) and a woman has an “other-world man.” (blolo bian). The existence of these other-world partners is usually revealed through divination following a crisis of young adult life, such as an inability to conceive or a problem related to marriage. To resolve the problem, a person commissions the carving of a figure as a “stand-in” for the other-world mate, and typically sleeps one night a week alone with it. The person will receive the spirit spouse in dream visits and will receive information to help solve the problem or restore equilibrium in one’s life. On the following day, offerings are placed in a small bowl at the feet of the figure. These figures are usually kept in household shrines––often in a corner. They are usually well cared for, and may be clothed or wrapped, and are given offerings to gain favor for the petitioner.

Many Baule spirit companion figures have scarification marks. Their hands are often placed at their sides or on the belly. They often have neatly-coiffed hairdos. Contemporary spirit companion figures are sometimes brightly painted and have up- to-date accoutrements such as handbags, high heeled-shoes, or jewelry.

Spirit spouse figures and bush spirit figures, both referred to by the Baule as a “person in wood” (waka sran) have similar features and are often difficult to distinguish once they have been removed from their original contexts. Both types of figures are made to represent ideals of beauty. The more beautiful the figure, the better it will localize and placate the spirit for which it was made.

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Door Carved In Low Relief Ivory Coast, Senufo people Wood (61.85.1) Gift of Samuel Rubin

Carved doors are used on the houses of chiefs and important persons as a means of displaying wealth and social status. They are also used on Sandogo society shrines, as well as other shrines where important ritual objects are kept.

Although reliefs carved on these doors make general reference to Senufo ceremonies, concepts of fertility, and landscape elements, they generally tend to serve a more decorative than religious purpose. However, scholars have attempted to sort out the imagery on the Museum’s door. The central section displays a motif that seems to have multiple interpretations, all of which reflect upon each other. At the most abstract level, it evokes the four cardinal directions that order the cosmos. It can also be seen as a bird’s-eye view of the orderly division of a farmed field––a symbol of human culture. The circle at the center is indicative of a navel, and the radiating lines recall scarification patterns that adorn women’s abdomens.

The lower section depicts some of the five primordial creatures that, according to the Senufo, shared the earth’s beginnings with the original couple: the python, the tortoise, and the hornbill. (The two other animals in the primordial group, not depicted on the Museum’s door, are the chameleon and the crocodile.) The lower section may also be understood as a portrayal of the concept of wilderness, competing supernatural forces, or untamed nature.

The upper section presents the spheres and symbols of human activity: a hunter or warrior on horseback, a large spear, and two walking figures carrying something (it’s not clear what) over their heads.

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Pair Of Ritual Pounders, "Children Of Poro" Ivory Coast, Senufo people Wood (71.141 a and b) Gift of Edward Merrin

Figures such as these are typically made in pairs for Senufo men’s societies, called Poro. A single such figure is known as a “person of Poro, “child of Poro,” “bush spirit,” or simply “pounder.” The Poro society provides the principle framework through which men learn and practice their social, political, and spiritual roles in society. Each occupational group in the Senufo community has its own Poro society. (Poro is a concept that is common to many African cultures.)

To the Senufo, the husband/wife couple represents the ideal social unit. The carved figures stand for the “primordial couple.” As such, they could also be emblems of the institution of marriage. They represent the “reborn” initiated man and woman as the ideal standard of social, moral, and intellectual formation. The figures also serve as physical manifestations of the Senufo’s reverence for the ancestral lineages of Poro members. The figures could also be understood as twins––twins are held in special regard among the Senufo.

Pairs of figures like these are stored in secluded, restricted areas, and are brought out at initiations to reinforce the teachings of the Poro society. They are also brought out at member’s funerals for the various rituals that take place before, during, and after the burial of a deceased person. At funerals they are carried by initiates who visit the house of the deceased. One is sometimes placed beside the shrouded corpse at the public ceremonies that follow. Then they are carried along with the corpse to its burial place. There the sculptures are swung and pounded on the ground in time to the solemn music of the Poro orchestra. When the interment of the dead person is complete and the dirt is rapidly heaped over the body, a male initiate may leap onto the grave with a pounder and beat down the soil. This pounding ensures that the spirit of the deceased person does not linger in the vicinity of the living, but passes onto its way to the “village of the dead.”

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Headcrest In Form Of An Antelope (chi-wara) , Bamana people Wood (78.261) Gift of Allan Gerdau

Headcrest In Form Of An Antelope With Kid (chi-wara) Mali, Bamana people Wood (61.85.2) Gift of Samuel Rubin

These headcrests represent the spirit of chi-wara––a mythical antelope-like creature that, according to the Bamana, taught the arts of agriculture to humans.

The chi-wara association is the fifth of the six graduated initiation associations of the Bamana people. Membership is open to women, as well as men, but participation in certain initiation rites is restricted to circumcised males. The association teaches its members all aspects of food production, the success of which requires cooperation between men and women. The chi-wara performances are danced exclusively by the young men of the flankuru association, and they are performed at times of planting and harvest.

The crests are attached to wicker caps and are worn atop the head, along with a full body-concealing costume. They are danced in male/female pairs (male/female chi-wara that is, not the actual performers, which are always male.) The dancers make leaping and ground-pawing motions in imitation of antelope. Male chi-wara are typically represented with an openwork mane, and usually with some indication of genitalia. Females have no mane but are often shown carrying their young on their backs. Symbolically the male chi-wara signify the sun, strength, and growth. Females symbolize the earth, and the tilled field. The fiber costumes worn by the dancers represent water.

The chi-wara ceremony marshals all the forces necessary for the growth of crops––and thus the survival of mankind. Traditionally the chi-wara ritual was performed as part of a secret imitation. It was performed away from children. Today, however, it is danced in public.

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Embroidered Textile Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kuba people Raffia (74.215) Gift of Peter Marks

Raffia is stripped from the base of young raffia-palm leaves and beaten to separate the fibers into fine threads. The threads are woven into cloth on vertical looms. Geometric designs are then embroidered freehand onto the cloth. Men do the weaving while women embroider the patterns. Musese––raffia cloth with thick, cut, and brushed pile–– was traditionally used during special ceremonies and as clothing, blankets, and coverings for stools or chairs for high-ranking members of the community.

MAA 11/2004 AFRICA Bundu Society Mask , Wood (61.62.2) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Lazarnick

Bundu (also known as Sande) is a women’s society that exists among several peoples in Sierre Leone and . The Bundu society arranges for the education of young girls in the responsibilities of adult life. This women’s society is the counterpart of the men’s Poro association. The Bundu association exists to maintain a cooperative alliance between human and spirit communities. In the Bundu initiation school, which is isolated from the community, pubescent girls are thoroughly instructed over a three-year period. They receive instruction in sex education, homemaking, and childrearing, as well as in ritual practices.

In most African societies, only men are entitled to carve or wear masks––but the exception is the Bundu association where the masks are carved by men but worn exclusively by women. The women who wear them are senior members, chosen from among the descendents of founding families––they must be excellent dancers with exceptional stamina, have forceful personalities, and be morally above reproach.

Girls are led to the initiation camp by a masked dancer who embodies Sowo––the guardian spirit of the society. The masks are always worn with a full body-concealing costume. The masks usually have an elaborate hairstyle and may incorporate images of snakes, animal horns, and other objects. Other mask characteristics are a high forehead and small compressed facial features. Bulging neck rings have been thought to represent fat folds and have been seen as a symbol of well-being, prosperity, and mature beauty. However a recent theory proposes that the neck rings represent the abdominal segments of a moth or butterfly chrysalis––the chrysalis here being a symbol of transition from immaturity to maturity that initiates undergo. In other words, just as a chrysalis is a state of change in the life cycle of a moth or butterfly, so the Bundu initiation rites––led by the persona of Sowo whose image bears the rings of a chrysalis– –mark the transformation of girls into women.

Yet another interpretation sees the neck rings as a reference to the origin of the mask. It goes this way: when a particularly wise and respected Bundu official is renowned for her abilities as a dancer and choreographer, she dreams of plunging into a pool or river––water being the dwelling place of female spirits. As the leader emerges from this watery realm, she brings with her the conical head of the Bundu spirit. The ripples formed on the water as she surfaces appear as concentric rings around the base of the mask.

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Awa Society Mask For The Dama Ritual Mali, Wood (72.259) Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Milton Gross

In traditional Dogon society, masked dances are performed at collective funeral ceremonies where several deceased people are memorialized at once. They are also held during special 6-day- long death anniversary observances known as Dama. Dama rituals are held during the dry season by a village or group of villages every few years––13 years was the traditional average. Nowadays, however, they are performed more frequently for the benefit of visitors and tourists. In such cases they have lost some of their original meaning and traditional aspects.

The Dama is a rite that commemorates death, but it is also a celebration of life that will resume once the rains begin. Dama is therefore a rite of hope, renewal, and fertility. It is an artful melding of masquerade, symbol, song, dance, prayer, and sacrifice that evokes the complexities of life itself. Traditionally, the circumcised males in a village or group of villages formed a secret association known as the Awa society––the society of masks. Women were not admitted to the society, except in rare cases. It is the Awa society which puts on the Dama performances. Dances at traditional Dama rituals have a dual purpose: 1) to lead the souls of the deceased to their final resting place in the family altars, and 2) to consecrate the deceased person’s passage to the ranks of the ancestors.

For the Dogon, masks are a material support for spiritual forces liberated by death. Some are also totem representations and therefore are surrogates for the ancestors whose totems they are. Dozens or even hundreds of dancers participate in the Dama ritual. However, women may only watch and they cannot come close to the maskers. There are approximately 80 different types of mask. These masks can be classified into six categories: those representing birds, mammals, Dogon personages, foreign personages, reptiles, and things. Scholars have categorized the large corpus of masks into several conceptual sets, emphasizing dualistic, parallel oppositions: male and female, wet and dry, death and rebirth, nature and culture, bush and village, destruction and order, predatory activity and non-predatory activity.

While some masks have clear identifying characteristics, it is often difficult to know exactly what is being represented in a particular mask once it is taken out of context–– such is the case with the Museum’s mask. However there are some indications that the Museum’s mask might represent a hunter, or a type of monkey.

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"Lovely Maiden" Mask (pwo or mwana pwo) Angola, Chokwe people Wood, raffia, and other fibers (67.4) Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Martin J. Gerson

The Chokwe and closely related peoples in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo [formerly Zaire], and Zambia magically engage their ancestors to provide spiritual or supernatural support for various human undertakings. The Chokwe have over 100 types of masked characters, called makishi. The makishi represent spirits of deceased individuals that return to the world of the living in order to guide, assist, protect and even educate members of a community on important occasions. One of the most important of these occasions is the boys’ initiation rite, known as mukanda. These initiations are held for boys aged 8 to 12. During this time boys spend several months in the initiation camp, and there they are circumcised and taught the history and traditions the groups. In the context of mukanda initiation, ancestral spirits may assume the form of masks to dramatize cosmological principles and assist in transmitting knowledge from one generation to the next.

One of the most important of the makishi characters represents the “ideal woman.” She is either considered as a fulfilled woman (pwo) or as a younger “potential” woman (mwana pwo). The terms “Lovely Maiden” and “Pretty Girl” are often used to describe this makishi character. Pwo is considered to be the model of female propriety and social accomplishment. She is a beautiful woman who speaks gracefully and displays gentle manners.

Pwo masks are made and danced exclusively by men. The costumes that are worn with the masks include wooden breasts and bustle-like appendages that allow the dancers to imitate the graceful movements of women. Pwo dances are characterized by short steps and sensuous hip movements. During dances, Pwo may enact sexual behaviors such as pretending to have intercourse––this is intended as a sort of sex education, presented openly, to stress the fertility of pwo and thus of women in general.

Characteristic features of pwo masks are slit eyes, filed teeth and facial scarifications. The eyes may be rendered as slits so as to indicate the deceased state of the pwo persona. Scarifications on the pwo masks may represent tears––a reference to the anguish that mothers feel when they are ritually separated from their sons during the mukanda initiations. The terms pwo and mwana pwo are used somewhat arbitrarily, but masks with few scarification marks are more often said to represent the younger character.

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Male Mask Ivory Coast, Dan people Wood, hair, and metal (72.247) Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Milton Gross

Mask Ivory Coast, Dan people Wood, shell and paint (61.85.5) Gift of Samuel Rubin

The Dan people have a number of mask types and different uses for them. Some masks have large round eye holes and are used in foot-race ceremonies in which a masked spirit competes with unmasked runners––the event being pure entertainment. Other masked performances entertain spectators with various dances. Sometimes performances include short skits or songs, and music and an accompanying chorus is often present. Sometimes individuals may wear masks in public displays where council elders want to enforce rules or bring ridicule on persons who do not conform to social norms. At other times masks are worn to portray spirits that live in the bush––spirits that take human or animal forms. These spirits are petitioned to instruct and help mankind. Masks with slit eyes are considered to represent feminine spirits. Masks can survive from generation to generation and may be assigned new functions by subsequent owners. In all cases, the identity of a Dan mask is determined not only by its facial features, but also by the headdress and costume worn with it, its musical accompaniment, and the way the performer dances it in the context of its appearance.

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Comb Surmounted by Two Figures Ghana, Akan people Ivory (84.82) Gift of David Owsley

Decoratively carved combs receive more artistic attention in Ghana than anywhere else in West Africa. The delicate openwork format of combs provides the carver with a vehicle for charming, sometimes elegant displays of virtuosity. Carved combs are traditionally owned and used only by women. (Men usually have close-cropped hair, and if they use combs at all, they are small and minimally decorated.) Women have elaborate hairstyles and use one or two combs to create the arrangement. Simple combs were at one time, worn in the hair, but not any more. Large combs were never actually worn but were displayed, perhaps on inside walls of houses.

Although a woman may order a comb for herself from a carver, many of the more elaborate examples are gifts from men to women in commemoration of special events. These events could include coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, or births. Any number of festivals might call for the gift of a comb from a father to his daughter, a son to a mother, or a man to his wife or girlfriend. Frequently, the relationship between the two people is reflected in the personal and often affectionate subject matters of the combs, i.e. couples making some sort of physical contact––this can be seen in the Museum’s comb where the man and woman reach out their arms to touch one another.

MAA 11/2004 AFRICA

Scoop (wunkirmian) Ivory Coast, Dan people Wood, fiber, and metal (77.395) Gift of Allan Gerdau

Scoops like this are made by the Dan people, primarily for ceremonies. The owner of a scoop is called a wunkirle. The wunkirle is judged the most hospitable woman in her village quarter. She gains her reputation and title through her ability and willingness to show generosity, especially to visiting strangers. This ability is linked to the virtue of hard work, since only a woman who works hard herself, and whose husband is also a good and industrious worker, can afford such largess. On festive occasions, the wunkerlone (plural of wunkirle) of the various quarters of a village compete to show their generosity. Each carries a scoop through the village as she dances and scatters raw rice, peanuts, and––today––even coins and wrapped candy. She is accompanied by the other women of her quarter who sing, dance, and play musical instruments. When a wunkirle is too old and can no longer keep up her role, she chooses her own successor. In most cases, she passes the scoop on with the title, though occasionally she may keep the scoop.

Handles of scoops terminate in a variety of forms including human hands, female heads, and ram’s heads. The human heads are said to be stylized portraits of the women who own them, and are meant to commemorate and honor them. Sculpted scoops thus honor the hostess (and women in general) as a source of food and life––the hollowed scoop symbolizes the female body or womb.

MAA 11/2004 AFRICA

Seated Figure Mali, Dogon people Wood (74.50) Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Werner Muensterberger

The Dogon are a people with rich cultural beliefs that are full of symbolism, and among those beliefs are very elaborate creation myths. Many aspects of Dogon thought are related to beings called nommo––primordial, pre-human ancestors. (Recent scholarship, however, interprets nommo as powerful water spirits.) Either way, nommo are bound up with ideas about couples, twin- ness, and sexual duality. This figure may be a conflation of the ‘primordial couple’ into one figure––shown as a woman. The figure has one child on her back and one across her lap––both are probably to be understood as nommo figures. The woman is seated on a stool; the stool perhaps symbolizes the world, where the bottom disk represents the earth and the upper disk the sky. The upper disk (sky) is upheld by four pillar-like nommo figures that also denote the four cardinal directions. It should be noted that stools are symbols of political power and divine right in many African cultures. The Museum’s figure does not have a beard, but rather a lip labret––a female adornment that is represented here as a stalk of millet. She has a long hair-braid down her back that gives a visual balance to the millet stalk on the front. She has four bracelets and four armbands. In the Dogon culture the number 4 denotes femininity, while the number 3 indicates masculinity.

Most Dogon sculptures were made for use in shrines––the figures themselves are altars. The figures serve as consecrated repositories of sacrificial materials, which, as part of ritual ceremonies, may be dripped upon or rubbed over the figures for solution to such problems as illness, infertility, or drought. A thick crust of ritual patina may be thus built up on figures, and such a patina is present on the Museum’s sculpture. Sculptures like this one were cared for in the house of the village hogan––the man holding the greatest authority among the tribe.

MAA 11/2004

Ancestor Mask (egungun) Nigeria, Yoruba people First half of the 20th century? Wood, leather, and paint 73.13

The most widespread masquerade among the Yoruba people is the egungun. Egungun ceremonies are concerned with the veneration of ancestors, who, if they are properly honored, are believed to be capable of helping the living. Some egungun masquerades impersonate the spirit of the recently departed. It is believed that prior to making the final journey to the spirit world, spirits may return to this world to ensure that all is in order within the family. Thus, egungun play a regulating role in the family and serve as a link between the living and the dead.

In other situations egungun ceremonies are held merely to entertain people when ancestors are venerated. Preparations for egungun take place in a sacred grove. Prayers are said, divination is performed, and charms are attached to the dancer’s body and costume. Donning the costume, the masker is depersonalized and ritually transformed into a human repository for the spirit of the returning ancestor. When he enters a state of possession, the masker speaks with the voice of the deceased. The mask is worn atop the head with a full costume. The masker doesn’t look out through the mask, but under it.

One scholar has proposed four main categories of egungun masks: 1) wonderworkers, where dancers in cloth costumes impersonate reptiles and other startling beasts. As they perform they turn their costumes inside out and sham the transformation of one animal into another. Wonderworkers also appear in satiric masks that characterize a number of human vices such as nosiness, eavesdropping, greed, stupidity, gossip, gluttony, etc. 2) alago masks, where dancers are dressed in long trailing costumes and walk and talk in the manner of the recently deceased person. 3) children of egungun, where dancers wear shining panels of cloth and appliquéd leather. They spin and whirl causing the panels to fly in the wind. And 4) elder egungun––the august category, where maskers are charged with the symbolic killing of witches or evil spirits. Their masks have small skulls set in masses of clay on a sculpted tray that is made as part of the mask itself.

Egungun mask forms are similar to another Yoruba masquerade known as the Gelede. The Gelede is a ceremony that is concerned with the great maternal spirit, known as “Our Mothers.” Gelede masks are often brightly colored. It is sometimes difficult to tell if a mask is an egungun or gelede type.

2/08

Baboon Ivory Coast, Baule people First half of 20th century? Wood, metal, fiber, mud, and feathers 74.204 Gift of Allan Gerdau

This figure, having the form of a baboon (or monkey), represents a bush spirit. Bush spirits inhabit untamed/unsettled areas, as opposed to areas where villagers live. It was made for a trance-divination or possession cult called Mbra. These cults can be practiced by either men or women. Some of these cult sculptures may not be viewed by women––not even the trance diviner if she happens to be a woman. During divination ceremonies the spirit that lodges in such figures is said to "fall on" the diviner, possessing his or her body.

The sculpture's surface is filthy and encrusted and includes feathers that are stuck to the base. It suggests a gross solitary life in the bush. It was probably either left outside under a crude shelter, or was kept in the village but was "fed" with sacrifices in the bush. The accretions on the sculpture indicate it has received sacrifices in order to placate the spirit that occupies it and thereby to entice it to do the bidding of humans.

2/08