Congolese Sculpture

The Clark and Frances Stillman Collection of CONGOLESE SCULPTURE November 24 to February 6,1966 • Cabinda Congo (Brazzaville) 111 Con9° (Leopoldville) :i;i Angola ZANDE MANGBETU ATLANTIC OCEAN LAKE MWERU This exhibition is devoted to figure sculpture from the Congo elite among the Kuba this did not lead to a "court art" such as as it is represented in the collection of Clark and Frances that of Benin, so well known for Africa. The arts functioned Stillman. They have assembled it, over more than three dec within the lives of the people in both the religious and secular ades, with a systematic, scholarly care and esthetic discern realms, which were not clearly separated, but rather over ment that offer the very best in connoisseurship and collect lapped for the larger part. For several decades now, we have ing. Nearly all of the objects date from the last century, a few appreciated African sculpture as one of the great artistic are said to be even older and all bear traces of long handling traditions of the world primarily on an esthetic basis. But the and usage within the culture from which they stem. For these social and religious meaning of an African carving precedes reasons the Museum is particularly pleased to present the and determines its form. In its own cultural context it fulfilled Stillman collection to the public. The importance of this occa a function which is fundamental to its essence. This function, sion is further enhanced by the fact that this is the first com the way in which a carving was intended to be used, and prehensive exhibition of Congo sculpture in the United States actually was used by the people who made it, is in many since the Brooklyn Museum Exhibition of 1923. instances very difficult to ascertain: essential information is either altogether lacking or only exists in quite inaccurate The area of Africa from which the objects here are shown is form. Moreover, and more important, no clearly defined and traversed by the Congo River with its many northern and neatly limited explanatory categories of the kind we are ac southern tributaries. Politically speaking, today it mainly com customed to can be applied to an African carving; because prises the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville), the former the traditional cultures of Africa, of which the objects in this Belgian Congo, and parts of the adjacent Congo Republic exhibition are an expression, shared a world view very differ (Brazzaville), Cabinda and Angola. This vast region in the ent from our own. For tribal Africans the spheres of human heart of Africa, extending over the subtropical savanna belt, and superhuman action-the secular and the religious—were and including the tropical rain forests north and south of the not separated, but were tightly interwoven. The here and now Congo River bend, is inhabited by a multitude of tribes. It is and the beyond were a single field of action and considera the seat of Africa's Bantu-speaking agriculturalists and has tion for the human being in the course of his daily routine as been the scene of many migrations, and immigrations from well as in his life as a whole. This attitude is embodied in a both north and south. Although culturally and stylistically set of values (social, philosophical, religious) which was com each tribe is a self-contained (but dynamic) entity, there are monly shared and accepted by all members of any one tribe. certain traits which are common to most tribes in the culture For us, then, who do not share in the tribal African world view provinces of the Lower Congo, the South Congo and also the (who can only attempt to search for fragments of it)—and this Northeast Congo. The most important single feature tradi applies to many contemporary Africans as well as to non- tionally characterizing these cultures has been the formation Africans—the acceptance of an African sculpture in its own of empires under a sacred ruler-the divine king. According terms is very difficult indeed. To take, for example, the mother to the typical African pattern of conquest and assimilation, and child figures from the Western Kongo group: these have invading groups coming from the north and south settled as been described as representing the principle of maternity, to ruling classes among the matrilinear agricultural populations, the exclusion of depicting the biological and/or social mother and organized the existing agricultural village communities as founder of the tribe in a culture where matriarchy is prac into states having at their centers a royal court and a support tised. Furthermore, they are said to be "sepulchral" monu ing aristocracy recruited from their own ranks. Thus we have ments, and memorial figures of venerated persons being the Kongo Kingdom with its vassal states in the Lower Congo; worshipped collectively or individually. the Luba-Lunda, Lunda-Chokwe and Kuba empires in the South Congo; and the states of the Zande and Mangbetu in Such multiple functions (some to the detriment of others) the Northeast. bestowed on this type of sculpture may serve to emphasize a certain inability on our part to grasp its full ana real mean Royal courts gave an impetus to an increased need for, and ing. These sculptures may have been employed in all of the appreciation of, the arts; but with the exception of the Shongo said usages: they are neither mutually exclusive—nor, however, necessarily complementary. For someone who shares in WESTERN KONGO STYLE the beliefs of the specific culture from which the work orig inated it is simply an embodiment of his traditions and beliefs. 1 Male figure: mounted on a dog; "mirror fetish," pezo. Representation of a malevolent spirit. Formerly collec I should like here to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. and Mrs. Stillman for giving so generously of their knowledge tion of J. Walschot, Brussels. Wood, glass, metal, paint, and enthusiasm in the preparation of this exhibition. 13" high 2 Standing male figure; "mirror fetish," na moganga. Tamara Northern Representation of a benevolent spirit with curative powers. Wood, glass, metal, hide, feathers, 14W high including feathers 3 Standing male figure; "mirror fetish," na moganga. In accordance with general anthropological practice the pre Wood, glass, metal, 5V2" high fix and median syllables have been omitted in Bantu tribal names. For example: Bakuba: Kuba. Bashilele: Lele. Bena 4 Seated male figure; "mirror fetish," na moganga. Wood, Lulua: Lulua. glass, metal, fibre, 9" high 5 Standing male figure; "mirror fetish," na moganga. The ornamented base seems to indicate an early origin. Wood, glass, metal, 73A" high The exploratory spirit and mercantile interests of the Portu 6 Standing female figure; "mirror fetish," na moganga. guese led to the discovery of the mouth of the Congo River in Wood, glass, metal, paint, 8V2" high 1482. Here they encountered a powerful African kingdom surrounded with royal splendor and court ritual. It was the 7 Dog; "mirror fetish." Wood, glass, metal, paint, HV2" s kingdom of the Kongo with adjacent smaller states, notably long, 3 /e" high Loango and Cabinda to the north of the Congo River mouth. 8 Male figure, kneeling with one leg. Wood, glass, metal, all of which were at times tributary to the Kongo empire which paint, 12V2" high attained its greatest extent about the middle of the 16th cen tury. For two centuries the kingdom of the Kongo remained 9 Seated male figure. Probably an ancestral figure. Wood, in close and friendly contact with Portugal, submitting to its 7V2" high Christian influence. The Kongo were so successfully mission- 10 Kneeling mother and child figure. Probably used in a ized that it was no longer than a decade after their first con fertility cult. Wood, glass, metal, paint, 10" high tact with the explorers that the first Christian church was founded among them. The frequently occurring theme of the 11 Seated mother and child figure. Same function as 10. mother-and-child figure is often considered a reminiscence Wood, glass, 15V4* high of Kongo Christianity. Mother-and-child figures are however 12 Seated mother and child figure. Same function as 10. ubiquitous throughout Africa and are to be found in regions Wood, metal studs, glass, paint, 7" high of the Congo, for instance, which only had their first contact with western civilization by the very end of the last century. 13 Seated mother and child figure. Same function as 10. Wood, 14Vs" high The western Kongo style group comprises sculptures which 14 Kneeling mother and child figure. Memorial figure. have been variously attributed to the Kongo proper, the Vili Wood, paint, glass, 22" high of Loango. the Bwende of Cabinda, and the Sundi of the 15 Standing female figure. Peripheral to Kongo style, Yombe region. Adjoining them are the Bembe who have much though collected among the Kongo. Wood, metal studs, cultural and stylistic affinity with the Kongo group. These fibre, 6Va" high tribes are considered as sharing in a general artistic tradi tion. An exclusive association of distinct stylistic traits with 16 Staff: surmounted by kneeling female figure. Wood, any one tribe cannot yet be made on this basis. metal, 31" high 17 Staff: surmounted by mother and child figure. Wood, 33 Slit drum: with head. Wood, 17" long metal, 55" high 7 34 Whistle. Wood, 4 /8" high 18 Staff: surmounted by kneeling female figure. Wood, 35 Whistle. Wood, 6" high metal studs, 23V4" high 36 Fly whisk. Wood, hide, fur, copper wire, 20" high 19 Staff: surmounted by standing male figure; two snakes entwine the shaft. Collected at mouth of Congo River. 37 Pipe: in form of a standing figure.

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