F e n t o n ’s W o o d e n H o r s e How t h e E n g l i s h P r a i s e t h e I r i s h Kevin Murphy In the eighth circle of Dante’s Inferno there is a specific habitat for practitioners of a certain type of fraud. In this malehorge, or evil pouch, Dante the pilgrim discovers Mas­ ter Adam, the counterfeiter of Florentine gold coins, bicker­ ing with Sinon, the Greek who persuaded the Trojans to open their gates to the enormous wooden horse the Greeks had constructed as supposed tribute to the besieged town. It was a difficult job, since Sinon had first to persuade the Tro­ jans that he had sincerely abandoned the Greek army. We all know what happened to the Trojans (we are now aphoristi­ cally warned to be wary of Greeks bearing gifts), and Dante, by placing Sinon in the outermost circle of fraud, gives him his due. But what can one make of a gift offered by the Pro­ fessor of Poetry at Oxford to the Nobel Laureate of litera­ ture who, as it happens, was the previous occupant of his post? A recent essay by James Fenton (“The Orpheus of Ulster” in The New York Review of Books July 11, 1996) sets out to review three recent Heaney publications: The Redress of Poetry, the lectures Heaney gave when he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford; Crediting Poetry, the lecture he gave upon receipt of the Nobel prize; and The Spirit Level, Heaney’s most recent volume of poems. The issues Fenton focuses on, however, have little to do with Heaney the poet. Instead, Fenton the Englishman takes it upon himself to defend, of all things, the Irishness of Seamus Heaney and Heaney’s rightful place in the shifting hierarchical sands of contem­ porary British poetry. see Fenton’s Wooden Horse page 8 Jack Sherman Inside “Heaney’s Balancing Act,” by John Bowers, page 6 p a g e 2 T he RQQKPRESS September 1996 Problems and Pleasures at N.Y. Art Exhibitions Africa, The Art Of A Continent extraordinary contribution of the African conti­ mainstream American exhibitions, where pologically-driven shows—broad cultural and Solomon Guggenheim Museum, N.Y.C. nent to the world’s visual culture,” the organiz­ American audiences are used to being almost artistic surveys of continental Africa—in our Through September 29, 1996 ers designed what they believed to be a “revo­ overwhelmed by the richness of Nigerian tradi­ major museums. Were the organizing powers lutionary” production—the “first major art tions, especially Yoruba arts and the royal tradi­ so uncertain of the public’s reception of Atrican Winslow Homer “Blazing Whites And exhibition ever to present Africa as an entity tions of Benin, this time the West African pres­ art that they felt they had to find some sort of Other Wonders” unbroken by the Sahara.” This, in essence, is ence is modest. Nevertheless, some widely- blockbuster hook to ensure an audience? Do Through September 22, 1996 the Guggenheim’s claim to fame. acknowledged masterpieces from other areas of they really like African art themselves? The Metropolitan Museum Of Art Accordingly, the art of ancient peoples, the sub-Saharan Africa occupy center stage. Cen­ But what is most astonishing is the show’s Egyptians and Nubians, pastoralists of East and tral Africa is particularly well-represented, thunderous omission of Africa’s modem arts. South Africa, and Islamicized traditions unfold notably the astonishingly dynamic hero figure Apparently, the continent’s contemporary Nancy Neaher Maas along the spiraling main gallery, together with of the Chokwe, the diminutive “twins” of a artists have no place in this temple designed to art from the savannas and forests of West and Luba headrest (which is too easy to overlook in encourage the contemplation of visual and plas­ His arm raised, gripping an iron spear, a for­ Central Africa. The offerings are diverse, its current space), and the inimitable Kongo tic arts. There is a deep irony in the fact that midable image is poised for deadly action. including visual and plastic arts made for dis­ nkondi. items created for specifically functional ends Sheathed in a forest of nails, his body literally parate purposes over an extended time frame. If Some unexpected inconsistencies mar the would be acceptable to the Guggenheim, but bristles as his whitened countenance tenses for geography is the central determinant in the dis­ visual impact of the show. While the prepon­ not recent creativity aimed directly at the aes­ battle. This startling figure resides at the play, it is nonetheless a fairly loose imperative, derance of objects exhibited are of world-class thetic experience, despite the fact that many of Guggenheim this summer, safely encased in as the arts of various constellations of peoples caliber, some are of lesser quality. For example, Africa’s sculptors, ceramicists, and painters glass; he goes by the name nkondi. Originating intermingle, transcending rigid chronologies. with the exception of one remarkable seated have received international recognition for their among the Kongo of present-day Zaire, nkondi Prehistoric art coexists with San (“Bush­ figure, the Tada bronzes of Nigeria should not efforts. Some might argue that no show can do served as treasured agents of action, producing man”) rock paintings created in the last two to have been included. Although these objects are everything. Yet, for an institution renowned for desired results ranging from the healing of three hundred years. West African wood sculp­ highly important for historical and technical its dedication to contemporary art to excise physical and emotional problems, to military tures— in which the actual object is usually no reasons, their awkward forms merely confuse Africa’s implies that “traditional arts” rank as success and conflict resolution. With repeated more than 75 years old—appear side-by-side an honest attempt to understand them as works Art, but modem developments don’t make the use, figures such as this one gained formidable with metalworking traditions dating back a of art. Tellingly, they go virtually unreported in cut. Such fallacious judgments reveal more reputations for efficacy. If it was formerly thousand years. Elegant, virtually realistic royal the Guggenheim’s catalogue, as do several of about the provinciality and short-sighted elitism admired for its utility, nkondi now receives the busts from the forests of Ife, Nigeria make a the ancient objects that may attest to the antiq­ of elements of the art establishment than they appreciative glances of Americans purely vivid counter-statement to the highly stylized, uity of Africa’s art but not to its aesthetic do about the reality of African Art. enchanted with its form. almost cubistic masks of the Bamana and other import. To be entirely fair to the Guggenheim, a sep­ Along with one hundred other sculptures and groups living in the savanna of West Africa. By subtitling “Africa: The Art of a Conti­ arate gallery on a lower level features a selec­ objects, the Kongo nkondi stands guard at this Visually evocative traditions of different peo­ nent,” a “revolutionary” first, its organizers tion of African photography. In contrast to the summer’s unfolding of “Africa, Art of a Conti­ ples are frequently shown as a unit, such as the demean their effort by casting it in an unduly atmosphere of timeless, abstract, purity which nent.” He joins a heterogeneous army arrayed headrests and slender staffs of the Shona and competitive light. On the one hand, the public is pervades the main exhibition hall, these images along the ever-ascending spiral of the muse­ Zulu-related peoples, which delight the eye introduced to a broad, visual survey of the art of project a loud, bold Africa, lull of life and con- um’s main exhibition hall, which— like mute with their calligraphy of form. Sometimes continental Africa. This overview accords with flict. The almost surreal portraits of Seydou sentinels—bears witness to the diversity, inge­ shared functional concepts determine the place­ customary Western curatorial approaches Keita, or the politically charged images of nuity and enigma of Africa’s artistic heritage. ment of objects; a cluster of West African whereby aesthetic contemplation supersedes apartheid South Africa highlight the grandest Although this show constitutes a first for the “ancestral” figures are displayed together, any other means—such as intellectual—of dimension of African Art: its inseparability Guggenheim, it arrives long after other impor­ despite differences in origin and style. Other knowing works of art. In doing so, it is possible from the life of the human community. Thus, tant venues of art have focused exclusively on displays hint at historic relationships. Selec­ that the organizers gain victory on a technicali­ although the hundred or so sculptures and other Africa. Nkondi and his ilk have graced the halls tions from Nubia in stone, glass, and other ty. This may be the first major Art exhibition on objects arranged along the museum’s main cor­ of American galleries and museums for media reflect the impact of exchanges with a grand scale to be geographically comprehen­ ridor conform to Western notions of sophisti­ decades, so now that the Guggenheim has final­ ancient Egypt. Reciprocally, an enormous sive. cated Art, the visceral dynamism of African ly joined the crowd, is the effort worth it? Is this wood drum, characteristic of Sudanese chiefly Nonetheless, one must acknowledge the con­ aesthetic traditions reveals itself in full force to show innovative, does it enhance the story told, prerogatives, clearly echoes a genre found tribution of multitudes of other, more discrete the visitor who wanders off the main path.