In every tribal society, art is never simply for art’s sake, but is a direct dialogue with the spirit world in which humans move and have their beings. This spirituality shows up powerfully in art, especially in the faces of ancestors or spirit beings represented in wood, stone , jewellery and textiles. In a previous post, I showcased examples of powerful facial expressions found in the tribal art of Indonesia’s many islands. In this post, I showcase the art of the African continent, home to some of the oldest tribal art traditions.
The clay anthropomorphic heads of the medieval Bura culture in Niger in west Africa are known for their distinctive abstraction and simplicity. This example is one of the most beautiful Bura sculpture in existence. Its rounded forehead and minimalistic features bear a striking resemblance to the cycladic heads from Anatolia which are more a thousand years older.
The Chokwe of Angola use a beautiful mask called Mwana pwo in their initiation ceremonies. Although they are exclusively worn by men, these masks represent female ancestors and emphasize the features that are most admired in young women. They are worn over the hips in a dance that mimics the graceful gestures of women and transmits fertility to the male spectators. Here are two examples. This example showcases the beauty of these masks, evident from the pronounced curve of the thick eyelids to the twist of the lips showing teeth.
Shown here is a 19th century reliquary figure from the Fang people of Gabon, Central Africa, made of blackened wood. Such figures are associated with the veneration of lineage ancestors and founders, leaders, and fertile women who made significant contributions to society during their lifetime. After death, their relics, particularly the skull, were conserved in cylindrical bark containers and guarded by carved wooden figures such as this mounted atop the receptacles.
The Kota reliquary figures of Gabon have become icons of world art, instantly familiar to Western viewers with their striking affinity to modern abstract sculptures. The basic elements of this tradition are distinctive and found nowhere else in Africa or the rest of the world. Carved in wood, the human head is rendered with graphic geometrical shapes in a flattened, mostly two-dimensional shape, rising vertically on an integrally carved cylindrical neck above an open lozenge. The front of the sculpture and sometimes also the back is covered with an arrangement of flattened metal attachments, often in varying colours and with chased geometric motifs.
This particular kota figure has a distinguished provenance. Helena Rubinstein owned it up to the early 1930s, when it was acquired by David and Carmen Kreeger, eminent American collectors of Modernist and Impressionist art. The next owner was the famed art scholar and curator William Rubin who exhibited it in the seminal 1984 exhibition at MoMA, ‘Primitivism’ in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern to demonstrate how African art influenced the evolution of modern art, particularly in the work of avant-garde artists such as Alberto Giacometti whose standing figures recall the Kota’s striking profile. In 2015, it was sold to a private collector by Christie’s France for a whopping US$6.13 million dollars.
The ever charming face of a Mumuye figure, from Nigeria, West Africa. Found in Nigeria’s Benue River Valley region, such figures have been associated with a range of functions, including reinforcement of the status of male elders and use by healers and diviners in arriving at diagnoses.
Playing on the repetition of the lines, whose alternating registers and hues rhythm movement, this rare shield is accentuated by a central face projected in high relief. In all likelihood, such shields were emblems of power, functioning as visible marks of the territorial expansion of the kingdom.