This post is a re-mix of The Guardian’s 1000 artworks to see before you die.
I like this article by Jonathan Jones because he alludes to what I consider to be 2 essential issues with regards to African works of art:
a) There’s an abundance of African ‘art’ sitting in Euro-American museums (British Museum, I am pointing at you mainly) that was attained under, shall we understatedly say, unjust circumstances. There’s been a counter-argument that some of these items were willingly given as gifts, but still no talk of repatriation for even those that were blatantly forcefully attained. Please don’t get me started on the argument that they are in safe-keeping and that we Africans wouldn’t have the know how to take care of them.
A swift, related diversion: I had an incredibly odd feeling in my stomach at the Hazina Exhibition (hazina is the Kiswahili word for treasure) in Nairobi a couple of years ago that featured East African objects on loan from the British Museum (curated by National Museums of Kenya). I call them objects because that is how these items were viewed in an African context - they were used in day-to-day activities and not put aside as admirable works of art. Which brings me to my next point-
b) There’s been a loss of meaning of masks whose use in specific rituals / masquerades gave them meaning, due to their impact on modern art. Masks are now widely viewed as exotic objects that adorn walls for aesthetic pleasure. Not to say that it is entirely wrong to appreciate masks as objets d’art, but I do think a genuine interest and/or understanding of the meaning and the communities behind the mask is warranted.
The Kingdom of Benin gets special attention:
Queen Mother commemorative head / Brass figure of a Portuguese / Brass helmet mask for the Odod
The art of Benin is at once graceful and fierce. It has power that is emphasised by the artists’ favourite materials, metal and ivory. The royal heads of Benin rulers cast in metal are elegant portraits of beauty, assertions of power and instruments of magic. Most astonishing of all are the brass reliefs from the Oba’s palace: their dramatic intensity is something you need to take in over time. With repeated looking, the greatness of Benin’s art sinks in, a style of immense impact whose mass and tension prevent its beauty becoming too easy on the eye.
Ivory salt cellar / Ivory mask
• Oba sacrificing leopards, brass plaque from Benin City, Nigeria, now in British Museum (16th century)
• Brass figure of a Portuguese soldier holding a musket, now in British Museum (16th century)
• Two chiefs in pangolin costumes, brass plaque, now in British Museum (16th century)
• Ceremonial presentation of box, brass plaque, now in British Museum (16th century)
• Chief in war dress, brass plaque, now in British Museum (16th century)
• A palace entrance with a turret, brass plaque, now in State Collections, Berlin (16th century)
• Oba’s palace, brass plaque, now in British Museum (16th century)
• View of the City of Benin, published by Olfert Dapper (1668)
• Commemorative head for an altar of a queen mother, brass, now in British Museum (before 1897)
• Brass head encrusted with animals, now in British Museum (before 1897)
• Ivory waist pendant worn by the Oba, now in British Museum (before 1897)
• Brass mask with towering cylindrical helmet, now in British Museum (before 1897)
• Brass mask with crested helmet, now in British Museum (before 1897)
• Bronze box depicting section of the Oba’s palace, now in State Collections, Berlin (before 1897)
• Ivory leopards, now in British Museum (19th century)
Benin was one of the world’s great visual civilisations… But nothing in the history of Benin is as harsh as what the British did to it. In 1897, after an envoy was killed, Britain announced a “Punitive Expedition” against this “city of death”. Artillery was trained on the city so admired by earlier Europeans. The palaces were set on fire and Benin largely demolished. Today it is a major Nigerian city but many of its art treasures were seized by the expedition and sold in London. Among the treasures now in Europe are two ivory leopards with spots made from European bullets. They show Benin’s art was still vital in the 19th century. The leopards were presented by the commander of the British raid to Queen Victoria as the spoils of war; today they can be seen in the British Museum, on loan from the Royal Collection.
African Masks:
Bedu cult wooden mask (Nafana) / Vegetable fibre, hair & red abrus seeds (Angas people) / Epa masquerade wooden mask (Yoruba)
The formal creativity of traditional African sculpture is formidable, and nowhere is this more evident than in the inexhaustible variety of masks. African “masks” can range from replica faces to immense, heavy costumes that cover the entire body, with designs from horned beasts to crocodiles to white ghostly beings to towering baskets. In the late 19th century, at the zenith of the European colonial “scramble for Africa”, these masks reached the European art market and caught the attention of artists especially in Paris, including Derain and Picasso.
(Thank you for concurring Mr Jones)
• Mask with multiple horns, made by the Bambara (now in the British Museum)
• Mask with bulging cheeks and beard, made by the MaKonde (British Museum)
• Mask with sharp nose, prominent breasts and raffia hangings, made by the Baga (British Museum)
• Mask with almond-shaped face, made by the Fang and given in 1905 or 1906 to Maurice Vlaminck, who sold it to André Derain (Pompidou Centre)
• Mask with crest on top of cylindrical head, made by the Vai (Manchester Museum)
• Mask with realistic painted face made by the Yoruba (Manchester Museum)
• Mask with two faces, one horned, from Cross River State, Nigeria (Manchester Museum)
• Mask with a squatting figure on top of a tall oval head, made by the Afikpo Igbo (Manchester Museum)
• Mask with horns, made by the Igala (National Museum, Lagos)
• Mask depicting an antelope with leopard’s teeth, made by the Guro (British Museum)
• Purple and blue mask portraying a gorilla, made by the Yoruba (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow)
• Hybrid animal mask with hyena jaws and warthog tusks, made by the Senufo (ArtInstitute of Chicago)
• Horned animal mask with open jaws, made by the Baule (British Museum)
• Horned mask made by the Northern Igbo (National Museum, Lagos)
What attracted modern painters to this object? It turns a human face into an abstract design with great audacity and confidence: the long nose and narrow mouth, curved eyebrows and small eyeslits all mirror the long curving shape of the mask itself, rather than being tied to appearances. In other words, the art of the carver finds form in the material that is carved; as wood is smoothed into a convex curve, the facial features replicate this same elegant rotundity…The sense of play in African masks makes them some of humanity’s richest visual creations.
If like me you’re questioning Jones’ authority to come up with this list, all I could find on him is that he writes on art for the Guardian (UK newspaper) and is on the jury of the 2009 Turner Prize. I can’t say the latter helps much. I must admit given the European locales of ALL (update: pardon the Freudian slip, that should be almost ALL) of the suggested works for this list, I was surprised there was no mention of anything from the Horniman Museum. And nothing from across the pond, e.g. the Met either? Also I am wondering if the location of the author of this article and most of these works (London) is a chicken-or-egg situation in terms of: are these the suggested top African works of art because they are easily accessible to a European audience (not only is the British Museum awash with worldly loot, it is also free to visit the permanent collections) OR is it because majority of the genuinely best African wood, metal and ivory sculptures are not on the African continent?
Aha! I like Jonathan Jones already -
Our series is not an exhaustive list but a guide based on personal passions…The view of art this list takes is anything but Eurocentric, yet it avoids a by-the-numbers list of what “should” be included. But … that also means annoying some of the people, some of the time. So here is the place to register that annoyance - or point to additional wonders of human creation.
Inset images are courtesy of the British Museum
