Primitive Arts in Afric a Admire, Observe and Understand An introduction to the collection of Dr Nicolas Froment
Photos : CRISTO SAINTEX (Paris)
The rediscovered past The majority of surviving wooden masks and statues date from a period subsequent to the 18th century. These works are difficult to preserve in a hot, humid climate, and they are no longer of local interest once they have served their purpose (the spirit has left the object). Finally, in the minds of African tribes, dating is of little importance and refers to the memory of the living (major natural or tribal event). The advent of modern dating technologies, namely carbon 14 and thermoluminescence, marked the advent of genuine African archaeology, which has uncovered a wealth of sculptures crafted from durable materials such as stone, terracotta, and metals.
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African Cosmogony This term is defined as "birth of the world." It is used to describe the primordial myth from which the majority of beliefs that govern African societies originate. Additionally, these beliefs reflect the culture of these societies in a multitude of ways, only a few of which can be outlined here. The distinctive Creator presides over the extramundane realm, no longer engaged with the concerns of humanity due to the disobedience of the primordial couple, which also precipitated the genesis of the Dogon Yurugu (pale fox, jackal), symbolizing chaos and mortality. The afterlife is populated by deities and spirits associated with the forces of nature, including rain, wind, and thunder. The spirit of the ancestors serves as a conduit for communication with the invisible world. The world that is visible to the human eye is the domain of the living. It would be impossible to function without the vital energy that animates everything. In the majority of cases, religious practice is not dogmatic but dynamic, with action serving to reinforce this vital energy. Abandoning it results in non-existence. The spiritual essence of the individual, or soul, is believed to reside in the inner head. The objective of sacred arts is to attract beings from the other world by creating an image of the divinity or spirit that may temporarily inhabit the object (e.g., altar vase, dancing stick, statue). The object's artistic quality is designed to attract the spirit. This practice is not idolatry, as the object is not worshipped as a god. Such objects are often destroyed or abandoned, and sometimes recovered when the spirit is believed to have departed and the object has become useless. Cosmogony is represented in everyday Dogon objects, including the mythical hornbill, whose long beak, a representation of the male sexual organ, symbolizes the eternity of the community's life. The Lebe snake is a reincarnation of the first Dogon ancestor, who led the Dogons from the Mandé region of West Africa to the Bandiagara cliffs. The crocodile is a symbol of the devouring of the soul of those who have gone astray, and is also the repository of water powers associated with fertility and abundance. The batrachian (toad/frog), whose rhombic shape evokes the female sex, is a symbol of fertility.
Dogon Mali 17cm
Miniature Dogon altar ladder, or Ladder of the Spirits. A replica of the large, utilitarian attic ladders used on a family altar for ancestor worship. They symbolize the steps the deceased must climb to reach the afterlife.
Ancestor worship is a fundamental aspect of Central African culture. In Fang villages, initiation societies oversee the cult of byéri, a form of family or clan religion that preserves the relics of deceased ancestors or dignitaries. These relics, which often include bones (especially skulls), are contained in bark boxes that are protected by a statue. Given the geographical distribution of this practice, there are numerous stylistic variations.
Fang Gabon 110cm
Exceptional complete Fang byeri reliquary
Courtesy : Galeria African Arte, S.M.KEITA - Porto
FANG byéri Gabon 41cm
The byeri represents the founding ancestor. The statues represent the link between the world of the living and the afterlife. The family takes great care of these sculptures, bringing them offerings in the small cup they hold in their hands, and regularly sacrificing animals to them.
FANG byeri Gabon 43cm
As part of the bwete cult, the reliquary guardian features an ogival-shaped face reminiscent of a cobra's head. The body's handle was inserted into the ancestral relic basket, where relics (especially skull caps) were collected. The Kota make their reliquaries by attaching copper and brass strips and plates to carved wooden figures.
KOTA MAHONGWE Gabon 43cm
FANG Three-Headed Statue Gabon 46 cm
KISSI NOMOLI stone figure Sierra Leone 43 cm
Akwanshi: Stones of the Dead Ancestors The African continent is only now beginning to reveal some of its archaeological secrets to the modern world. In the early 1960s, 295 carved stone blocks or monoliths were discovered north-west of Ikom, in the Cross River region between south-east Nigeria and south-west Cameroon. The inhabitants, the Ejagham Ekoi people, have named them Akwanshi, meaning people in the ground or stones of dead ancestors. They are said to be memorials, but some argue that they are linked to astronomical and religious activities. In many African cultures, visual representation of ancestors was done with ephemeral and perishable materials. This was predicted on the thinking that impermanence of the materials helps to capture the essence of the spirit. Ancestors are expected to return only when their services are needed by the community. Indeed, after consecration and use, the indwelled spirit goes away and the object disintegrates. Is the use of stones and other permanent materials another way of making the spirit's presence more permanent?
Based on Ancestors in stone, New Orleans Museum of Art
Akwanshi stone
EJAGHAM EKOI Nigeria, Cameroun 28cm
LEGA Picket head Congo (RDC) 15 cm
Janus figures in African art represent a sacred and symbolic art form. These sculptures feature two opposing faces or figures on the same body, often interpreted as representing past and present, masculine and feminine, or heaven and earth. A number of them come from the Cross River district.
MAMBILA Janus bronze
Cameroun, Nigeria 16 cm
Dogon bronze zoomorphic altar urn
Altar urn from the Dogon ethnic group in Mali, made using the lost-wax technique. This type of vessel was possibly used to store ointments or other magical preparations, or perhaps remnants of the Mande earth. Copper has always been a rare and expensive material throughout Africa. Its use, whether raw or as the main component of an alloy, was an operation fraught with meaning. The lost-wax casting technique required the skills and time of a specialized craftsman. Metal objects were not commonly used, and their role was highly ceremonial, in keeping with the prestige conferred by the copper alloy making up these objects. The body features two snakes and two toads. It is topped by a zebu head.
DOGON
Mali (Djenné-Tomo) 34cm
African masks and statues are not intended to represent or figure, but to signify and symbolize, transgressing form in favor of meaning or expression. Thus, the African sculptor or blacksmith does not represent what he sees, but what he knows or believes. Beauty is not sought for its own sake, but manifests itself by achieving harmony between the spiritual thought and the object. Unlike statues, whose purpose is to ensure the prolonged presence of a spirit, masks serve only for the duration of a rite, or its renewal. Masks are used to represent a natural force, a spirit or an ancestor who returns to bless or punish, but most often to protect the community. We can artificially distinguish 3 types of masks, with no real boundary between the spiritual and the profane: Sacred or religious masks express wisdom and serve as intermediaries between men and the forces of the beyond. They have their place in rites such as initiation, sacrifice or purification. Masks serving as intermediaries between temporal and spiritual power, like the masks of secret societies. They are used to combat witchcraft or, conversely, to fight disease. Entertainment masks, used for festivals, social and agricultural events. These include dancers, singers, warriors and harvest masks.
CHOKWE Congo/Angola 32cm
GURO, Gu mask Ivory Coast 38 cm
GURO GU, Zaouli dance mask Ivory Coast 38 cm
BAOULE Goli new harvest mask Ivory coast 35 cm
BAOULE Goli cult Ivory Coast 38 cm
DAN Gunye Ge (racing) mask Ivory Coast 24 cm
DAN KRAN Ivory Coast, Liberia 26 cm
Secret societies, both male and female, play a major role in the social, religious and political life of many West African countries. Traditional secret societies are made up of groups of individuals who organize ancestral and secret rites, and transmit beliefs whose essence is known only to initiated members. These societies are known in particular for their initiation rites for young boys and girls, often involving scarification, circumcision and excision ceremonies. Some societies, such as the Ekpe society in southeastern Nigeria, were involved in the slave trade. The aim was to inspire healthy terror in the slaves, which, along with human sacrifice, kept them in subjection. They took part in the practice of rounding up slaves, working farmers, in the Bamenda region of Cameroon. In pre-colonial times, secret societies played a vital role in local governance, assuming political, judicial and sacred functions. In certain circumstances, these societies acted as a check on the power of chiefs and kings. They ensured social control and respect for moral order. Today, many of these societies merely play a ceremonial role (awarding titles, funerals, sacrifices, etc.). However, some continue to perform important social functions.
EKET
secret society Epke Nigeria 40 cm
The purpose of the Ngil secret society of the Fang ethnic group was to maintain order in the community. It was responsible for initiations and combating witchcraft. The wearers of these masks, always in large numbers, made their appearance at night, illuminated by torches. Their intervention was also linked to the judicial function, by designating those guilty of evil deeds within the village. Clan cohesion was maintained through religious and judicial associations such as the so and ngil. The sometimes excessive zeal (ritual murders) of its initiates led the French colonial authorities to ban it at the beginning of the 20th century. The Fang ethnic group, settled in a region stretching from Yaoundé in Cameroon to Ogooué in Gabon, has never had a political unit.
FANG
secret society Ngil Gabon 48 cm
FANG / BULU Ngil mask Sud Cameroun, Gabon 32 cm
BULU Ngil gorilla Sud Cameroun 43 cm
The masks of the ngontang society are said to have appeared after the ngil society was dissolved by the colonial administration. Their precise symbolism has been lost. But as they emanated from the world of all-seeing spirits, their role could have been to uncover evil sorcerers.
FANG NGONTANG SOCIETY Gabon (south) 31cm
The role of secret societies, which are widespread in West Africa, is above all religious. They know no tribal, cultural or linguistic boundaries. Two of the largest are the Poro (for men) and the Sandé (for women). The great dignitaries of the poro are the holders of political power in the villages. New members are initiated into the spiritual secrets and powers of witchcraft. They undergo ritual scarification. In the sandé, new members are taught spiritist rites and, as a rule, undergo female genital mutilation, a practice that has been lost in some of the more developed regions of the country. Anyone who defies the laws and protocols of a secret society risks death. Poro is organized into age groups. Under the guidance of the elders, the society's function is to collect and transmit collective knowledge, acting as a social link and restoring order to chaos. Initially, this training is undertaken over 21 years, in 3 cycles of 7 years each, until the age of 28. During the demanding initiation rites, the youngsters learn the secret laws that will gradually lead them to free themselves from their passions. The child is born an animal and becomes a man through a succession of rites imposed by the elders. When they reach adulthood, they are admitted to the brotherhood.
BAULE
Poro secret society Ivory coast 30 cm
KUBA Pwoom itok mask This type of mask, with its geometric motifs, represents the common man, and is used for initiation rites for young people by the Ngongo of the Babende secret society. The conical eyes are a reference to the chameleon and do not fall into the category of royal masks.
KUBA Pwoom itok Congo (RDC) 38 cm
KUBA
Probably Congo (RDC) 30 cm
BEMBE
CONGO (Buenza) 28 cm
Mask of the Eluba male secret society, used in Eluba Ya Butende rituals. It is used in Butende circumcision ceremonies.
The Bwami society, which governed the Lega etnic group was open to adult men and women, and taught moral perfection to its followers. Masengo statuettes are sacred and may only be worn by initiates. The owner may not part with them during his or her lifetime. The bwami has different degrees, with yananio and kindi being the highest. The master guided the aspirant to a place where masks and statuettes were displayed, and it was by careful observation that the future initiate had to guess the more or less complex meaning of the metaphors associated with the sculptures, referring to proverbs and sayings. The “won” objects were then stored in a woven bag worn over the shoulder.
LEGA Bwami Congo (RDC) Ivory 14 cm
Initiation is a set of rites designed to integrate the individual into society and teach him or her the rules of living together.
In traditional African culture, education and initiation were closely linked. There is a great diversity of initiations (several peoples, several initiation rites and male and female initiations). The harsh ordeals inherent in the ritual practices of traditional initiation are designed to develop the subject's physical stamina, combat all forms of violence and impose total submission in order to preserve and guarantee the group's unity and survival. Initiation is an all-encompassing cultural, religious, psychological, physical, moral and artistic training program designed to protect life and promote good within the clan. The rite of passage, notably circumcision and excision, differs from initiation in that it marks a stage in an individual's life, selecting individuals of the same sex.
PENDE Congo 50cm
BAOULE Ivory Coast 46 cm
CHOKWE MWANA PWO Angola 24 cm
These masks were mostly worn during ceremonies of passage to adulthood, marking among other things the end of the special bond between a son and his mother. The raised scarification marks on the cheeks refer to this separation. The cruciform frontal motif is said to have cosmogonic significance.
MBUNDA SACHIHONGO Angola, Zambia 32 cm
Masquerades are performed at the end of initiation rites for young boys, or mukanda, celebrated by Mbunda peoples of Zambia and Angola. During a period of seclusion adolescent boys undergo circumcision.
Mask from the Kore Bambara/Bamana rite in Mali Initiation into the Koré is the phase designed to build a male identity at both subject and group level. Every 7 years, an age group is “killed at the Koré”. Through this pseudo-sacrifice, the young men prove their courage, since no one informs them that it's a sham. When they are resurrected as adults, they must renounce the privileges of childhood. In traditional Bamana culture, initiation societies teach an understanding of everything to do with nature and human destiny. They believe in the existence of spiritual forces that are activated by individuals capable of creating an atmosphere of harmony, prosperity and well-being. Initiation takes place within men's associations: n'tomo and komo, which govern community life, nama and kono, which regulate reaches of morality, and koré and tyi wara, which bring together young farmers. These societies, led by elders, are political, economic and medical in nature, and exercise social control over the community. The Koré society is an initiatory society, which people enter after a long apprenticeship designed to rid them of wanzo impurity. Wanzo is the harmful force linked to the curse resulting from original sin (betrayal). The child must therefore be cleansed of wanzo in order to grow into adulthood. This effect is achieved during excision or circumcision. This type of mask was worn when aspirants returned to their villages following initiation in the forest. The face is characteristically straight and long, with sober features. Finely sculpted scarification marks adorn the perimeter of the face.
BAMANA Mali 30cm
PUNU Cameroun 28 cm
Ceremonial mask of a young woman, used for ceremonies (initiations, funerals...).
Crest mask worn at the end of female initiation ceremonies
EKOI EJAGHAM Nigeria, Cameroun 50 cm
Gbene figurative cup, ethny Koro, Nigeria This ancient Gbene cup is an effigy of a standing ancestor, crafted in a geometric shape and decorated with scarifications on the face, shoulders, and torso. The double-container cup, which constitutes the abdomen of the statue, would be used by two people to drink and pour libations of beer or palm wine during ritual sacrifices, funeral ceremonies, or mask dances. The Koro are an ethnic group established in the Benue region.
KORO Nigeria 59 cm
EKOI EJAGHAM Nigeria 54 cm
EKOI EJAGHAM mask head-crest Nigeria 25 cm
Wooden anthropomorphic sculpture worn as a crest mask and representing a human face covered with coated antelope skin. The teeth are in painted wood. Human hair. The anthropophagous Ekoï erected the heads of their adversaries killed in battle as trophies.
EKOI EJAGHAM Janus head-crest Nigeria 20 cm
EKOI EJAGHAM mask head-crest Nigeria 35 cm
EKOI EJAGHAM mask head-crest Nigeria 40 cm
DOGON
Mali 106 cm 1025 g wrought iron & bronze Dogon blacksmiths are renowned, and the production of iron tools and weapons dates back to the 4th century. They form an endogamous sect, the irim. The blacksmith is feared as the representative of the ancestor who descended from the Ark. It is said that when he beats the anvil, he calls forth the voice of the Nommo (water genie). He is said to have special powers because he works with fire. He does not cultivate the land, and is the only one who can produce the tools and weapons needed by the community. As a result, blacksmiths are seen as indispensable to the smooth running of society.
DOGON Mali 24 cm
Zoomorphic wrought-iron mask representing a ram, for which no active tradition of use is known among the Bamana or Dogon. It testifies to the blacksmith's skill in forging iron, a material much more difficult to work with than wood.
The Dogon are sedentary farmers. The Walu mask dance alludes to an episode in Dogon cosmogony: Walu is the mythical antelope that Amma, the Dogon god, charged with protecting the sun from the jackal, the symbol of disorder and insubordination. Unable to reach the burning star and seeking revenge, the jackal urges the hyppotrague Ka (black antelope) to attack him. One of the first ancestors, Dyongou Sérou, kills the hypotrague. He is symbolized by a young Fulani cowherd with a spear leading his herd. The Yasigine, said to be the jackal's twin, is said to have introduced masks to mankind, giving material support to the vital Nyama energy that exists in each of us, in plants and animals, once we're dead. In general, Dogon rites focus on transmitting this vital force. The Walu face mask, or antelope mask, is traditionally used by members of the Awa society to ensure good harvests, and is especially used during funeral ceremonies (dama).
DOGON Walu Mali 91 cm, 6 kg
BAMANA Mali 53 cm
CHOKWE Congo (RDC), ANGOLA 33 cm
Illness, Medicine and Religion African tradition teaches that illness is not the result of chance events, but of spiritual or social imbalance. It draws on indigenous herbalism and African spirituality, and involves diviners, midwives and herbalists. Many foreigners considered indigenous medical practices are pagan and superstitious. They can only be properly used with inheriting Western methods. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the treatments and remedies used in traditional African medicine have been better appreciated by researchers, and with regard to the use of traditional plants. The WHO's 2020 report lists 89 products derived from traditional pharmacopoeia in many African countries. The therapeutic sphere is primarily concerned with opportunistic infections related to HIV, diabetes, hypertension and sickle-cell anemia. Diagnostic and therapeutic methods are based on the conviction that psycho-spiritual aspects must be treated before medical ones. Thus, traditional healers try to determine the cause of illness, which may be the result of an imbalance between the patient and his or her social environment or the spiritual world. Illness may be due to the intervention of spirits or gods displeased by a violation of the universal moral law, or it may be attributed to the guilt of the individual, family or village for a sin or moral violation. It would be tempting to group these situations together under the term possession. (Possession is a state of suffering determined by the descent or intrusion of entities inhabiting the religious universe of a given culture into the human body, as defined by Fabietti and Remotti in the Anthropology Dictionary). Depending on the imbalance affecting the individual, a healing plant will be used according to its symbolic and spiritual significance and for its medicinal effect. There are divinatory and therapeutic objects, some of which are dedicated to witchcraft, which refers to more conscious acts involving the use of invocations, powders or poisons. There are objects whose function is to attack or repel the supernatural attacks of human enemies (statuettes representing malformed humans, masks showing signs of illness).
YORUBA Trays for Ifa Divination Nigeria 32 cm & 24 cm
African masks of illness exaggerate the symptoms of illnesses such as epilepsy or facial paralysis, often attributed to witchcraft rituals. Skin and eye diseases are also depicted. This African Pende Mbangu mask features a deformed mouth and areas of contrasting colors with a semi-matt patina. Ibibio mask with mouth deformed by facial paralysis and cheeks deformed by “abscesses”. These masks were used by the Ekpo society to frighten the population by showing them the illnesses they would incur if they transgressed the rules. The Metoko Mituku mask, generally exhibited at funerals, features a network of parallel lines, in line with traditional scarification, revealing the character's status as a dignified old man whose pupils are exorbitantly enlarged, having been the victim of kakungu sorcery.
PENDE MBANGU sickness mask Congo (RDC) 27 cm
IBIBIO sickness mask Nigeria 28 cm
METOKO death & sickness mask Congo (RDC) 28 cm
The initiation into rite of Bwiti consists of the ingestion of a large quantity of scraps of iboga root bark (Tabernanthe Iboga), still called “sacred wood” by the Gabonese. It is accompanied by healing songs, the sound of the “sacred harp” or mongongo, allowing one to reach a second state necessary for access to the “dream world”. Bwiti initially belonged to the world of the Pygmies of Gabon, of whom it was the religious conception of the invisible and the divine. At low doses, iboga causes an increase in perception which allowed hunters to better sense the forest environment, then it has a stimulating effect which allows one to stay awake for several days in a row. At higher doses, iboga causes very strong nausea, vomiting and a state of muscular asthenia during which numerous visions appear. It also has a strong cardiac impact. During initiation, the doses can lead to comatose states from which the initiates return with the feeling of having "passed to the other side", of having made an approach to death, which is generally painful and far from any possibility. feeling of pleasure. This “passage”, supposed to give keys to the future, is the desired goal of initiation, which generally only takes place once in a lifetime. This cult has spread to all Gabonese ethnic groups.
VILI Bwiti mask Gabon 32 cm
PENDE Gikhoko pendants Congo (RDC) 7 cm 90 g (each) marfil
These pendants were worn by male initiates as adults. These two examples, with a three-pointed crown, would have been worn by chiefs. These pendants were said to have talismanic powers, protecting against illness and even healing. They were worn around the neck or arm.
LUBA Amulet Congo (RDC) 10 cm
LUBA / ZELA Congo (RDC) 30 cm
IBIBIO ANANG mfon ekpo mask Nigeria, Benin, Togo 30 cm
Ekpo society used this type of mask for political and legal events, as well as religious ceremonies. Mfon masks were beautiful or ugly, but benevolent.
African statues are ritual elements that most often represent a link between the living and the beyond. Like masks, they have a spiritual, social or magical basis... Their precise role can be found in several African ethnic groups. The main purpose is protection (village, illness, fertility and birth...). The smallest statues are kept in the home (altar, entrance).. They are most often reliquary statues, serving to maintain the presence of the deceased within community life. Statues are also used by healers and fetishists. They can be abstract or figurative, human or animal. Within each ethnic group, sculptures have common characteristics: scarification, dimensions, proportions, ornamentation. Their symbolic value is expressed by the deformation or over-representation of certain parts of the body, which appear enlarged. The belly and navel symbolize the link with ancestors. The sexual organs are highlighted when the aim is to symbolize the fertility and durability of the tribe.
MAMBILA Cameroun, Nigeria 70cm
The Mumuye people reside in the foothills of the Shebshi Mountains in close proximity to the Benue River in eastern Nigeria. They utilized sculptures known as Iagalagana in a variety of rituals, with these figures playing a pivotal role in ancestor veneration and healing ceremonies. The statues served as intermediaries with the spiritual realm, enhancing the prestige of the family that owned them.
MUMUYE lagalagana Nigeria 90 cm
LOBI Crest-head Mask Burkina Faso 42 cm
BAOULE Ivory Coast 80 cm
IGBO Nigeria 35 cm
VERE (VERRE) Nigeria, Cameroun 26 cm
FANG Gabon 40 cm
HEMBA Congo (RDC) 32 cm
PUNU Gabon 30 cm
Mbembe Head-crest mask Nigeria, Cameroun 28 cm
Representations of women in African art bear witness to their status within African societies. Women play a major role in the family, as fertile, nurturing mothers, while they are often overshadowed at community level. However, there is no such thing as a homogeneous female condition. Representations sublimate maternity through pregnant abdomens and developed breasts. The body is valued as the receptacle of fertility. Statues and statuettes often depict her carrying one or more children, while masks represent the feminine elements of the ethnic group's African cosmogony. From an early age, little girls are prepared for their future role with “dolls”, followed by statuettes for adolescent girls. Most of the figurines known to Westerners as poupées pat are not toys, but are kept near the marital bed, as they are supposed to promote fertility. There are special cases and exceptions, such as the female soldiers of Angola and the kingdom of Benin, and the female queens of the kingdoms of Benin (Nigeria) and Akan (Ghana), where there was a system of matrilineal or abusua inheritance. According to many African myths, circumcision and excision (as well as other related female genital mutilations) are used to suppress natural androgyny and orient young people in the masculine/feminine order. In view of the major physical and psychological suffering and deaths caused by these rites, many people in Africa are calling for them to be banned. Ref. Femmes dans les arts d’Afrique, Dapper ed. 2008
BENA LULUA Congo (RDC) 30 cm
SENOUFO Ivory Coast 84 cm
MAMBILA terracota Nigeria, Cameroun 26 cm
BANGWA
njuindem statue Cameroun 40 cm
Mother of twins, anyi, nicknamed njuidem or “woman of God”, she wears a leopard-tooth necklace and her ornaments attest to her rank as a royal princess.
NAMJI Fertility Doll Cameroun 26 cm
FALI fertility fetish doll Cameroun 36 cm
ASHANTI
Akuaba fertility doll Ghana 32 cm
LUBA
Congo (RDC) Ivory 9,8 cm cm
LUBA
Congo (RDC) Ivory 10,5 cm
Songye Nkishi fetishes, mediators between the divine and men, played an important role in group fertility, the reincarnation of beneficial spirits, protection and healing. They contain magical charges on the head and umbilicus. In the event of sterility or illness, the Nganga (sorcerer) is called upon to make a Bwanga, an assembly of special objects to which the sorcerer adds Bishimba, an amalgam of secret ingredients. The Nkishi is an anthropomorphic form of Bwanga. This type of Nkishi, small in size and called Kankishi, was placed on domestic altars.
SONGYE Nkishi fetish Congo (RDC) 23 cm
MAMBILA Terracota Jar Cameroun 20 cm
Court art in sub-Saharan Africa Before the arrival of the Arabs, the kingdoms of sub-Saharan Africa remained largely unknown, due to a lack of written records. Things changed with the arrival of the Arabs in North Africa, around 750 A.D. Familiar with the desert, the Arabs ensured trans-Saharan trade, enabling the development of the kingdom of Ghana, which exploited the rich gold mines in the south that would explain the prosperity of all the kingdoms to come. In the eastern Niger delta, a civilization remarkable for its copper and bronze art appeared as early as the 9th and 10th centuries. In the 13th century, Mali, an Islamicized country, took advantage of the gold mines of West Africa to form an empire that dominated the very diverse peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. The raids carried out to counter any rebellion were combined with systematic enslavement: the slave trade across the Sahara then took off. With the decline of Mali in the mid-15th century, the Songhai people re-formed an empire along the Niger River. It was at this time that the Portuguese founded their first trading posts. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire spread westwards across the Maghreb, with the exception of Morocco. At the beginning of the same period, two new regional groups came into being: the Great Lakes region, with its fertile lands in present-day Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, and a second center of prosperity in Katanga. The Luba empire, which may have existed as early as 1300, led to the emergence of the Lunda empire further west and was also a major supplier of slaves to the Portuguese. The Portuguese founded trading posts in Angola, for the slave trade to Brazil. Luanda and the mouth of the Zambezi thus became the two main areas of settlement for the Portuguese. Angola is perhaps the region of Africa to have suffered most from the Atlantic slave trade: by the end of the 18th century, it was massively depopulated. Following the fall of the Songhai empire under Moroccan attack, the Niger delta region experienced a new boom, with the development of the trading cities of Ife and Oyo, which built a kingdom that reached its apogee around 1720.
In the 18th century, Europeans stepped up their presence, both in the gold trade and in the slave trade to the American continent. The slave trade, which had previously been directed mainly towards Arab civilization, took on a new dimension. The slave trade to the Ottoman Empire led to the rise of two new Islamic kingdoms in the Sahel, further east: the Ouaddaï, and above all Darfur. After the Omani takeover of Muscat from the Portuguese in 1650, slaves captured inland from the coast by local tribes were sold to merchants in the trading posts. From the mid-19th century onwards, the demand for slaves on Oman's coasts was greater than anywhere else in Eastern Arabia, for palm farming.
Royal African art is perennial, using durable materials such as metals (gold, copper, bronze), ivory and stone. In everyday life, in health, in the major stages of life, the omnipresent spiritual is represented by objects that are of interest only for the time of their usefulness. They are made of wood, which is highly perishable in this hot, humid climate. Objects of power must also have an aesthetic and prestigious side, designed to impress or even frighten the people and visitors. Like the courts of the East and West, the royalty of Black Africa engaged the services of artists and craftsmen who were often only allowed to work for the king and his entourage. The insignia of sovereignty - crowns, scepters, thrones, headdresses and ceremonial weapons - were aesthetically associated with royal power, which was of the supernatural and divine order. Symbolism is all the more important in an unwritten society. Bronze of an Oba with the signs the king wore in classical times: a crown, a pearl necklace around his neck, a chain hanging to his knees. In his left hand, he holds the sign of authority, a ram's horn filled with magical substances called “ashe”, and in his right, the scepter made of pearls and cloth.
YORUBA Oba, Ife style Nigeria 46 cm, 2820 g
Edo, Yoruba (Nigeria) and Bamoun (Cameroon) bronze figures
The Bini / Edos are a West African people who live mainly in south-central Nigeria, particularly in Edo State. They are renowned for their bronze and ivory art. They are the descendants of the founders of the great Benin Empire, whose historic capital was Benin City, destroyed and sacked in 1897 by the British under Admiral Harry Rawson, during a punitive expedition following the ambush and massacre of 8 members of the Phillips detachment. The oba's royal treasure of some 2,500 pieces was repatriated to Europe and disseminated, in particular to English museums. The prize consisted mainly of ivory pieces and bronze figurative plaques. In 1900, Benin was incorporated into the British colonial empire as part of the protectorate of Southern Nigeria. But the name Benin is a distortion made by the Portuguese: during the reign of Oba Ewuare the Great around 1440, Ubinu was used to designate the royal administrative center of the city or capital proper to the Edo kingdom. Ubinu later became Bini and then “Benin” around 1485, when the Portuguese began trading with the Oba Ewuare. The Yorubas had several distinct kingdoms, such as Oyo, Ife and Ijebu, each ruled by an Oba or Ooni. The Yoruba are renowned for their works in wood (sculptures, masks), bronze and terracotta. They also have a rich musical culture, with traditional instruments such as the bata, the sacred drum. The Bamouns are a people of Central Africa in West Cameroon, in the Grassland region. Their mastery of the lost-wax bronze casting technique has enabled them to produce large, highly detailed pieces. The prestigious bronzes adorned the palaces of the sultans of the various chiefdoms. The Bamoun Kingdom forged its unity over the seven centuries of its existence, from the end of the 14th century onwards. To escape the slave trade, many inhabitants converted to monotheistic religions (Islam and Christianity). At the end of the 19th century, King Njoya invented the Bamoun script and a religion. An ally of the Germans, he was exiled by the French in 1924. Cameroon became independent in 1960.
YORUBA Bronze cutlery Nigeria 25 cm 835 g
YORUBA royal couple, Ife style Nigeria 44 cm, 7000 g
Royal Yoruba couple in Ife style This Ife-style royal couple wear all the regalia of royal dignitaries. The headdresses refer to the king, called Ooni, and to the queen. In his right hand, the Ooni holds a scepter in the shape of a closed hand, used as a sign of power in the mythology of southern Nigeria, even outside the Ile-Ife region. In her left hand, the queen holds an antelope horn, a receptacle for magical substances or ashe.
This depiction of the royal couple, exclusively limited to the Ile-Ife and Benin regions, features the intertwining of arms and legs, referring to an indissociable structure. The crossing of the arms is familiar in the representation of a couple, but the crossing of the legs is singular. It does not refer to a physical relationship, but to shared dependencies. The ooni's left leg is wrapped around the lady's right leg. Humorously, it's the lady who has both feet on the ground. The king never reigns alone. The head is more than a quarter of the height of the body, which is typical of West African sculptures, and the patina of the sculpture suggests long exposure to the elements.
YORUBA Nigeria 42 cm
EDO Kingdom Oba head Nigeria 28 cm
BINI/EDO warriors Nigeria
21cm 1255 g
/
23 cm 1370g
BAMOUN Bell Cameroun 45 cm 3067 g
BAMOUN
ceremonial pipe Cameroun 52 cm
YORUBA bovid carved bones Nigeria 37 cm / 34 cm
YORUBA Oshe Shango Nigeria 32 cm
TEKE
Congo (RDC) 9,5 cm
LOBI Whistle BURKINA FASO 18 cm
NOK style Whistle NIGERIA 12 cm
Collection : Dr Nicolas FROMENT nicolasfroment@mac.com
Photographie / Photography: Cristo SAINTEX info@cristosaintex.com
Curateur / exhibition curator: Keita SEYDOU MAMADOU smkeita001@gmail.com