The issue of authenticity of African art has been central to collectors for decades. Henri Kamer, who was president of the International Arts Experts Association at the time, published an outstanding account of the state of the matter in Artes d'Afrique Noire, No. 12 (1974). The text that follows is extracted from an English translation of that article, and has been edited further. The original includes a number of illustrations. They are not included here because I believe the text suffices without them.
The original version, including the illustrations, in French and with the English translation, is
L'Oba du Benin est le dirigeant de l'ancien royaume du Benin. Il n’a plus de réel pouvoir depuis l'annexion du royaume par les Britanniques en 1897. Il garde cependant un rôle consultatif au sein du gouvernement. Il garde aussi une forte influence sur la population Edo pour laquelle il a une nature semi-divine. Son palais se trouve dans la ville actuelle de Benin City (État d'Edo, Nigeria).
Le premier Oba du Benin est Eweka, le fils d'Oranmiyan, un prince venu d'Ife qui détruisit la tyrannique dynastie des Ogisos qui régnait depuis 35 générations sur le peuple Edo, et d'Ekinwide, une princesse Edo. Dans un premier temps le pouvoir restait au concile des chefs, le Uzama, avec l'Oba à sa tête. Sous le règne d'Oba Ewedo, qui transfère la capitale à Ubini, le pouvoir commence à passer plus fermement entre les mains de l'Oba. À partir d'Oba Ewuare, son pouvoir devient absolu et le titre devient héréditaire.
L'Oba jouissait autrefois d'un très grand pouvoir et son titre revêtait un caractère sacré.
L'Oba du Benin au xvie siècle, gravure édité en 1815-1827
Au xvie siècle, apparaissent ce que l'on appelle « les rois guerriers ». Le royaume a été significativement agrandi durant le xvie siècle. D'ailleurs, cette importance soudaine de la guerre se traduisit dans l'art par une représentation massive de chefs de guerre, les nombreuses têtes de bronze faisant office de trophées (voir ci-dessous). Les représentations figuratives associées à des éléments symboliques sont mises
En 1937, le hasard d'une exposition1 mit en présence deux sièges à cariatide « royaux »2 d'origine Luba (Zaïre) qui offraient entre eux de frappantes similitudes, tout en présentant d'étroites analogies avec la célèbre porteuse de coupe agenouillée, conservée au Musée de Tervuren3. Tout en entrant incontestablement dans l'orbe de la grande statuaire des Baluba (plus précisément du groupe des Bahemba-Bakunda), ces œuvres s'écartaient à tel point des canons esthétiques fondamentaux de ce peuple que l'organisateur de l'exposition, Fr. M. Olbrechts, acquit la conviction qu'elles étaient de la main d'un artiste unique dont le génie, profondément original, n'avait su se plier aux normes esthétiques imposées par la Tradition. « Pour la première fois, note M. Leiris, l'idée de l'individualité d'un sculpteur africain (était) mise en avant »4.
La porteuse de coupe de Tervuren, longtemps surnommée « Kabila la mendiante »5, avait par son originalité plastique et le profond mystère qu'elle semble receler intrigué de nombreux esthètes, des cubistes (C. Einstein) aux surréalistes (Ph. Soupault). Mais l'on attribuait volontiers ce
15th Triennial Symposium on African Art, Arts Council of the African Studies Association, 2011, Wednesday, March 23 - Saturday, March 26, 2011, UCLA, Los Angeles, California
http://www.acasaonline.org/conf_next.htm
Addis Art - Ethiopian Art and Artists Page
Contemporary Ethiopian art and artists - paintings, sculptures and digital art work by students and professionals from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. University instructor, Getahun Assefa's paintings, drawings, sculpture, digital art. Also work by his brother, Tesfaye Assefa. Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [KF] http://www.addisart.com/
Addis Art - Nouveau Art from Ethiopia
Artists include Shiferaw Girma and Lulseged Retta. Photographs of each artist's work, a biography, and video. Founded by Mesai Haileleul. [KF] http://www.addis-art.com/
Adire African Textiles - Duncan Clarke
History, background, and photographs of adire, adinkra, kente, bogolan, Yoruba aso-oke, akwete, ewe, kuba, and nupe textiles. The symbolism of images is often provided. One can purchase textiles as well. Clarke's Ph.D. dissertation (School of Oriental and African Studies) is on Yoruba men's weaving. See also the Adire African Textiles blog. Based in London. http://www.adireafricantextiles.com/
Afewerk Tekle
"Ethiopia’s leading artist." Biography, his paintings, sculptures, mosaics, murals, art in the artist's home. Afewerk created the stained-glass windows at the entrance of Africa Hall, headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. "In 1964, he became the first winner of the Haile Selassie I prize for Fine Arts." "In 2000, he was one of the few chosen World Laureates by the council of the ABI on the occasion of the 27th
Collection: African, Asian & Oceanic Art - Langue: Anglais
ISBN-10: 3791327720 - ISBN-13: 978-3791327723
KOLOSS Hans-Joachim - Africa Art and Culture: Masterpieces of African Art: Ethnological Museum, Berlin
Descrizione del prodotto - Book Description - Publisher comments
Descriptions du produit:
Book Description
One of the leading collections of African art in the world, the African collection at Berlin’s Ethnological Museum contains important masterpieces from many different regions of the continent.
This stunning book includes more than two hundred color and black-and-white reproductions of masks, ceremonial figures, musical instruments, and objects of everyday life from throughout Africa. Among the jewels in the museum are the Ife Collection from Nigeria; rare Benin bronzes; Afro-Portuguese ivories; magical figures from the Lower Congo and a host of East African sculpture and masks that have gained increasing attention in recent years. Essays by leading ethnologists supply important cultural and historical information on each region, as well as fascinating insights into the ways European and African art have traded influences over the
Descrizione: The Shell Company of Nigeria Limited, 1960. Hardcover. John Danford (illustratore). First Edition. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Color painting illustrated. 103p. Fine copy in the original blue cloth. Publisher's deluxe full blue morocco stamped in gilt, minor rubbing of front hinge. Langue: Anglais. John Danford OBE was an artist working for the British Council in Nigeria; the Danford Collection of African Arts and Crafts is a nationally important collection at the University of Birmingham. These 48 full page colour reproductions of his paintings show the costumes, uniforms and ceremonial dress of the diverse peoples of Nigeria; the text describes the significance of the details. With a foreword by the Prime Minister of the Federation of Nigeria Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Preface by Mr. W L Stewart general manager of the Shell Company of Nigeria Limited with a blindstamp signature. Illustrations include: Benin woman chief in ceremonial dress, Festival dress for the Ekong dance Ibibio, Sir Ademola II Alake of Abeokuta, Base drummer, Ilorin local Administration police band, Mother and child Cameroons, Yoruba girl, Ilorin weaver and more. Unpaginated, navy cloth boards with bright gilt lettering on front board and spine, bright red endpapers. Boards slightly scuffed with mild edgewear; interior clean and crisp with no
Passione d'Africa: l'arte africana nelle collezioni italiane
Détails sur le produit:
Editore: OFFICINA LIBRARIA SRL
Pubblicazione: 10/2009
Rilegato - Pagine: 240
COSSA Egidio - PAUDRAT Jean-Louis - a cura di Chantal Dandrieu e Fabrizio Giovagnoni:
Passione d'Africa: l'arte africana nelle collezioni italiane
Présentation de l'éditeur - Biographie de l'auteur
Descriptions du produit:
Présentation de l'éditeur
Passione d’Africa traccia la storia del collezionismo di arte dell’Africa subsahariana in Italia – o di italiani residenti all’estero – a partire dagli anni cinquanta fino ai nostri giorni. Il volume, con una introduzione di Egidio Cossa, riproduce oltre 130 capolavori, selezionati per il loro valore estetico e perché illustrano le tappe di questa vicenda collezionistica.
Il libro vuole restituire una fotografia oggettiva, senza partiti presi o pretese di esclusività, del collezionismo d’arte africana in Italia. Lo fa con l’ampio saggio di Jean-Louis Paudrat e con la completissima crono-bibliografia dello stesso studioso che elenca oltre cinquant’anni di pubblicazioni, mostre, convegni ed aste di arte africana in Italia. Da questa ricognizione emerge una nuova immagine del collezionismo d’arte africana in Italia, a torto ritenuto un ‘parente
Rijksmuseum / Snieck, 2004. Couverture rigide. très bel ouvrage sur les Dogon, proposant une vue d'ensemble du patrimoine culturel des Dogon: leur art, leur culture matèrielle, leur architecture et leur histoire. - ISBN 9789053494219
BAY G. Edna
Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art
Détails sur le produit: Relié: 188 pages - Editeur: University of Illinois Press (15 avril 2008) - Langue: Anglais
ISBN-10: 0252032551 - ISBN-13: 978-0252032554
Descrizione libro: Asen, metal sculptures of southern Benin, West Africa, are created to honour the dead and are meant to encourage interaction between visible and spiritual worlds in ancestral rites associated with the belief system known as vodun. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the former Kingdom of Dahomey, Bay traces more than 150 years of transformations in the manufacture and symbolic meanings of asen against the backdrop of a slave-raiding monarchy, domination by French colonialism, and postcolonial political and social change. Bay expertly reads evidence of the area's turbulent history through analysis of asen motifs as she describes the diverse influences affecting the process of asen production from the point of their probable invention to their current decline in use. Paradoxically, asen represent a sacred African art form, yet are created using European materials and technologies and are embellished with figures drawn from tourist production. Bay's meticulously researched artistic and historical study is a fascinating Présentation de l'éditeur
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leyde. Gand: Editions Snoeck,
Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art
Détails sur le produit: Relié: 188 pages - Editeur: University of Illinois Press (15 avril 2008) - Langue: Anglais
ISBN-10: 0252032551 - ISBN-13: 978-0252032554
Descrizione libro: Asen, metal sculptures of southern Benin, West Africa, are created to honour the dead and are meant to encourage interaction between visible and spiritual worlds in ancestral rites associated with the belief system known as vodun. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the former Kingdom of Dahomey, Bay traces more than 150 years of transformations in the manufacture and symbolic meanings of asen against the backdrop of a slave-raiding monarchy, domination by French colonialism, and postcolonial political and social change. Bay expertly reads evidence of the area's turbulent history through analysis of asen motifs as she describes the diverse influences affecting the process of asen production from the point of their probable invention to their current decline in use. Paradoxically, asen represent a sacred African art form, yet are created using European materials and technologies and are embellished with figures drawn from tourist production. Bay's meticulously researched artistic and historical study is a fascinating exploration of creativity and change within Benin's
‘African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection’
This female figure, made of ivory and standing 37 inches tall, was made in the early Nineteenth Century by Edo peoples in the Benin kingdom court style, and was probably intended for an altar to a queen mother. It is one of the first two objects purchased by Paul and Ruth Tishman in 1959. "Ivory can be almost universally interpreted as a symbol of importance and wealth,” says exhibition curator Bryna Freyer.
WASHINGTON D.C.:Most Americans know little about the vast and diverse continent of Africa, much less the arts created there. Dark and primitive, the arts of the African peoples reflect the rituals of life, stripped to the most basic interpretive forms both conceptually and artistically.
Celebrating the arts of Africa and the profound role that they have played in molding Twentieth Century Abstraction and Modernist art in the "West" is the Smithsonian's newest exhibition, "African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection." It is on view through September 7, 2008, at The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art (NMAA).
"African Vision" showcases 88 outstanding artworks, part of a larger collection donated to the NMAA, that represents the largest gift of sculpture in the museum's history.
In 1959, Paul and Ruth Tishman began their collection with the purchase of two pieces of art from the Benin kingdom — an early Nineteenth Century ivory female figure standing 37 inches tall, made in the court style by the Edo peoples, and a 28-inch-tall, Eighteenth Century copper alloy mask that was worn by a divine-healer in masquerade
Les Statues meurent aussi est un documentaire-court métrage français réalisé par Chris Marker, Alain Resnais et Ghislain Cloquet sorti en 1953. Conseiller artistique : Charles Ratton.
Il fut commandité par la revue panafricaine Présence africaine. Partant de la question « Pourquoi l’art nègre se trouve-t-il au musée de l’Homme alors que l’art grec ou égyptien se trouve au Louvre ? », les deux réalisateurs dénoncent le manque de considération pour l'art africain dans un contexte de colonisation. Le film est censuré en France pendant huit ans en raison de son point de vue anti-colonialiste.
« Quand les hommes sont morts, ils entrent dans l'histoire. Quand les statues sont mortes, elles entrent dans l'art. Cette botanique de la mort, c'est ce que nous appelons la culture.
C’est que le peuple des statues est mortel. Un jour, nos visages de pierre se décomposent à leur tour. Une civilisation laisse derrière elle ces traces mutilées comme les cailloux du
The Nok civilization was discovered recently, in 1943 a fragment of a terracotta statue was unearthed in a tin mine near Nok on the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria. Following the discovery of other pieces of statues of high artistic quality were found near the city of Sokoto and creates lots of reactions when they appeared on the market of Western art. Since that date the statues from the city of Katsina still in northern Nigeria have been discovered, but like most of these magnificent statues excavated from unregulated very little information has reached us about their functions.
Several styles of terracotta statues were identified all dated between 400 BC and 200 AD there is currently very difficult to know if these styles correspond to different traditions or they are just regional variations. More statues of styles, differences were found in the same regions, such as a number of terracotta-called classical style have been discovered in the region of Katsina to three hundred kilometers from their cultural center: the town of Nok. It is likely that future research will give us more information on what is currently one of the great mysteries of African art.
The classical style known as Nok terracotta, includes statues of real size, with large elongated heads , hair forms developed and we identified them especially thanks to the eyes of an eyebrow and upper linear lower curve of an eyebrow, Their body is usually decorated with many jewels in terracotta, reminiscent of beads stones otherwise similar to those that were found during excavations.
The term Yoruba describes both a language and a tribe living between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin, in an area covered by forests and savannah. Their history can be traced from the beginning of our millennium, with the civilization of Ife. Following the collapse of the kingdom of Ife kingdom of a number such as Oyo and Ijebu emerged, they in turn disintegrated during the 18th and 19th, but were revived by the colonial powers, to the end of the 19th. Today they are still the basis of the Yoruba political structure. The slave trade touched heavily Yoruba people of Nigeria and he contributed to their diaspora and the release of their rites and beliefs.
The Yoruba are prolific craftsmen, most Yoruba art objects dating from between the late 19 th and the middle of this century, and can sometimes be attributed to known artists by their names, which is an exception in African art.
During the XVI, the Ijebu kingdom, ruled areas near the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. copper imported by sailors, was traded by the Portuguese Ijebu and many bronze objects were created by their artists. These objects reflect the influence of their neighbors, the Kingdom of Benin. Nevertheless, their bells and bracelets scepters are usually decorated with figures, half human, half animal with eyes bulging and curved scars on his forehead.
The empire of Oyo between the XVII and XIX was located in the northern territories or peoples
