GALERIE ART PREMIER AFRICAIN GALERIE ART PRIMITIF AFRICAIN AFRICAN ART GALLERY

The Authenticity of African Sculptures

by Henri Kamer

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 

Full text, digitalised by Lies Strijker and presented by the .Centre Aequatoria
Notes on the digitalisation and presentation


[Cover]

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IMPRIMI POTEST
Kanzenze, 12-2-1952
P. Simeon, o.m.f.
Sup. Reg.

IMPRIMATUR
Luabo-Kamina, 30-5-1952
+VICTOR PETRUS KEUPPENS
Vic. Ap. de Lulua


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(Translated into English from "La Philosophie Bantoue" the French Version by Dr. A. Rubbens of Fr. Tempels' original work. The Revd. Colin King, M.A. Translator.)

With a Foreword to the English Edition by Dr Margaret Read, C.B.E.Ph. D.,M.A., formerly Professor of Education and Head of the Department Of Education in Tropical Areas, The

SENOUFO

Issus du "melting pot" ivoirien, les Sénoufo ( littéralement ceux qui parlent le séné ) se déploient jusq'uau Mali. Leur diversité ethnique en explique le

foisonnement artistique dont les masques comme le statuaire combinent à la fois les fonction de divertissement ou de contrôle social ( confréries secrètes,

guérisseurs, sorciers..).

Si le statuaire insiste sur la pureté de la forme et la mixité de divers matériaux ( bois, tissu, fibre végétale, pigments purs), le masque vise à s'approprier

les forces multiples de l'anthropomorphisme comme donnée fondamentale, soit le symbole de l'incarnation du monde des esprits.

C'est dans la perception de cette force que s'exerce le talent des artistes.

Armand Auxiètre, Directeur de la Galerie " L'oeil et la Main " a choisi de présenter pour cette exposition un masque casque Sénoufo qui reprend les critères essentiels de la création plastique Sénoufo qui se partage entre intellectualisme de la ligne et sensualité du modelé organisant ainsi des composition d’un intense dynamisme.

** Masque casque, Sénoufo, Côte d’Ivoire, bois, patine d’usage, métal

Ce masque casque se compose d’un oiseau stylisé affublé de cornes. Cette association corne/oiseau regroupe deux éléments essentiels de la mythologie Senoufo : l’oiseau qui avec son ventre arrondi et son long bec symbolise la procréation et le buffle, évoqué par les cornes, qui aurait transmis aux sénoufo les secrets des plantes guérisseuses. Cette association très rare donne à cette pièce une valeur symbolique inestimable renforcée par la pureté des lignes de la sculpture.

Linguistically, the Songye form part of the Luba, world, itself part of the Bantu group. Indeed there is a century old inter relation between the Songye and Luba, and they therefore share many cultural traits. Some art forms are part of this, shared heritage, according to the oral tradition the founding chieftains of the first luba kingdom, were of songye origins, and it is the Songye who introduced the idea of social stratification to the Luba and consequently the first luba chieftains are said to be of Songye Ancestry.

ENVIRONMENT

The Songye used to live in a forest environment till the end of the first half of the second millennium. Slowly their habitat became more savannah-like. We can still find traces of this former forest habitat in some of the art they produce. For example the costume worn with the Kifwebe mask must be entirely made from products originating in the forest from such as bark, pelts fibers etc. Today the Songye mainly live in the savannah but pockets of forest remain in their territory.

The Songye occupy a very large area in the north of the southeastern quadrant of the republic democratic of Congo.

Due to the vastness of the songye territory, it is obvious that regional stylistic, iconic and typological, exist in the ritual art produced. Some of these are the result of cross influences with their immediate neighbors.

NEIGHBORS

To the North of the Songye territory, live the Sungu, Tetela, the western Kusu. In the northwest we will find a few luba chiefdoms. To the west the Luntu, Luba – kassaï Kete and Binji peoples resides; one can even find pockets of Chokwe people in the southwest of Songye territory. To the south of the Songye we find a variety of luba speacking, polities, the same is true, for eastern frontier where in addition to the eastern kusu, we find Luba, Hemba, Kunda, Lumbu and Buyu people. Judging from their

DOGON ART

Dominating from the XIVth century the Bandiagra's cliffs, in Malia, DOGON initiated

a very old artistic production. Line and  shape's style is the main criterion to show power

of rites organising their society. Each work is a deep representation of cosmogony structuring

daily life.

A single cosmogony

As a patriarcal society, all professions have a ritual meaning according to God Amma and

his eight ancestors. DOGON

Who are the Baule?

About three million people living mainly in central Ivory Coast are defined as Baule. Yet after a closer study it semblairaient these men identify with villages or village clusters (ranging from 4 to 12) as an ethnic group. although the Baule ethnic reality remains msytérieuse can not be denying the existence of a style Baule. artists who use this style talk Baule and abroad their art is known as Baule for over a century.

Exhibition "African Hairstyles"

After the monographic exhibitions devoted to ethnic Mumuye and Bambara, the gallery's eye and the hand begins 2010 with an exhibition on the theme of the often overlooked African hairstyle. Often overlooked as belonging to the sphere of the arts "popular", hair is however of particular importance in Africa, both aesthetically and symbolically.

The hairstyle can both grow its appearance but also to affirm their identity or social status. Some hairstyles are immediately identifiable, such as hairstyling splayed Mangbetu of the Democratic Republic of Congo or the hairstyles solidified ocher Namibia. Others refer to a hierarchical system more complex. Ancient art, hair is also found in modern African art production, through paintings advertising kiosks hairdressers or barbers, or in African-American fashion. Both ornaments and symbols of identity, the hairstyles worn by different ethnic groups are reflected in their art. Although they represent gods or ancestors, masks and statues are the hairstyles of the living.

In Africa the hairstyle is still practiced by family members or trusted friends. In addition to the social aspects of the event, the hair, placed in the hands of enemies, could become an ingredient in the production of dangerous charms or "medicines" that could hurt their owners. Mostly it is women cap the women and men that cap men.

As scarification, hairstyles to identify gender, ethnicity, stage reached by the person in the cycle of life, status and personal taste. Scholars,

STRENGTH AND MEASUREMENT

The discovery of "primitive art": an art of strength
Shapes and shape functions
Deities and ancestors
The living wood

Force and Measurement

Develop an aesthetic of black Africa is seen as a risky business in many ways. Is it legitimate to isolate these objects, that today we call art, the general framework of their relations and their cultural constraints? Can we submit to a test that has never existed in the minds of their creators? And can we finally see in this art - if we 'take on this term - a uniform phenomenon, despite the wide variety of both regional and local styles we offer this huge continent, following lengthy Historical developments often poorly understood? Finally, remember that this approach excludes large regions, including Africa white, that is to say the Mediterranean area with its ancient history, the eastern and southern Africa whose pastoral peoples have given rise to cultures almost without images, and finally these hunting societies, which, even in our time have not passed the stage of evolution of prehistoric rock paintings which are the main evidence of an artistic production that appears at various points the continent. Similarly, we must exclude from our contribution to the aesthetics of black African art the old feudal societies, including Benin. Our discussion is therefore limited to large areas farmers, the true cradle of

AFRICAN SCULPTURE

Introduction
Context of African sculpture
Places of traditional African sculpture
Canons of African sculpture
Techniques and creative
Aesthetic
Role of African sculpture in the middle
Universal impact of African sculpture
Bibliographic


Introduction

Never has been written about as much ink as traditional African sculpture. Ever, despite all attempts, the man has managed to evacuate his mental field, much less its history, that is to say of his encounter with the other. It has been a cornerstone to measure the "civilization" of the black man and his ability to create capacity variously appreciated throughout history until early this century, cubism helping, the unanimously begins to make the exceptional nature of African sculpture that was always confused with African art which it is a party, probably the most important, if one were to judge solely by the number Parts created that we have reached.

Context of African sculpture

We can talk about African sculpture in isolation from the rest of the arts of Africa south of Sahara. Every word in this area is responsible not only meaningless but history, and if we chose the term "African art" is to fully assume all we have inherited from the past in

Study on the sacred


Introduction
The sacred: the real paradigm
The flaw in the anthropological research of the sacred
The position of the African researcher
The inconsistency of the true-false paradigm of the irrational
The crucial importance of the event
Ancestor worship: in search of a definition
The premier event: the phenomenon agrarian
Biological Bases
The neurobiological underpinnings
Astronomical Foundations
Conclusion
Bibliography


Introduction


Welcome to this site dedicated to refuting the paradigm of the irrational use explicit about the facts of sacred archaic or traditional societies, and especially African societies.

As a member of these societies, the systematic use of the irrational as ultimate explanation of these facts is offensive and we might seem a lack of rigor in research.

In the approach to ethnology-anthropology there is always explicitly or implicitly begging the question that traditional societies through their culture could not produce something intellectually coherent. This profession of faith explains the systematic irrationality as an explanation of the ultimate sacred facts.

By irrational, what is heard is indeed something wrong, incoherent, that defies logic, in

THE WAY OF THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE

Text from the "diplomatic world" in October 1998

In economic terms, Africa figure of poor and marginalized continent. Since the end of the Cold War, it appears as an area that declassified no longer a geopolitical and diplomatic challenge for the major powers. Outside of emergencies that require humanitarian intervention, nobody is really interested in the fate of 700 million men and women who live in this part of the world. "Bankruptcy of development"? "Retard"? Or, rather, strength of African societies, refusing to be trapped neoliberal, and the emergence of alternatives to the Western model of development?


Few studies of the continent really leave room for hope: it keeps repeating that it "Africa sinks" and becomes "a repository of humanity's ills." The image of a "continent wrecked," repeated ad nauseam, seems to summarize all the perceptions of Africa that tend to be synonymous with poverty, corruption and fraud would be the home of violence, conflict and genocide. Images are projected onto Apocalypse "an impoverished Africa in the spiral of conflict." In the late twentieth century, "no continent offers such a spectacle of desolation, war and famine as Africa. (...) Slowly, the place is going to drift. "

The paradigm of "bankruptcy" is the same analytical framework of economic and social

Présence Africaine

a forum, a movement, a network

Mezzanine East
Tuesday 10 November 2009 to Sunday, January 31, 2010
curated by Sarah-Frioux Salgas

African presence is the literary and cultural journal founded by Alioune Diop, the Senegalese intellectual in 1947, also became a publishing house from 1949. It was an outreach tool that has enabled black writers and intellectuals to assert their cultural identities and historical context that the colonial or denied "exoticizing.

This exhibition presents numerous books and archival documents, photographs and some objects. Sound recordings and audiovisual also occupy an important place: historical documents and interviews conducted specifically for this exhibition punctuate the route.

These give to see the emergence and influence of a movement, a forum for thought and demands of the black world at a time when much of the West had a distorted view, or derogatory.
route of exposure

The exhibition will feature four sections, preceded by an introductory sequence.
Exhibition opening

It is an object Dogon who happens to be the symbol of the journal, which will open the exhibition. It will present a brief review and the publishing house Présence Africaine, and to recall the relevance of such an exhibition today.

Artists Abomey

dialogue on an African Kingdom

Mezzanine East
Tuesday 10 November 2009 to Sunday, January 31, 2010
Commission: Gaëlle Beaujean, head of collections Africa Branly

with the collaboration of Joseph Adande, art historian at the University of Abomey and Ahonon Leonard, manager and curator of the site of the royal palaces of Abomey


This exhibition presents 82 works through graphics and 8 elders, artists of the kingdom of Dahomey (1600-1894), in present-day Benin.

Its purpose is to present their works but also to question their role and status within society danhoméenne, and more specifically in the capital Abomey. Indeed, the artists chosen by the king, enjoyed great privileges while being constrained by their allegiance. The exhibition will explore their creations through the different functions of art in Abomey.

It is also to involve artists and families of artists in each type of objects presented. This new approach is the result of a research conducted by the research team, which resulted in an award-sometimes very finely certain objects.

The exhibition will last a double look at the works presented: the country of origin (through the participation of two scientists from Benin) and the French commissioner.
route of exposure

After an introductory space with an old map and a genealogy of the kings