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Le pays et la culture Dogon

D’après Jean-Louis Paudrat

Situé dans la partie orientale du Mali, et mordant sur le nord ouest du Burkina Faso, le pays Dogon constitue un vaste territoire dont les frontières s’étendent sur près de mille kilomètres. A l’ouest en deça de la plaine alluviale, dépendant du complexe fluvial Niger-Bani, se déploie sur quelques quatre vingt kilomètres un plateau de grés primaire, que l’érosion éolienne a transformé en un paysage souvent chaotique particulièrement aride en saison sèche, lorsque entre février et juin souffle l’harmattan et que la température s’élève à 45°C.

Les nombreuses fractures de la roches quelques fois profondes ont permis néanmoins l’aménagement sur le fond schisteux des crevasses de surface cultivables, irriguées par l’infiltration à travers le grés de l’eau des rivières, qui courent temporairement en surface. Cette région du plateau s’interrompt en surplomb de la plaine Seno-Gondo, par une falaise escarpée, longue de deux cent soixante kilomètres environ orientée vers le nord est jusqu'à Doucentza puis vers l’est jusqu’à Hombori. Entaillée de failles horizontales, criblées d’une multitude de niches et de grottes, à certains endroits rompues par le départ, de hauts couloirs qui pénètrent le plateau sa paroi, se dresse au dessus, d’une masse d’éboulis, rocheux. Sur ces derniers parfois à l’abri d’auvents ou de plates formes, saillantes sont juchées greniers et sanctuaires habitations et jardinets en terrasse. Entre le pied encombré

The Luba


The Luba Empire was founded in 1585, in the depression of the Upemba by King Kongholo, his nephew and successor Llunga Kalala, enlarges rapidly until the kingdom territory on the left bank of the River Lualaba. At the height of the kingdom more than a million people live in tribes, various paid tribute to King Luba. At the end of XIX with DVANCED Ovimbudu of Angola and the raids of slave traders Islamic empire s'affiblit and collapsed when the Belgian colonists arrived.

The economy lm'empire Luba came from payment of tribute and redistribution of resources from agriculture, fishing and hunting, and mining.

Luba artists have created many objects related to the activity of the court, the prestige objects were usually decorated with female figures everywhere in Luba art. Because of the huge area covered by the empire there are wide variations in the corpus stylistic art Luba.


Masks:


Luba masks rare, are found mainly in the eastern part of the empire. One type of mask Luba, very similar to the masks of kifwebe Songye but has more rounded features. There are very few zoomorphic masks.


Statues:


Luba artists have sculpted female statues standing or kneeling Mboko called, cleverly taking a cut, and who served during the ceremonies of divination. The statues stand uncommon, and probably representing the forest spirits or ancestors are covered with a

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

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

Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller est un collectionneur suisse, né à Genève en 1930.

Biographie

Il a subi l’influence d’un père que tout passionnait : la poésie, la philosophie, la musique (une des ses oeuvres fut créée à Seattle en 1985) ou la science (il obtint son doctorat en biologie à l’âge de 47 ans).

Après des études de droit à Genève et à Londres, il s’inscrit au Barreau, mais se retrouve assez rapidement au service d’une grande banque, puis directeur, à 28 ans, d’une société financière. En 1960, il crée sa propre entreprise, la Société privée de gérance, spécialisée dans la gestion du parc locatif immobilier d’investisseurs institutionnels et la construction d’immeubles à caractère social.

Collectionneur à la suite de son beau-père Josef Mueller, il s’oriente vers les arts « non occidentaux ». Avec sa femme Monique, il crée en 1977 le musée Barbier-Mueller, qui organise plus de soixante-quinze expositions, la plupart accompagnées d'importants catalogues, présentant les différentes sections de la collection familiale, avec la collaboration des plus grands musées d’Europe, d’Amérique et d’Asie. Il conduit lui-même ou finance des recherches à Sumatra, en Côte