African Arts Gallery

Belgian collection of African art Commemorating local chiefs, responsible for interceding for men with the gods, these rare Hemba singiti couple statues have a deep satin black patina. The singiti statues were kept by the fumu mwalo and honored during ceremonies during which sacrifices were offered to them. In parallel with the authority of hereditary chiefs, secret societies, male such as ...

This African art statue of the Dogon type, carved from dense wood, embodies an ancestor. This work comes from the south-east of Mali (former Mali Empire) where the Samos, a Mandingo people descended from the Malinké, live. Matte, flaky, beige-grey patina with blackish incrustations. Desiccation cracks. Breaks at the height of a child's arms.

These statues, sometimes embodying the ...

A grainy brown patina covers this African mask sculpted by artisans of the Yohouré ethnic group. The horns refer to the spirits of the bush. The face with fine features is bordered by a crenellation resembling a beard. Crack on the back edge.
The Yaouré form a subgroup of the Akan tribe present in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Geographically close to the Baulé and the Gouros, Yaouré art has ...

Ex. Canadian collection of African art Intended to unmask sorcerers, the African mask was sculpted, among the Fang, on the eve of ceremonies. The physiognomy, intended to intimidate opposing powers, presents here a softened expression. Accompanied by words, gestures, dances and sacrifices, this mask also intervened during initiations, out of sight of the profane. Matte patina. Abrasions, ...

Comparable to African sculptures Hemba, African sculptures kusu represent bearded subjects embodying chiefs or ancestors and offer a frontal posture, hands on the abdomen. Satin brown patina, gaps and cracks.
The Kusu established on the left bank of the Lualaba have borrowed the artistic traditions of the Luba and the Hemba and have a caste system similar to that Luba.
The ...

In the south-eastern region of Katanga, from the 1960s, the Zela, long subject to the Lubas whose customs and rites they borrowed, carved animal masks , like the Lubas and the Kundas. From 1970 in fact, the kifwebe company was subject to a transformation which was accompanied by new masks. In the Zela and Kundas groups, however, this type of mask was manifested during secular theatrical ...

Sculpture depicting subjects surrounding a lidded receptacle intended for votive offerings, gifts for visitors, or even divination. Sculptures of this type decorated the palaces of the Yoruba country. The characters evoke minor gods or ancestors.
Centered on the veneration of its gods, or orisà , the Yoruba religion is based on artistic sculptures with coded messages ( aroko ). These ...

Ex-collection Italian African art.

Female figure from the Kangulungu region sculpted in a naturalist style, with the famous half-closed female gaze, "zanze". Represented naked, fingers joined on the sternum, she adopts an expression of contemplation. These statues were generally part of a fertility cult and were kept in a room in the chief's house. Matte red ochre patina. ...

Cylindrical container mboko intended for kaolin in relation to purity and the spiritual world. These containers were used by different Luba societies, and groups of prophets, more generally by the mediums of the Kilumbu, Bilumbu divination society, or by the healers of the society. Buhabo . It was a question, individually or collectively, of consulting the spirits of the ancestors through ...