African Arts Gallery

The bulbous forehead of this African mask houses large hollowed-out rectangles. A narrow mouth inscribed in a diamond is adorned with incisions showing the teeth. He wears a headdress made up of basket caps and feathers.
Masque of ceremonies related to the society of warriors and initiation rites, it was also exhibited at funerals, in connection with the previous initiations of the deceased, and for remuneration in many cases. The power of some masks is also so feared that their name alone can cause women and children to flee. Red ochre pigment residue. Restoration on one of the contours. Eroded wood. Living on hunting and agriculture, warrior people, the Salampasu form a tribe of the Lulua group and are settled between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, east of the Kasai ...

This statuette Chokwe or Lwena, associated with the therapeutic cult of the type Hamba , embodies a female ancestor, perhaps the second wife of the mythical leader Chibinda Ilunga, supposed to guarantee fertility or healing. Her mature woman's body bears scarifications testifying to different stages of initiation. Her necklace is made up of beads of glasses, buttons, cauris and osselet. Ritual coatings, clear, remain encrusted on the surface. These figures were arranged around the altar muyombo , a tree at whose feet sacrifices and offerings were once made. Sculptures made of sticks or poles (Mbunji or mbanji), planted in the ground, were also associated. The related ethnic groups had the same type of altar, a witness before which rituals, oaths and important transactions were concluded. ...

This mask with a crusty white patina offers a more sober monochrome version than the traditional Okua Idoma mask where the face is covered with checkered scarifications. The wide toothed mouth, responding to this work to the drawing of the eyes, is however a stylistic constant. Crack, contour erosion.
The Idoma live at the confluence of Bené and Niger. There are 500,000 farmers and traders. Their art and customs have influences from Igbo, the Cross River and Igala, and it is often difficult to distinguish them from their neighbours. Members of their societyo-scoliny, glorifying courage, use masks and cimiers during funerals and festivities. They also produce fertility statues with bleached faces and exhibiting incised teeth. Janiform cimiers are usually exhibited at the funerals of ...

An ovoid head with exorbitant eyes engulfed in a stocky bust, hands gathered in front of the bust. This African sculpture featuring a small chubby figure, who does not obey the traditional canons, was however collected in Cameroon in 1984. Straw obstructs the dorsal cavity into which therapeutic or magical ingredients were probably introduced. Made of wood, a thick, crusty, cracked patina covers it completely.
Despite their small number, the thirty thousand Mambila (or Mambilla, Mambere, Nor, Torbi, Lagubi, Tagbo, Tongbo, Bang, Ble, Juli, Bea) (the " men" , in fulani), settled in northwestern Cameroon, on both sides of the border of Cameroon and Nigeria, have created a large number of masks and statues easily identifiable by their heart-shaped faces. Although the Mambila believe in ...

The Luba are renowned for their statuary and in particular their neck-bearings and stools made up of a cariatidic figure. The feminine effigy symbolizing Luba royalty, carefully carved, is endowed with a cascading shankadi-style hairstyle. The neck supports were also used to support the heads of the deceased, and sometimes, according to Albert Maesen, buried in their place. Reddish-brown satin patina. Erosions.
The Luba (Baluba in Tchiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, specifically the Lubu River region, hence the name (Baluba, which means \

Primitivism in The African Art Komo
Ancient African Mask of Circumcision, from Ituria. A losangic embossed mark reminiscent of the tribal keloid scar is drawn on the forehead of our African Komo mask. This shape renews itself on the chin. On either side, two eyes highlighted in white are summarily hollowed out in almond. The gap of the mouth reveals a cut-out evoking a dentition. The edge is lined with perforations in order to be able to attach the raffia fibers forming collar concealing the dancer, absent on this specimen. Circular patterns were manually applied to the surface of the object. Pigment salities, erosions.
The Kumu live mainly in the North-East and central Democratic Republic of Congo. Their Bantu language is komo or kikomo. Several ethnic groups are closely ...

Among the Yaka, Eastern Kongo, Nkanu and Zombo, the sound of the drum covered the moans of circumcision, drove out malevolent spirits, and encouraged future initiates. This scepter is sculpted from a tambourine figure, the eyes are surrounded by deep orbits and the nose slightly upturned. Break can't be seen on one leg. Glossy patina, red ochre residue.
High on a base: 35 cm.
Voisins of the Yaka and Kongo in the west of the former Zaire, the Zombo fear, like the Kongo clans, the god named Nzambi. Their soothsayers use fetishes similar to those of the Kongo, but the ceremonies associated with the initiation rites stem from Yaka traditions. Fetish sculptures are used by ngangas to protect against evil, heal or cause luck, wealth and fertility. Their art is very similar to that ...

Ex-collection Belgian tribal art.
Mangbetu's African art offers a wide variety of everyday objects, instruments and adornments. However, many of the objects attributed to them are from the Nzakara whose prestigious sculptures are stylistically comparable.
Among the aerophones, originally carved from antelope horns or in the ivory of elephant trunks, this type of lateral-mouthed tube was used to produce coded sounds for the purpose of communication within the group, in a context of hunting, rituals around hunting, or to make music supposed to please ancestral spirits during funeral ceremonies. The object refers to the ancestors by its iconography, identifiable by the headdress of the character, the aesthetic canon of the mangbetu aristocracy. From an early age, children's ...

Ex.belgian African art collectionr-These mythical protective figures no doubt evoke the primordial couple, associated with the Nommos , at the origin of the dogon creation. Ovoid heads whose nasal ridge joins the crest rest on discoid chin straps. The volume of the body sculpted into a block is presented in sharp, stylized planes, arms attached to the bust, an umbilical protrusion affirming lineage, and semi-flexed legs seeming to sink into a circular base. Dry crusty skate. Cracks in desications. Mostly custom-carved by a family, Dogon statues can also be worshipped by the entire community when they commemorate, for example, the founding of the village. However, their functions remain little known. Parallel to Islam, dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lebe, ...

Evoking strength, this small female figure of naturalistic conception, presents a body on which the musculature is drawn. Established firmly on large digital feet, it adopts the characteristics of the dan sculpture. The child on her back is coated with crusty residues indicating libations associated with a fertility cult. The necklace accessorized with a cauri also has a magical reach. Dark mate patina.
As gifts of women, food, festive ceremonies and honorable status once rewarded the dan sculptors to whom this talent was granted during a dream. The latter was the means of communication of Du, invisible spiritual power, with men. Statuary, rare, played a prestigious role with its holder. These are mainly effigies of wives, la m , wooden human beings. These are not incarnations of ...

The sculpted figure depicted kneeling, opposite, forms an illustration of the hermaphrodite statuary from the central part of the cliff of Bandiagara, bombou-toro. It is part of an important collection of dogon objects. This statue is distinguished by the flat headdress with an open base, long graceful limbs, a bulbous abdomen marked with umbilical protrusion, shoulders cut in a semicircle. Bracelets are engraved on the arms, and dented patterns are chiseled on the bust. Greyish and grainy matte patina, dry, encrusted deposits, good general condition.
Sculpted mostly by a family, Dogon statues can also be worshipped by the entire community when they commemorate, for example, the founding of the village. Their functions, however, remain little known. Parallel to Islam, the Dogon ...

The art of Côte d'Ivoire and the elegance of its sculpted masks
Reflet of the refinement of traditional sculpture of Côte d'Ivoire, this modest-sized mask, with regular features and horns, is decorated with metal sheets contrasting with the dark patina.
The Yaouré are a subgroup of the Akan people present in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Geographically close to the Baoulé and the Gouros, the art of the Yaouré was influenced by these neighbouring ethnic groups, and vice versa. African art masks Yaouré , or Yauré , whose Baoulé have almost similar models, are divided into two groups that are difficult to differentiate, the je , sometimes with the addition of coloured pigments, and the lo, usually with a dark patina, who intervene during funeral ceremonies or any other rite in order ...

Zande primitive mask with zoomoprhes and anthropomoprhes: the nose evokes the beak of a bird. Reddish and brown patina, white clay highlights.
Onesses referred to as " Niam-Niam " because they are considered anthropophages, the tribes grouped under the name Zande , Azandé , settled, from Chad, on the border of the R.D.C. (Zaire), Sudan and the Central African Republic. According to their beliefs, man is endowed with two souls, one of whom turns into a totem animal of the clan to which he belongs. The African tribal art of the Zande, or ", which possess a lot of land, apart from their court art consisting of spoons, receptable, pipes and harps, counts two types of statues: The Kudu statues of a height of between 30 and 50 cm represent ancestors. There are also statues called Yanda of ...

Statuette depicting a Yoruba priestess, whose cheeks are incised from vertical scarifications "kpélé", breasts classically stretched over an offering cup. Its body displays traditional tribal marks, and the wearing of jewelry indicates its status as a dignitary.
Patine very slightly satin.
The Yoruba society has several associations whose roles vary. While the egbe society is strengthening social norms, the aro unites farmers. The gelede has more esoteric and religious aims. The notables come together in a society called susu . Offering cups, some of which were used to store kola nuts or others present for visitors, were once located in the royal palaces of the Ekiti and Igbomina regions of the country Yoruba.The kingdoms of Oyo and Ijebu were born following the ...

The African masks of Okuyi dances.
This face mask, evoking a deceased woman, is divided into two colours. It was exhibited during the dance named Okuyi. In addition to the braids gathered in shell that make up her hairstyle, a rich ornament composed of glass beads, cauris and raffia braid highlights the oval of the face entured with a wicker cord. Traditional checkered scarifications, mabinda, are gloomy.
The white masks of Gabon, itengi, (pl. bitengi) were associated with the various secret societies in Gabon, including the Bwiti, Bwete , and the Mwiri ("diriger"), the latter spanning several levels of initiation, to which all Punu men belonged, and whose emblem was the Caiman. The Punu did not involve any masks in the rituals of the Bwiti, unlike the Tsogo. These powerful ...

It is the accessories and the hairstyle of the dancer that make it possible to identify in many cases the character embodied by a Pende mask, this copy being devoid. Wearing spikes, it is a chef or a dignitary fumu , who intercedes with the ancestors in order to guarantee his people benefits and security. More marked traits refer to pumbu, killer-justice. The male-looking mask features lowered eyelids that form the specificity of the Pende. Burgundy patina.
Hightop: 46 cm.
The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Easterners have settled on the banks of the Kasai river downstream of Tshikapa. The influences of the neighbouring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salempasu, were imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity ...

A rider figure, sculpted in a round-bump, overcomes the stick of this ritual scepter. It glorifies a deified ancestor. Equid, rare in the region, was also an attribute of prestige reserved for the nobility and rulers. The mount has different proportions than the rider. The horse perched on a pedestal has a small size. Focused on the veneration of its gods, or orisà, the religion yoruba relies on artistic sculptures with coded messages (aroko). They are designed by sculptors at the request of followers, soothsayers and their customers. These spirits are supposed to intercede with the supreme god Olodumare. Crusty skate. Use of burgundy red pigments. The Yoruba, more than 20 million, occupy southwestern Nigeria and the central and south-eastern region of Benin under the name Nago. They are ...

The tribal fetishes of the Kongo kingdom have a magical charge lodged on the abdomen behind a mirror blocking a cavity. The statuette, which has no forearms, is also equipped with a backpack and a ceding headdress, in which magic ingredients have probably been introduced. Eyes with dark pupils are encrusted with glass in reference to extra lucid abilities. Speckled matte patina with residual inlays. Desication abrasions and cracks. The nganga, sorcerers but also healers, were in charge of religious activities and mediation towards the God called Nzambi through these types of figures, most often consecrated anthropomorphic tribal sculptures, named nkisi.
Shez the Kongo, nganga took care of the rituals by activating a spiritual force with a nkondi (pl. nkissi). The term nkisi was then ...