African Arts Gallery

Boat of mythical beings, Nommos linked to the Dogon's complex legends and beliefs. The animal motifs also refer to the animals of creation. Rusty brown patina. The Nommo, a protective ancestor evoked in different forms in Dogon iconography, is said to be an ancestor gifted with the ability to manifest himself in human or animal form. The Dogon blacksmiths form an endogamous caste among the Dogon called irim. Today they produce weapons, tools, and also work with wood. "Masters of fire" associated in Dogon cosmogony with the primordial beings "Nommo" created by the god Ama, they are also supposed to cure burns. Small metal objects, made using the lost wax technique, were widespread in the region of the interior delta of the Niger, copper reaching it thanks to ...

African art and tribal worship vodun ewe and fon populations.
Clipped in clay materials in which amulets in the form of seashells clump together, the straight busts of three statuettes follow one another in a wooden canoe. At the front, a small vase, receptacle of a dried fruit, is adorned with a metal ring. The fetishes are coated with kaolin and adorned with pearl necklaces. In Togo, African fetishes are part of rituals beneficial or evil according to the intentions of their owner. The fetishists, following the ritual of divination using palm nuts, make them to order to offer protective and medicinal virtues but also offer versions ready to use more traditional. These practices, which are still in use today, are sometimes decried and considered as animist and over by the time of ...

This sculpted canoe features a crew of bust figures surrounding a larger effigy, wearing helmets enhanced by pigments of various colors. The hull, on which residual green and red pigments are still visible, is engraved with geometric patterns. Shard on the stern. Unknown use.
In the 13th century, the Kongo people, led by their king Ne Kongo, settled in a region at the crossroads of the borders between present-day DRC, Angola and Gabon. Two centuries later, the Portuguese came into contact with the Kongo and converted their king to Christianity. Although monarchical, the Kongo political system had a democratic aspect because the king was actually placed at the head of the kingdom following an election held by a council of tribal governors. This king, also known as ntotela, controlled ...

African art among the Bozo.
These, mostly fishermen and farmers, live in the northern part of the bambara country in the niger's inner delta and remain semi-nomadic today, moving their homes as seasonal floods continue. Mande-speaking people, they speak sorogama. Within their group, we can distinguish the Sorko or Sorogo, the Hain, and the Tie.Besides their remarkable masks, the Bozo and Bambara are renowned for their puppets of varied size and frequently articulated, exhibited during the puppet theatre Sogow bo which organizes itself on the initiative of young people from the villages, mainly in the region of Ségou, and which plays an educational role. The invention of these puppets is attributed to the geniuses of the bush who removed Toboji Centa, a bozo fisherman