African Arts Gallery

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 singiti statues were preserved by the fumu mwalo and honored during ceremonies during which sacrifices were offered to them. Alongside the authority of hereditary chiefs, secret societies, male such as the bukazanzi, and female, the bukibilo, played a major role within the clan.

Represented in a posture associated with fertility and royalty, this African sculpture indicates that the secrets of royalty, bizila belong to women thanks to their role as political intermediaries and spiritual. The hairstyle was made of braids and copper wires. The so-called "ear-shaped" scarifications, "tactile mnemonic code", are recurrent. This type of figure was also used in the context of fertility rituals: young women lacking breast milk came to touch the chest of the statue in the hope of breastfeeding more abundantly.

Filmy patina, desication cracks.
The Luba (Baluba in Chiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, more precisely the region of the Lubu River, thus the name (Baluba, which means “the Lubas”). The Luba have two main types ...

This biteke fetish, devoid of arms, is coated with a clay agglomerate imprisoning three similar figures of reduced size. While sorcerers teke used a variety of sculptures dedicated to healing or protection, women also had them for the purpose of promoting their fertility or protecting their offspring. A native restoration was carried out on one of the feet, still covered with rubber.
Patine mate, black and ochre.
Andeblis between the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon, the Teké were organized into chiefdoms whose leader was often chosen from among the blacksmiths. The head of the family, mfumu , had the right to life or death over his family whose importance determined his prestige. The clan leader, gantsié , retained the great protective fetish ...

Among the Azande African art statues, there are Kudu statues representing ancestors and Yanda statues of lower dimension, in animal or human form, having an apotropaic role. With a particularly geometric design, this sculpture offers a semi-spherical head with oversized orbits. The barrel bust has protruding arms framing the outgrowth of the umbilicus. A thick cylindrical base prolongs the morphology. Mottled clear patina. Desication crack on the back, abrasions. br> Formerly designated under the name "Niam-Niam" because considered as cannibals, the tribes grouped under the name of Zande, Azandé, settled, coming from Chad, on the border of the R.D.C. (Zaire), Sudan and the Central African Republic. The name of their ethnic group means: "those who own a lot of land", an allusion to their ...

Displaying linear scarifications in checkerboards, this sculpted character also sports a headdress in small diamonds. His posture remains classic, hands symbolically placed on the abdomen, evoking the importance of lineage, transmission, and seat of knowledge. Smooth ocher brown patina.
The Luba dominated the Tabwa in the region along Lake Tanganyika, between Zaire and Zambia. "Tabwa" or "to be tied down" presumably refers to the system of slavery once practiced by Islamic merchants. The Tabwa then regained their independence thanks to the wealth provided by the ivory trade. Just as the influence of the Luba is perceptible in the societies and rites of the Tabwa, the Tanzanian tribes have also marked the Tabwa statuary with regard to geometric decorative motifs.

Figure of an ancestor from b>African tribal art displaying the facial and body scarifications of the Batabwa clans.
Patina of use smooth and satiny, cracks of desication.
The Tabwa ("scarify" and "write") constitute an ethnic group present in the South-East of the DRC, around Lake Tanganyika. The tribes of this region, such as the Tumbwe, worship the mipasi ancestors through sculptures held by chiefs or sorcerers. A magical charge (dawa) was frequently placed on top of the statues' heads. Soothsayers-healers used this type of object to reveal witchcraft and protect against malevolent spirits. Simple farmers without centralized power, the Tabwa federated around tribal chiefs after coming under the influence of the Luba. Animists, their beliefs are anchored around the ngulu, ...

Statue of an ordinary "Bateba", supposed to counter various evils. Their suffering physiognomy suggests that they take care of the sorrows of men. Matte black patina, erosions.
The populations of the same cultural region, grouped under the name "lobi", form a fifth of the inhabitants of Burkina Faso. Few in number in Ghana, they have also settled in the north of Côte d'Ivoire. It was at the end of the 18th century that the Lobi, coming from Northern Ghana, settled among the indigenous Thuna and Puguli, the Dagara, the Dian, the Gan and the Birifor. The Lobi believe in a creator God named Thangba Thu, to whom they address themselves through the worship of many intermediary spirits, the Thil, the latter being supposed to protect them, with the help of the soothsayer, against a host ...

On Yoruba altars, this type of horseman statue embodies a deified ancestor or the divine messenger Esù or Elégba, one of the many orisa gods comparable to Christian saints. The equine, rare in the region, was an attribute of prestige that was reserved for the nobility and sovereigns. Matte patina with granular relief. Erosions.
The Yoruba, more than 20 million, occupy the southwest of Nigeria and the central and southeast region of Benin under the name of Nago. They are patrilineal, practice excision and circumcision. Centered on its multiple gods or orisa, the Yoruba religion is illustrated by its altars on which sacrifices are practiced. Arts and coded messages, àroko, are thus used to worship these gods who are supposed to have taken human form. Ref.: "Yoruba " B. Lawal.

Ex. Belgian collection of African art The numerous statuettes are, among the Ngandi, related to hunting and magic. Some represent the spirit Ngbirondo and act as guardian of the village.
Funerary statues were also used, and sculptures of a couple Yangba and his sister, equivalent to the Seto and Nabo ancestors of the Ngbaka.

The Ngbaka form a homogeneous people from the northwest of the DRC, south of the Ubangui. The Ngbandi live in the east (on the left bank of the Ubangui) and the Ngombe in the south. The initiation of young people, "gaza" or "ganza" (which gives strength) among the Ngbaka and the Ngbandi, presents many similarities, through endurance tests, songs and dances. The rites required the presence of ancestor sculptures.
Semi-matte patina, ...

Ex. French collection of African art
Tribal fetish statue with a receptacle for a magical charge and a basket made of wickerwork carried on its back. The gaze refers to extrasensory abilities. br /> Minor cracks, erosions.
Among the Kongo , the nganga activated rituals using a nkondi (pl. nkissi) to invoke a spiritual force. The term nkisi was later used to designate concepts such as "sacred" or "divine". The most influential category of "minkisi kongo" included instruments intended to help regional chiefs enforce the law. A metal object was nailed to a wooden figure as soon as a decision was made, each nail evoking a specific case: disputes, divorces, conflicts between communities... The nkondi thus aimed to guarantee the application of the agreement to resolve the ...

This African statue in carved wood depicts a naked subject. Its headdress highlights the elongation of the skull, typical of Mangbetu dignitaries, which a compression of the head from a young age gradually deformed.
Light beige patina, chips and cracks, old restoration (foot).
The elders called beli the anthropomorphic figures embodying ancestors, stored out of sight, and comparable to those belonging to their secret society nebeli. Light beige patina, missing parts. The Mangebetu kingdom, in the north of the Congo, produced architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century. Their furniture, weapons, finery and statuary were marked by a rare aesthetic quality. The ethnologist G.A. Schweinfurth described its symmetry and refinement in 1870, while at the same ...

Sketchy yet expressive features for this sculpted figure devoid of arms, carried by high slender legs rising from a cube. Between two arm stumps, a flat and reduced chest forms a slight relief.
Slightly satin-finished, abraded surface.
In the southern coastal region of Tanzania, around Dar-es-Salaam, a relatively homogeneous group produced most of the artistic productions. It includes the Swahili, Kaguru, Doé, Kwéré, Luguru, Zaramo, Kami. The second region is made up of a territory covering southern Tanzania to Mozambique, where some Makonde and the Yao, the Ngindo, Mwéra, and Makua live. In the North-East of Tanzania, the Chaga, Paré, Chamba, Zigua, Massaï, Iraqw, Gogo, and Héhé have an artistic production presenting similarities with Malagasy and Batak art, which ...

Former French collection of African art.
Precisely carved statuette that embodies the royal ancestor Mizimu. Large statues of this type were placed alongside female effigies in a small funerary hut. Lustrous brown patina.
Migratory flows have mixed within the same territories Bembe, Lega, Buyu (Buye) or Boyo, Binji and Bangubangu. Organized into lineages, they borrowed the association of the Bwami from the Lega. The Bembé and Boyo traditions are relatively similar: they venerate the spirits of nature, of water specifically among the Boyo, but also the heroic ancestors, whose will one seeks to know by means of divinatory rites. Hunting is also an opportunity to perform sacrifices of gratitude to the entities from whom one has begged for favor and protection. Their masks are ...

The Ubangian crucible has produced many statuettes that share certain similarities. This primitive sculpture, on which the herminette strokes appear, was indicated to us as belonging to the Ngbaka . It is distinguished by a voluminous head in which the bulging forehead gives birth to a braided hairstyle pulled backwards. The look is just suggested by a linear recess between two circular samples marking the ears. Nostrils are dug under the large nasal volume dominating a thin horizontal mouth, conferring a determined appearance. Reduced arms, placed against the bust, emphasize the volume of the abdomen. This ancient statuette could be associated with fertility and fertility. The dark brown patina with a satin feel, lustrous by oil anointings, is locally abraded. Desication cracks.

Carved from dense wood, this protective female figure is said to be associated with the mythical ancestor and to intervene in human fertility, land fertility, and successful hunts. The face forms a miniature replica of the powerful mukishi wa pwo nyi cijingo ca tangwa mask topped with the kambu ja tota. ("Chokwe and Their Bantu Neighbours" Rodrigues de Areia.) br> Brown satin patina. Abrasions, cracks.
br>Originally Lunda, the Lwena , Luena, emigrated from Angola to Zaire in the 19th century, pushed out by the Chokwe. When some became slave traders, others, the Lovale, found refuge in Zambia. Their society is matrilineal, exogamous and polygamous. The Lwena became known for their sculptures embodying figures of deceased ancestors and chiefs, and their masks related to the ...

French collection of African art.
The Solongo cultures of Angola and Yombé were largely influenced by the Kongo kingdom from which they borrowed naturalistic statuary and religious rites, in particular by means of sculpted nkondo nkisi fetishes.
African statuette evoking the mythical ancestor which is linked to fertility cults. Shiny red-brown patina. Very slight abrasions. The Vili, the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembé, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo constituted the Kôngo group, led by the ntotela king. Their kingdom reached its peak in the 16th century with the trade in ivory, copper and the slave trade. With the same beliefs and traditions, they produced statuary with codified gestures in relation to their vision of the world.
Ref. : ...

Swiss African art collection.
African statuette Nkisi, nkishi (pl. mankishi) of the Songye whose face reproduces the kifwebe mask. The arms, whose hands surround the protruding abdomen, provide space to carefully grasp the sculpture using metal hooks, as dictated by custom.
Satin patina. Abrasions.
These protective fetishes for homes are among the most popular in Africa. The Nkisi plays the role of mediator between god and men, responsible for protecting against various evils. The large specimens are the collective property of an entire village, and the smaller figures belong to an individual or a family. In the 16th century, the Songyes migrated from the Shaba region to settle on the left bank of the Lualaba. Their society is organized in a patriarchal way. ...

Hemba tribal art statuette, carved in accordance with Hemba conventions, to highlight the ancestor's ability to intercede with the gods on behalf of men. Dark matte patina.

Generally made in iroko, this type of African sculpture for ritual use was venerated by a particular clan and stored in funerary premises in the chief's house.
The Hemba, established in the south-east of Zaire, on the right bank of the Lualaba, have long been subject to the neighboring Luba empire. The cult of ancestors, whose effigies have long been attributed to the Luba, is central in Hemba society. All aspects of the community are imbued with the authority of the ancestors. The singiti statues were preserved by the fumu mwalo and honored during ceremonies during which sacrifices were offered to ...

Ex-German tribal art collection.
The stylized African art of the forest tribes
Cubic volumes and sharp features make up a certain dynamic for this primitive metoko statue, whose characteristics are similar to Thengola sculptures. A face cut in flat, with hollowed-out orbits in the heart, is divided into two tones taken from the spots painted on the character's body, reminiscent of the bichrome of Gabon's masks. The feet sink into a circular base. Cracks. This male cult effigy is from the Metoko and Lengola, located in the center of the Congolese basin between the Lomami and Lualaba rivers, peoples of the primary forest dedicated to the worship of a single God, rare monotheism in Africa. Their company, Bukota, welcoming both men and women, is the equivalent of the association ...

Sculpted according to the indications of the diviner after consultation, embodying a type of "ideal spouse", this female figure offers most of the criteria which distinguish traditional Baoulé sculpture relating to "spouses of the beyond" (African Art Western Eyes, Baule ", Vogel, p.253 to 257).
Chip, small abrasions.
Two types of statues are produced by the Baoulé in the ritual context: The Waka-Sona statues, “being of wood” in Baoulé, evoke an assié oussou, being of the earth. They are part of a type of statue intended to be used as a medium tool by the komien diviners, the latter being selected by the asye usu spirits in order to communicate revelations from the beyond. The second type of statues are the spouses of the afterlife, male, the Blolo bian or female, the ...

Figure "Waka -Sona", "est of wood, ED" in baoulé, carved in dense wood, presents a light brown patina. Both hands of the character rest on the bulging abdomen. This gesture of life refers to parentage. Two types of statues Waka-Sona are produced by the baoulé in the ritual framework: those that evoke a assius oussou, being from the earth, and are part of a set of statues intended to be used as a medium tool by the Komian soothsayers, the latter being selected by the asye usu spirits in order to communicate the revelations of the afterlife. The second type of statues are the spouses of the afterlife, male, Blolo bian or female, the blolo bia . About 60 ethnic groups populate Côte d'Ivoire, including the Baoulé in the centre, Akans from Ghana, the savannah people, hunting and farming, as ...