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CMA: African Art

CMA: African Art

@cmaafrican.bsky.social

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Sharing public domain works from the African Art department of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Automated thanks to @andreitr.bsky.social and @botfrens.bsky.social

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CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 3h

Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2005.3

The life of Lega men and women is structured around their advancement through the different grades of the Bwami association. Fulfilling political, social, religious, and other roles, the members’ ultimate purpose is the pursuit of wisdom and excellence. Ivory figurines were reserved for members of the two highest Bwami grades, in which the core of the Lega’s moral philosophy is revealed.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 8h

Snuff Container https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.200

Snuff containers made out of a gourd--the hard shell of the fruit of the Oncoba spinosa tree--and decorated with wirework were widespread in southern Africa. The shape and material of gourd snuff containers suggest they would have been made for female users. Like a woman’s womb, the gourd contains and nurtures the seed. Thus, the materials and the forms of snuff containers allude to procreation and fecundity.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 9h

Whistle https://clevelandart.org/art/1915.454

Carved out of ivory or wood in a variety of shapes, Chokwe whistles often bear miniature, stylized renderings of masks. Cikunza, the "patron saint" of the boys' initiation into manhood, is depicted with a pointed extension imitating the horn of a road antelope, symbolizing the fertility spirit. Typically such whistles were used by men during the hunt to communicate with their co-hunters and to call their dogs. They were either worn attached to a string as a necklace or tied to a spear.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 1d

Gold Weight: Geometric https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.265

The wealth and power of the Asante kingdom was derived primarily from its massive gold resources. Since at least 1600, small weights in brass and bronze were used to weight gold dust and nuggets. The royal court had the most elaborate store of weights, while commoners often had about a dozen. Their imagery falls into two broad cateogries: geometric and representational. The latter often refers to proverbs, which used judiciously, marked a wise person.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 1d

Bracelet https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.538

This ivory bracelet is simple, yet elegant. Note how the delicate wire repair by a Kuba artisan adds a counterpoint pattern to the original design.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 1d

Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.431

This figure was the Delennes' first African art acquisition. They purchased the work in Paris in 1958—the year they were married—from the then leading French dealer Henri Kamer. The couple's interest in African art, which also inspired this particular acquisition, was triggered by their visit to the Congolese pavilion at the Brussels world's fair that same year. This experience made a lasting impression and triggered a lifelong appreciation for the art of what was then still the Belgian Congo. Although Odette later admitted that she knew that this figure was not the best example of Teke art, she and her husband held on to it because it served as a personal souvenir of their meeting each other.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 2d

Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.199

Figures like this would have been used in rituals by the ancestors of the present-day inhabitants of the Inland Niger Delta. Representing the gods and kings or queens associated with the region’s former residents, the figures received prayers and offerings in exchange for their support. The seated position of this male has been interpreted as a harmful pose intended to bring death to an individual.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 2d

Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.443

The Delenne’s stumbled upon this group of seven anthropomorphic figurines (2010.437–43) in an antiques shop in Nice during a holiday in the south of France in 1961. The carvings carry paperboard labels with inscriptions in French that indicate their ethnic and geographic provenance as well as some other details. Stemming from the Kongo region in West Central Africa, these seven sculptures feature a variety of gestures and poses, the use of mirror or glass for the eyes, and a red-white-black color scheme. They belong to the broad category of <em>minkisi</em> (singular <em>nkisi</em>), containers for medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Two of the group are minkisi of the <em>nduda</em> type, characterized by the attached "guns" loaded with gunpowder and used to shoot witches. This figurine wears the <em>mpu</em> headdress of chiefs as he sits in a mental state of mourning, perhaps a reference to what the nkisi may induce in the person against whom its action is directed. It belonged to “the sorcerer of Tiétié on the Djoué River.”

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 2d

Female Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.452

Songye figures were used as devices for protection, healing, or therapy. The value of such objects resided in magical substances most commonly concealed in the abdominal cavity or in a horn set into the skull. The mixture of ingredients was meant to solicit the powers of the spirit world. Both the sculpture's height and its gender suggest that it was owned and used by an individual, possibly even a woman. Although some have attributed its particular style—characterized by geometric volumes and an almost Cubist appearance—to a subgroup living along the Sankuru River, the regional attribution of any figure on stylistic grounds is always tentative given the itinerant nature of artists.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 3d

Knife https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.1021

Knife

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 3d

Female Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.449

This female figurine may be a fragment of a spoon or spatula, but this claim cannot be confirmed. Although the iconography of the human image is not uncommon in the art of the Yombe and related Kongo-speaking peoples, it does not reveal the object's function or purpose. The position of the arms has been interpreted as that of a bound prisoner while the head, tilted horizontally or at an angle, represents a broken neck or even a severed head, thus identifying the prisoner as a sacrificial victim. Yet, despite the large quantity of Yombe- and Kongo-attributed works in collections, as well as the vast body of literature on the subject, their culture, history, and art, many questions remain unanswered and our knowledge continues to be fragmented and superficial.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 3d

Carved Tooth https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.137

This is a fine example of art produced for sale to European visitors in the Lower Congo River area. A long history of cultural and artistic interactions between Africans and Europeans began in 1482, when the Portuguese first established diplomatic ties with the rulers of the Kongo kingdoms. Note the image of a foreign merchant pouring whiskey from a keg.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 4d

Knife https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.1019

Knife

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 4d

Knife https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.743

This beautifully-wrought knife served as a symbol of political authority among the Ngala. Quite literally it signified the power of life and death for its form was derived from that of an executioner's knife.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 4d

Face Mask https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.155

This kple kple mask belongs to the first of four pairs of masks that entertain as part of a performance sequence in the goli dance. The male in each pair dances first. The masks are worn by young boys in a rapid stamping dance. The masqueraders alternate with each other and watch their partners perform. The head of the male kple kple is painted red, whereas the female, like this example, is colored black.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 5d

Baton https://clevelandart.org/art/1992.1046

Baton

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 5d

Jewelry https://clevelandart.org/art/1935.311

Shared by different Akan and Akan-related peoples, including the Asante and Baule, gold ornaments indicate status and wealth and are worn at public festivals by titleholders, chiefs, and kings. Most pectoral disks are suspended over the chest by a white, pineapple-fiber cord. They are owned by the okra, a young official who purifies the chief’s soul--hence, the name akrafokonmu, meaning "soul-washer’s badges" or "soul disks."

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 5d

Male Figure of a Pair https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.459.1

Although this pair has been attributed to the Ngbandi, many of the style characteristics identified as typical of that culture are in fact shared with its neighbors the Ngbaka-Minagende, among others. Carving of paired figures is quite well documented among the Ngbaka-Minagende, where such sculptures are said to represent the mythical ancestor Seto and his sister-wife, Nabo. But field-based research cannot confirm the existence of figurative couples among the Ngbandi. Were all such Ngbandi-style couples created by Ngbandi artists for a neighboring Ngbaka-Minagende community or another Ubangi group? Or do they instead refer to a more localized tradition that was never documented by foreign observers?

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 6d

Hair Ornament https://clevelandart.org/art/1915.501

Hair Ornament

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 6d

Knife https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.1022

Knife

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 6d

Female Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.153

Female Figure

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 7d

Half-Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.212

The substances contained in its cloth-covered cranial cavity indicate that this half-figure belongs to the broad category of charms or "power objects" that the Luba call mankishi. It was used by a ritual expert and functioned in a variety of rituals dealing with healing, protection, divination, or jurisdiction. Often such power figures were carved by the ritual experts rather than by professional artists.

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 7d

Eshu Dance Staff https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.34

Eshu Dance Staff

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 7d

Shield https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.245

Shield

CMA: African Art @cmaafrican.bsky.social · 8d

Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.442

The Delennes stumbled upon this group of seven anthropomorphic figurines (2010.437–43) in an antique shop in Nice during a holiday in the south of France in 1961. The carvings carry paperboard labels with inscriptions in French that indicate their ethnic and geographic provenance as well as some other details. Stemming from the Kongo region in West Central Africa, these seven sculptures feature a variety of gestures and poses, the use of mirror or glass for the eyes, and a red-white-black color scheme. They belong to the broad category of <em>minkisi</em> (singular <em>nkisi</em>), containers for medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Two of the group are minkisi of the <em>nduda</em> type, characterized by the attached "guns" loaded with gunpowder and used to shoot witches.