AFRICAN ANCESTRAL FIGURES AND MASKS

Ancestral Figures and Masks

Africans believe that their ancestors maintain contact with the supreme being.
Their spirits are invoked by the ethnic groups or families to bless them in all material activities.

They are called upon to deliver the ethnic group's or the family's request to the supreme being, to ensure fertility of the land, and child-birth and to ensure good health and good luck.

Figures are therefore made to represent the ancestors.
These sculptured figures are used as the medium of conversing with the ancestral spirits for soliciting for their assistance in all kinds of requests.

For the ancestral spirit to be persuaded to stay in the figure, the sculotor has to make it beautiful.
The head, the seat of intellectual power is always accentuated, that is, more attention and importance is given to the treatment of it.

In some cases, it is the navel
which is the centre of life and the link bętween mother and child that is accentuated.
In any ot the figures, the head is therefore made one quarter the size of the rest of the whole figure.
The figures are decorated with different types of hair style and painted with emblems to enable the ancestral spirit to recognize his figure.

Unlike the ancestral figures which are used only for worship,
masks are most used for dances to attract the invisible forces for the benefit of the group, family or the society members.

Whenever an ethnic group, family or the society feel threatened by demons or evil forces, the intervention of the good spirit is sought with sacrifices and invocation which in most cases combine music and dancing.
The masks which are specially made for such purposes are therefore, worn for the dances.

During the planting season, masks are worn to invoke the god of fertility for rain to make the crops grow.
The spirits are also invoked during harvest to give thanks to them.
In order to make the spirit manifest itself through the masks, a great deal of effort and much careful staging
is required of the dancers who wear them along with beautiful and fantastic costumes.

Masks differ from people to people and even between societies within one cuiture.
In some cultures, the masks are painted after carving before they are worn for ceremonies while in others they are not.

We shall see the masks made in each culture and their functions @ below pages.
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Nigerian Art
Benin Republic Art
Burkina Faso Art
Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire Art
Côte d'Ivoire Art
Mali Art
Sierra Leon Art
Guinea Art
Ghana Art
Gabon Art
Congo Art
Cameroon Art

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TSOEDE ART

Tsoede Some outstanding bronzes now known as Tsoede bronzes were found among the Nupe of Nigeria. The bronzes found in the vllages of Tada, Jebba and Giragi were said to have been brought down there by one Tsoede, the brother of the Atta of ldah who travelled along the River Niger to found the Nupe kingdom sometime in the 16th century. The bronzes are large figures of men and animals. Some of them are the largest cast bronzes and copper found in Sub-Sahara Africa from antiquity. The figures are naturalistic and wear a graceful pose like those of Ife. Some of the figures are ritually bathed by villagers to ensure fertility and good fortune. see also→ Benin Art Igbo-Ukwu Art Esie Art Ibibio Art Ife Art Owerri Art Nok Art

IGBO-UKWU ART

lgbo-Ukwu The people of Igbo-Ukwu in Anambra State of Nigeria have an important bronze-working tradition which prospered about the middle of the 9th century AD. The tradition was brought to light by Professor Thurstan Shaw who did excavations in the area. Most of the works found show evidence of skilful metalwork brilliantly cast and forged in bronze using insects and reptiles as decorative motifs. Male and female figures are sometimes combined with in- sects and reptiles as decorative motifs. Some are also decorated with coloured glass beads and stones. The works suggest ritual objects. This is because in a king's grave, small bronze pendant ornaments in the form of an elephant, leopard and ram heads, most of which were richly encrusted with delicate geometrical decorations, were found. These heads were symmetrically arranged and had flies, beeties and grasshoppers sitting upon them. Pendants in the form of a bird lying on a pair of eggs from which hang strings of bead...

ESIE ART

Esie Esie is a small Yoruba town near llorin in Kwara State. Many soapstone figures where found in the bush near this town. The figures, numbering more than eight hundred, are the largest collection of stone curving in Africa. The figures are full of dignity and are near realism. Some stand on short legs while others sit on mushroom-shaped stools and hold objects in their hands. The figures either wear hats or specially designed head-dresses. They also wear beads around the neck, and sometimes round the wrist. The faces have striations like those of Ife . Some of the female figures kneel in front of water pots. The origin of the figures is not known. They are, however, used as objects of worship. seen also → Benin Art Igbo-Ukwu Art Ibibio Art Ife Art Owerri Art Nok Art Tsoede

LIBERIA AND COTE D'IVOIRE ART

Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire : Dan Ngere The major artwork of Liberia and Cote d'lvoire was the Dan Ngere mask carved out of wood. The mask which has almost the same appearance and form is used for different purposes. One of such purposes is as a channel of communication with their high god, Zan . The spirits of their ancestors are also invoked through the masks. Another function of the mask is its use, especially the one known as Dea , during circumcision. A tall conical headdress indicating beauty is worn with the Dea mask. Two types of the Dea masks have been identified. One is used for teaching initiates into the Poro Society and frightening away women and children from the initiation camp. The other one is worn while collecting food from the mothers of the youths. Some of the masks regarded as the low ones are merely used for entertaining those who have remained behind in the village while initiaton lasted. The carving of the masks is idealized to look like ...

BURKINA FASO ART

Burkina Faso: Mossi and Bobo The major artworks of the Bukina Faso masks are mostly from the people of Mossi and Bobo. The Mossi are a very powerful people who raided and defeated the communities of the plains around them. Such people included the Dogon , Timbuktu, Bagana and Qualata . The Mossi people believe that the horse is endowed with exceptional powers and, therefore, military leaders are regarded as horses. The Mossi masks which are blade-shaped and on which a female figure stands in the background are worn by the military leaders or masters whom they call in their language ' Naba' during the Wango rites. The Mossi and Bobo masks are blade shaped and are carved out of wood. However, the Bobo are painted. The face of the masks is in relief and the back is attached to a high board that is sometimes indented with geometric and coloured motifs as the people's device.

BENIN REPUBLIC ART

The Republic of Benin: Fon The major works of the Republic of Benin, are the sculptural works of the Fon people. Some of the works were done on wood but a majority of the durable ones are bronze or brass castings of animals and of people at work or any other activities like processions, hunting and hoeing. In the Republic of Benin, Brass was regarded as an object of prestige. The brasssmiths, therefore, do the works for the wealthy who can afford to buy them and use them to decorate their homes as symbols of wealth.

GUINEA ART

Guinea: Kissi and Baga The Kissi of Guinea like the Mende of Sierra Leone carve figures from soapstone. They call these figures Pomdo . The figures are carved with strong vertical axes ánd they wear a smile similar to the archaic smile of Greek art. The Kissi also keep the figures in their rice field to protect the crop and make it prosper. Kissi's initiates wear fibre costumes and paint their faces instead of using masks. Baga The outstanding sculpture of the Baga of Guinea is the mask known as Nimba . The people of northern Baga have a society known as the Simo society which performs ritual ceremonies after the rice harvest. The Nimba mask is worn over the head and rests on the shoulder of the dancer during the ceremony which is per- formed after the rice harvest. Another work of the Baga that is worth noting is the Simo society's drum, which consists of a kneeling figure with other figures round it. It is used during funeral ceremonies of members of ...

MALI ART

Mali : Dogon and Bambara The Dogon and Bambara people of Mali are well-known traditional sculptors. Their works are in wood and are mainly ancestral figures and masks. The Dogon wood carvings can be classified into three distinctive styles . The first is the simplified forms of the masks. The second is the cube-like ancestral figures which in recent times are used as decorative motifs on doors and the third, the round freestanding ancestral figures. Sometimes, however, the cubic and the round free-standing ancestral figures appear in one piece especially the round free-standing figures sitting on a carved stool with legs in the cubistic style. Some of the ançestral figures known as Nommo , a spirit associated with their creation, are sometimes represented with arms lifted up. These figures are used for prayers for the restoration of rain. Others, mostly from the Tellem area of Dogon , are used to call upon the force or god of fertility and birth and for the purificat...

IBIBIO ART

Ibibio The Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria have a tradition of ancestral figures and mask carvings in wood. The ancestral figures are composed of geometrical forms mostly cones, spheres and cylinders carved out of single blocks of wood. The faces are bearded and are attached to the body by a thick neck. The shoulders are wide with arms that are round and well muscled. The torsos are narrow while the abdomens are round. The legs are not given any importance, being shorter than the arms. Many of such figures are found in Oron. The masks are very naturalistic and are carved for the Ekpo Society which represents a spirit. The Ekpo mask is from Ikot Ekpene and is worn during dances and rituals of the Ekpo society. Such masks have found their way into other parts of Nigeria. The masks are decorated with glossy paint and are worn along with raffia by boys who move from house to house dancing and singing during festivals. Apart from the carving of the ancestral fig...

SIERRA LEON ART

Sierra Leone: Mende Among the Mende , in Sierra Leone, two types of sculpture prevail. These are figures in soapstone called Nomoli and wooden masks used by the female initiation ceremonv of the Sande society . The mask is called Bundu by the Sande society . The Sande society prepares and initiates young Mende girls into responsible adult life. During the ceremony of initiation, the young woman wears the mask and looks out through slits made beside the jaw at the level of the mouth. The Nomoli figures which are carved out of soapstone, also known as soft stone, are used to encourage fertility. The figures are kept in rice fields to protect the crop and enable it to yield well. The Mende believe that the figures are expected to steal rice plants from the nearby fields. If this is not done successfully, the figures would be beaten. The figures have big, powerful heads and the limbs are projected forward to represent a man leaning against a back-rest.

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