Ife
The city of Ife is the ancestral home of the Yoruba people of
Nigeria. The city has an art tradition which has some similarities with the Nok Culture.
It started between 1100 AD and 1400 AD.
The Ife works are either in terracotta like the Nok or in bronze.
These are done in naturalistic and idealized styles.
The Ife terracotta are the most famous in Nigeria. This is because their faces are realistic.
The works are reproduced in clay in such a skilful manner that the contours of the flesh and the faces wear the
expression of nobility.
The trunks and limbs of the figures are done in a simplified way and are highly decorated with terracotta representation of bead necklaces, anklets and bracelets.
Tribal-marks are also incised on the faces.
The bronzes are done through
the lost wax cire perdue process. This is a process commonly employed in West Africa but it varies in detail from place to place.
The lfe bronzes are famous because they are very detailed and naturalistic.
In the cire-perdue process, a clay mould in the form or shape of the object to be cast is made first, After the mould has dried, it is covered with a layer of beeswax or latex from a cactus on which are modelled the details of the obiect to be reproduced in metal.
The beeswax or latex is covered with two or three layers of clay.
When the clay has been dried in the sun, the mould is heated and the wax melts and runs out through a hole made at the bottom of the mould, leaving behind the details of the wax image on the
inside surface of the clay mould. Liquid metal is then poured into the mould to take the place of the lost wax.
When the metal is cool-
ed and hardened, the outer layer of clay is chipped away to reveal the metal object.
One of the most famous of the lfe bronze pieces is that of Ooni
Obalufon Il who is believed to have introduced the technique to lfe at an unknown date.
see also→
Benin Art
Igbo-Ukwu Art
Ibibio Art
Owerri Art
Nok Art
Tsoede
Esie Art
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