African Art at The Art Institute of Chicago || Notes

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NotesSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2, African Art at The ArtInstitute of Chicago (1997), pp. 196-200Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4104384 .

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Notes Notes Notes

BICKFORD and SMITH, "Art of the Western Sudan," pp. 104-19.

i. Roderick J. McIntosh and Susan Keech McIntosh, "Terracotta Statuettes from Mali," African Arts 12, 2 (Feb. 1979), pp. 51-53.

2. G. Szumowski, "Pseudotumulus des environs de Bamako" (part i), Notes Africaines 75 (1957), pp. 66-73; and idem, "Pseudotumulus des environs de Bamako" (part 2), Notes Africaines 77 (1958), pp. i-In.

3. According to Tavy D. Aherne, Nakunte Diarra: Bogolanfini Artist of the Beledougou (Bloomington, Ind., 1993), the first pattern suggests the strength of a warrior going to battle, and the second refers to the wealth that Mauritanian women are perceived to have; see pp. 18, 21.

4. Anita J. Glaze, Art and Death in a Senufo Village (Bloomington, Ind., 1981), p. 90.

5. For more information on this drum, see Anita J. Glaze, "Call and Response:

A Senufo Female Caryatid Drum," The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 19, 2 (1993), pp. 118-33.

6. Anita J. Glaze, "Door," in Susan Vogel, ed., For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection (New York, 1981), p. 51, cat. no. 24.

















CURTIS and SARRO, "The Nimba Headdress: Art, Ritual, and History of the Baga and Nalu Peoples of Guinea," pp. 120-33.

I. In discussing these opposing approaches, which they traced to the early twentieth century, Kris L. Hardin and Mary Jo Arnoldi used the terms "ethnographic" and "aesthetic"; see Hardin and Arnoldi, "Introduction: Efficacy and Objects," in Arnoldi, Christraud M. Geary, and Hardin, eds., African Material Culture (Bloomington, Ind., 1996), p. 4. Hardin and Arnoldi also made the crucial point that "this split is not necessarily a split between art historians and anthropol- gists" (p. 23 n. 7). Among the studies that take an "ethno-aesthetics" approach to African art are: D. J. Crowley, "An African Aesthetic," in Carol E Jopling, ed., Art and Aesthetics in Primitive Societies: A Critical Anthology (New York, 1971), pp. 315-27; Jean Laude, "Esthtique et systime de classification: La statuaire africaine," Sciences de l'art 2 (1965), pp. 57-85; in Jacques Kerchache, Jean- Louis Paudrat, and Lucien Stiphan, Art of Africa, trans. Marjolijn de Jager (New York, 1993); Robert Farris Thompson, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, exh. cat. (Los Angeles, 1974); idem, "An Aesthetic of the Cool," African Arts 7, I (Autumn 1973), pp. 40-43, 64-67; and Susan Mullin Vogel, African Aesthetics: The Carlo Monzino Collection, exh. cat. (New York, 1987).

2. The name of this headdress is problematic because it has been used by different ethno-linguistic groups. Thus, the Baga Sitemu people call it d'mba, the Baga Pukur yamban, the Nalu mnimba. Nimba, as the mask has commonly been known, seems to be the Susu word for it (Susu being the lingua franca of the regions where the headdress is worn). Frederick Lamp, who has done extensive work on the Baga Sitemu, has recently adopted the word d'mba to refer to the mask; see Lamp, Art of the Baga: A Drama of Cultural Reinven- tion, exh. cat. (New York and Munich, 1996), pp. 156-63, i71-76. However, since we are not dealing with any group in particular, we will continue to employ the generic nimba as a shorthand for d'mba, yamban, mnimba, and other possible names.

3. The paradox of the Fulbe reference in the nimba headdress and its symbolic dimensions has been explored by Frederick Lamp in his recent book on Baga art; see Lamp (note 2), pp. 176-80. See also Raymond R. Lerouge, "Un Periple dans les rivikres du Sud (Guinle franqaise)," Les Missions catholiques (i916), p. Io3; and idem, Le Pkre Arskne Mell (Paris, 1927), p. 15o.

4. M. A. Chevrier, "Note relative aux coutumes des adeptes de la societe secrete des Scymos," L'Anthropologie 17 (1906), p. 362.

5. Avelino Teixera da Mota, Mar, Alem mar. Estudos e ensaios da historia e geografia (Lisbon, 1972), vol. I, p. 363.

6. Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de situ orbis: C6te occidentale d'Afrique, du sud-marocain au Gabon (i5o6-Iyo8), ed. and trans. R. Mauny (Bissau, 1956); and Valentim Fernandes, Description de la C6te occidentale d'Afrique (Scnigal















au Cap de Monte, archipels), i5o6-I5 o, ed. and trans. T. Monod, A. Teixeira da Mota, and R. Mauny (Bissau, 1951).

7. Andre Alvares d'Almada, Tratado breve dos rios de Guind do Cabo Verde (1594), ed. Ant6nio Brasio (Lisbon, 1964).

8. Andre Coffinieres de Nordeck, "Voyage au pays des Bagas et du Rio Nufiez," in La Tour du monde (Paris, 1886), vol. 1, p. 284. For a reproduction of the sketch, see Lamp (note 2), p. 156, fig. 138. Many of the designations that we use

today are predicated on these early European attempts to write down African lan-

guages based upon European phonetic rules. Such designations were made more complex by the fact that often Europeans were getting information from various sources with various points of view, including people of different ethnicities who

spoke markedly different languages. Hence the nimba mask in the writings of

Coffiniires de Nordeck is called by the Susu name simon guind.

9. See William Rubin, "Picasso," in Rubin, ed., "Primitivism" in Twentieth- Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, exh. cat. (New York, 1984), vol. i, pp. 241-343, esp. pp. 275-80 and 326-28. For a discussion of Matisse in this book, see Jack D. Flam, "Matisse and the Fauves," vol. I, pp. 2i0-39; a photograph of African objects belonging to Matisse, including a pair of standing nimbas, appears on p. 237. For a discussion of Giacometti in this book, see Rosalind Krauss, "Giacometti," vol. 2, pp. 502-33; Giacometti's drawing Nimba Mask and Women appears on p. 521.

io. Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Matisse: His Art and His Public (New York, 1966), p. 551.

ii. Andre Arcin, Histoire de la Guine franFaise (Paris, 1911), p. 14.

12. Raymond R. Lerouge, Carnets de route des tourne'es pastorales, vol. i (i911-i2), Archives Gknkrals de la Congrkgation des Pares du Saint-Esprit, "Fonds Bernier," box 269B. These archives also contain a recently typed version of this notebook, entitled Carnets de route des tournees pastorales de Mgr. Lerouge, Vol. i: Voyages effectues pendant ma I re annee de prefet apos- tolique. The nimba masquerade is described on p. 27 of the typed text.

13. Henri Clouzot and Andr6 Level, L'Art n~gre et l'art ocanien (Paris, I919), p. 63, pl. 19.

14. Adolphe Basler, L'Art chez les peuples primitifs (Paris, 1929), pl. 3.

15. See A. Portier and E Poncetton, Les Arts sauvages: Afrique (Paris, 1930), pl. i; and James Johnson Sweeney, ed., African Negro Art, exh. cat. (New York, 1935), pl. 40.

I6. Photographs of this "queen's funeral," and the brief descriptions that accom-

pany them, are located in the Maison Mire des Pares du Saint Esprit, Paris.

17. Bohumil Holas, "Danses masqufes de la Basse-Chte," Etudes guineennes i

(1947), pp. 61-67; see also idem. "Danses masqukes de la Basse-Guinde," La

Guinjefrangaise, Dec. 12, 1950.

18. In his recent work on Baga art, Frederick Lamp places little emphasis on this difference, instead proposing a far more elaborate taxonomy that distinguishes between three different types of female busts: d'mba (or yamban among the

Baga Pukur); d'mba da-tschol (described by Lamp as ugly, in contrast to the beautiful nimba mask); and zigiren-wuonde (a smaller headdress representing a

young woman). It is possible that the mask some Baga refer to as d'mba defet is in fact this last one, which would thus require an analysis in its own right, beyond the scope of this article. See Lamp (note 2), pp. 156-69.

19. See Paul Bernier, Un Missionnaire (Paris, 1955), which is a novel inspired by the film.

20. Arturo A. da Silva, "Arte nalu," Boletim cultural da Guind portuguesa II (1956), p. 38. Da Silva called the mask numba-benunde, a name of unknown origins.

21. Fernando Rogado Quintino, "A pintura e a escultura na Guinl portuguesa," Boletim cultural da Guine portuguesa 19 (1964), pp. 277-88; and idem, Escultura africana no Museu de etnologia do ultramar (Lisbon, 1968).



















































196 Museum Studies 196 Museum Studies 196 Museum Studies



NOTES FOR PAGES 130-49 NOTES FOR PAGES 130-49 NOTES FOR PAGES 130-49 NOTES FOR PAGES 130-49

22. For an analysis of the Baga tonkdngba, see Lamp (note 2), pp. 138-44.

23. Sekou Beka Bangoura, "Croyances et pratiques religieuses des Baga Sitemu" (B.A. thesis, Institut polyth6chnique Julius Nyerere, Kankan, Guinea, 1972), P. 19.

24. See Lamp (note 2), p. 193.

25. Joseph Orcel, "La Mission des Coniaguis," Annales apostoliques de la Congregation du Saint Esprit 38, I (Jan.-Feb. 1922), p. 14. It is possible that the use of the word nimba to refer to initiation spirits (or to the masks representing them) was a general rule in different Guinean groups, independent of the use of the headdress. Even among the Baga, the Susu phrase nimba fouri (the nimba's belly) was once reported to designate a spirit of initiation, without a distinct evocation of the headdress; see M. Grossel, "Le Nimba fouri: Vieille legende des Baga for6," La Guineefrangaise, Oct. 12, 1950, p. 3 bis.

26. G. van Geertruyen, "Le Style nimba: L'art 'classique' des Baga," Arts d'Afrique noire 31 (1979), pp. 20-37.

27. Djibril Tamsir Niane, "Nimba, d6ese de la feconditf en pays baga," Afrique histoire I (1982), pp. 63-65.

28. See Lamp (note 2).

29. Niane (note 27), p. 63.

30. See, for example, Marg Lobsiger-Dellenbach, "Au xxe sitcle dans la Guinfe de S6kou Tourf: Croyances moribondes," Musees de Geneve io (i960), pp. 9-Io; and Bodiel Thiam, "'Nimba,' d6ese de la f6condit6 des Baga et Nalou," Notes africaines io8 (1965), pp. 128-30.








29. Niane (note 27), p. 63.









29. Niane (note 27), p. 63.









29. Niane (note 27), p. 63.


QUARCOOPOME, "Art of the Akan," pp. 134-47.

I. See Pieter de Marees, A Description and Historical Declaration of the Golden Kingdom of Guinea (1604), trans. Samuel Purchas (Glasgow, 1905), vol. 6; and William Bowdich, Mission from Cape Coast to Ashantee (I819; reprint, London, 1966).

2. The Kwa belong to the larger, western Sudanic language family of the Niger-Congo stock. It is subdivided into eastern and western branches along the central Guinea coast of West Africa.

3. Ernest Obeng, Ancient Ashanti Chieftaincy (Accra, 1988), p. i. Obeng noted that the term abusua is not equivalent to clan because, unlike the latter, which describes "four or five different groups of abusua or families with one recognized head," it denotes a "group of people descended from one great- grand-mother on the maternal side." Endogamy is allowed within clans.

4. J. K. Fynn, Asante and Its Neighbors, I700-i807 (London, 1963); and Adu Boahen, "The Origins of the Akan," Ghana Notes and Queries 7 (1966), pp. 1-3.

5. Timothy E Garrard, Akan Weights and the Gold Trade (London, i980).

6. Ibid.; Labelle Prussin, Hatumere: Islamic Design in West Africa (Berkeley, Calif., 1986); and Ren6 A. Bravmann, Islam and Tribal Art in West Africa (Cambridge, 1974).

7. See Doran H. Ross, "Four Unusual Forowa from the Museum of Cultural History," in Ross and Timothy E Garrard, eds., Akan Transformations: Prob- lems in Ghanaian Art History, Museum of Cultural History (UCLA) Mono- graph Series, no. 21 (Los Angeles, 1983), pp. 54-59.

8. Willem Bosman, A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (London, 1705).

9. Illustrated London News, Jan. 17, 1874.

io. Peter Sarpong, The Sacred Stools of the Akan (Tema, 1971), p. 7ff.

Ii. Ibid., pp. 21, 23.












Ii. Ibid., pp. 21, 23.












Ii. Ibid., pp. 21, 23.












Ii. Ibid., pp. 21, 23.

12. See Herbert M. Cole and Doran H. Ross, The Arts of Ghana, exh. cat. (Los Angeles, 1977), p. 44.

13. Garrard (note 5), p. 284ff.

14. Ibid., p. 204.

15. Robert Sutherland Rattray, Ashanti Proverbs (Oxford, 1916), p. 166, entry no. 673.

16. Ibid., p. 55, entry no. 82.

17. Ibid., p. 207.

18. The Art Institute's brass container shares some common traits with containers for gold dust (kuduo), which were common in pre-twentieth-century Akan society. See Raymond A. Silverman, "Akan Kuduo: Form and Function," in Ross and Garrard (note 7), pp. 10-29. Every precolonial Akan trader would have owned containers for gold dust, an elementary scale, spoons, ladles, and one or more lidded bowls.

19. Ross (note 7), p. 54.

20o. Ibid.

21. De Marees (note I), vol. 4, p. 281.

22. See, for example, Wilhelm J. Miller, Die Afrikanische auf der Guineischen Gold-Cust gelengene Landschafft Fetu (Hamburg, 1673); and Brodie Cruikshank, Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast of Africa, 2 vols. (1853; reprint, Edinburgh, 1966).

23. See Oliver Davies, "Human Representations in Terracotta from the Gold Coast," South African Journal of Science 56, 2 (Jan. 1956), pp. 141-51; Patricia Crane Coronel, "Aowin Terracotta Sculpture," African Arts 31, I (Nov. 1979), pp. 28-35; and Nii Quarcoopome, "A Morphological Classification of Akan

Funerary Terracotta Sculpture: A Case Study of the Western Region" (B.A. thesis, University of Ghana, 1977).

24. Women past menopause are credited with clairvoyance and are less likely to suffer the spiritual repercussions of barrenness, which the Akan believe can afflict younger women.

25. See Timothy E Garrard, "Figurine Cults of the Southern Akan," Iowa Studies in African Art I (1984), pp. 167-90; and Michelle Gilbert, "Akan Terracotta Heads: Gods or Ancestors?" African Arts 22, 4 (Aug. 1989), pp. 34-43.

26. For more information on these figures and Akan burial services, see De Marees (note I) and Cruikshank (note 22). The early seventeenth-century reference by de Marees suggests that the convention of funerary terracotta art must have evolved as a byproduct of Akan state formation, which resulted in a number of profound transformations in art, aesthetics, and culture. This process is confirmed by informative oral histories collected from among Akan subgroups such as the Wassa, Sefwi, and Aowin; see Quarcoopome (note 23). The prepon- derance of evidence suggests that the burial customs described here certainly predated the westward migration of Akan forefathers from an area of Adansi, a

region considered pivotal by most historians of the genesis of Akan culture; see Boahen (note 4).



14. Ibid., p. 204.


16. Ibid., p. 55, entry no. 82.

17. Ibid., p. 207.


19. Ross (note 7), p. 54.

20o. Ibid.











14. Ibid., p. 204.


16. Ibid., p. 55, entry no. 82.

17. Ibid., p. 207.


19. Ross (note 7), p. 54.

20o. Ibid.











14. Ibid., p. 204.


16. Ibid., p. 55, entry no. 82.

17. Ibid., p. 207.


19. Ross (note 7), p. 54.

20o. Ibid.









BLACKMUN, "Icons and Emblems in Ivory: An Altar Tusk from the Palace of Old Benin," pp. 148-63.

I. Historically, the Edo have valued brass, bronze, and other copper alloys for their reflective surface and reddish color, and have preferred to keep their

sculptures bright rather than to create the dark patina admired by Europeans. In the twentieth century, European preferences have influenced Edo taste, and Benin bronzes are often darkened, as they appear in fig. 2.

2. For a brief account, from the British point of view, of the British Punitive

Expedition and the events leading to it, see Henry Ling Roth, Great Benin: Its Customs, Art and Horrors (Halifax, 1903), pp. 3-4, and appendix, pp. ii-xvii.

Museum Studies 197






Museum Studies 197






Museum Studies 197






Museum Studies 197



NOTES FOR PAGES 149-74

3. The estimated number of altars in the palace in 1897 varies, as recorded by members of the British forces who took part in the conquest. Compare, for example, Charles H. Read and 0. M. Dalton, Antiquities from the City of Benin (London, 1899), p. 8; and Roth (note 2), p. 184, fig. 18o.

4. In my continuing study of Benin ivories, I have received valuable assistance from many sources. In I98o a Dickson History of Art Travel Grant from the University of California, Los Angeles, funded the initial examination, measure- ment, and photography of altar tusks in American and European collections. A Fulbright Dissertation Research Grant financed my fieldwork in Benin City during i98i and 1982. I am grateful to Ekpo Eyo for the sponsorship of the Department of Antiquities in Nigeria, and to the University of Benin for the use of facilities. I also owe a large debt of gratitude to Chief David Omoregie, who is now the Ineh, or leader, of Igbesanmwan, and other knowledgeable specialists who assisted me in Benin City. The several travel grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities I received between 1987 and 1992 have supported archival study, further collection research, and the ongoing analysis of these materials. In 1993 and 1994, I was greatly aided by a research grant from the Joint Committee on African Studies of the Social Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, and also by an NEH Interpretive Research Grant for additional study and fieldwork in Nigeria, in collaboration with Kathy Curnow of Cleveland State University. I have also profited from the kindness, knowledge, and insights of many individuals, too numerous to mention here. I particularly wish to thank His Highness Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin, for his interest, encouragement, and generosity.

5. Richard Burton, "My Wanderings in West Africa: A Visit to the Renowned Cities of Wari and Benin," Fraser's Magazine 67 (Mar.-Apr. 1863), pp. 279, 413.

6. See Barbara Winston Blackmun, "The Elephant and Its Ivory in Benin," in Doran Ross, ed., Elephant: The Animal and Its Ivory in African Culture (Los Angeles, 1992), pp. 162-83.

7. Roth (note 2), pp. 144-45.

8. Henry Gallwey, "Journeys in the Benin Country, West Africa," Geographical Journal I, 2 (1893), p. 128.

9. A Dutch visitor, Joshua Ulsheimer, commented on this as early as 1603: "They do not care for gold, nor for silver. Brass, however, they value highly." See Adam Jones, German Sources for West African History (Wiesbaden, 1983), p. 41.

io. Captain J. E Landolphe, Memoires du Capitaine Landolphe, Contenant

l'histoire de ses voyages, ed. J. S. Quesne (Paris, 1823), vol. 2, pp. 55-56. When he was in Benin, in the late eighteenth century, Landolphe was informed that when the Oba died, the altar used as a point of contact with his spirit was customarily built over the grave. It is not certain whether this practice is still followed, and in present-day Benin information of this type is classified.

II. For a list of the thirty-eight kings of Benin's present dynasty and a discussion of the sixteenth-century Obas, see Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, The Art of Benin, 2d ed. (London, 1995), pp. 21, 29-41.

12. Barbara Winston Blackmun, "The Face of the Leopard: Its Significance in Benin Court Art," Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 44, 2 (1991), pp. 24-35.

13. Joseph Nevadomsky, "Kemwin Kemwin: The Apothecary Shop in Benin City," African Arts 22, I (NOV. 1988), pp. 79-81.

14. A. E C. Ryder, Benin and the Europeans (Ibadan, r969), pp. 25-29.

I5. Barbara Winston Blackmun, "Oba's Portraits in Benin," African Arts 23, 3

(July 1990o), pp. 61-69, o102-04.

I6. Roth (note 2), pp. 4-5.

17. Ibid., p. 6.

18. Blackmun (note Iy), p. 67.

19. Osemwengie Ebohon, Cultural Heritage of Benin (Benin City, 1972), p. 19.






7. Roth (note 2), pp. 144-45.










(July 1990o), pp. 61-69, o102-04.


17. Ibid., p. 6.








7. Roth (note 2), pp. 144-45.










(July 1990o), pp. 61-69, o102-04.


17. Ibid., p. 6.








7. Roth (note 2), pp. 144-45.










(July 1990o), pp. 61-69, o102-04.


17. Ibid., p. 6.



20. John King, "Extrait de la relation inedite d'un voyage fuit, en 1820, aux royaumes de Benin et de Waree," in Journal des voyages decouvertes et navi- gations modernes (Paris, 1823), pp. 516-17.

21. Burton (note 5), p. 409.

22. The fishlegged figure in general, and this version as a specific reference to Oba Ewuakpe, are discussed in Blackmun (note I5), pp. 68-69.

23. The circumstances of Ewuakpe's reign and the emblems associated with his image are explored in Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, "Who Is the Man in the Bowler Hat? Emblems of Identity in Benin Royal Art," in Baessler-Archiv, n.s., 31 (1983), pp. 161-83.

24. Jacob Egharevba, A Short History of Benin (Ibadan, 1968), p. 39.

25. Ben-Amos (note 23), pp. 169-70.

26. Blackmun (note I5), pp. 64-65.


21. Burton (note 5), p. 409.




25. Ben-Amos (note 23), pp. 169-70.



21. Burton (note 5), p. 409.




25. Ben-Amos (note 23), pp. 169-70.



21. Burton (note 5), p. 409.




25. Ben-Amos (note 23), pp. 169-70.


OKEDI3I, "Art of the Yoruba," pp. 164-81.

I. For a discussion of how scholars' views of Yoruba art have evolved, see Rowland Abiodun, "Naturalism in 'Primitive' Art: A Survey of Attitudes," Odu:Journal of West African Studies io (1975), PP. 129-36.

2. See Olabiyi Yai, "In Praise of Metonymy: The Concept of 'Tradition' and 'Creativity' in the Transmission of Yoruba Artistry Over Time and Space," in Rowland Abiodun, Henry J. Drewal, and John Pemberton III, eds., The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts (Washington, D.C., 1994).

3. Rowland Abiodun, "Verbal and Visual Metaphors: Mythic Allusions in the Yoruba Ritualistic Art of Ori," Word and Image 3, 3 (1987), pp. 252-70.

4. See Wande Abimbola, Ijinle Ohun Enu Ifa, Apa Kiini (Glasgow, 1968).

5. The Yoruba poems quoted throughout this article are commonly known in Yorubaland. All translations are by the author.

6. For more information on this veranda post, see John Pemberton III, "Art and Rituals for Yoruba Sacred Kings," The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 15, 2 (1989), pp. 96-111.

7. See Roslyn Adele Walker, "The Ikerre Palace Veranda Posts by Olowe of Ise," African Arts 24, 1 (Jan. 1991), pp. 77-78.

8. The veranda post was photographed in 1959 by William B. Fagg with this now missing figure intact. Fagg's photographs are now part of the Photo-

graphic Collection of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, London. A study set of Fagg's photographs is kept at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

9. See Rowland Abiodun, Henry J. Drewal, and John Pemberton III, Yoruba: Art and Aesthetics, exh. cat. (Zurich, 1991), pp. 29-32.


































PETRIDIS, "Of Mothers and Sorcerers: A Luluwa Maternity Figure," pp. 182-95.

Library, archival, museum, and field research for my Ph.D. dissertation in the Department of Art History at the University of Ghent, Belgium, on which this essay is based, was made possible by a predoctoral fellowship and four travel grants from the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (1993-97). I am greatly obliged to Dr. Wilfried van Damme and Professor Elze Bruyninx, both at the University of Ghent, for their helpful suggestions after reading an ear- lier draft of this essay. The translation of the original version (in Dutch) was done by Peter Van de Velde. I express my sincere thanks to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, and the Frobenius-Institut an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitit in Frankfurt am Main for their permission to reproduce photographs and illustrations from their collections.







198 Museum Studies 198 Museum Studies 198 Museum Studies 198 Museum Studies



A note on orthography: In accordance with the phonetic African alphabet, the letter "c" in italicized vernacular terms should be pronounced "ch" as in

"cheese." Vocalic quantity is indicated by a doubling of the vowels.

i. In Im Innern Afrikas: Die Erforschung des Kassal* w.ahrend der fahre 1883, 1884 und 1885, 3d ed. (Leipzig, 189i), Hermann von Wissmann usually called

the Luluwa "Baluba." For general ethnographic information, see Leo Frobenius, "Bena Lulua," in Hildegard Klein, ed., Leo Frobenius: Ethnographische Notizen

aus den Jahren 19o5 und 19o6 (Stuttgart, 1988), pp. 3-29; Prosper Denolf, Aan

de rand van de Dibese (Brussels, 1954); David A. MacLean, "The Sons of Muntu:

An Ethnological Study of the Bena Lulua Tribe in South Central Congo" (M.A. thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1962); and Ntambwe

Luadia-Luadia, "Les Luluwa et le commerce luso-africain (1870-1895)," Etudes

d'Histoire africaine 6 (0974), PP- 55- 104.

2. In Unter deutscher Flagge quer durch Afrika von West nach Ost von 1880 his 1883 (Berlin, 1889), Hermann von Wissmann described how he saw chief

Chinkenke and his first wife and children invoke the ancestors while standing before a small earthen mound behind his house (p. io6). The ancestors were represented as little zoomorphic mud figures; they received millet beer and pieces of meat as sacrificial offerings. Similar mud constructions, often representing quadrupeds, are found among the Chokwe and the Luba-Shaba. See, for exam-

ple, Hermann Baumann, Lunda: Bet Bauern und Jagern in Inner-Angola (Berlin, 1935), figs. 33-34; and William EEP Burton, Luba Religion and Magic in

Custom and Belief(Tervuren, 1961), fig. 13.

3. For more information about trees dedicated to the spirits among the

Luluwa and other Kasai peoples, see Alidoor Samain, "Geestenbomen bij de

Baluba's," Congo 4, I (Jan. 1923), PP. 43-49; and J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and

Henri Morlighem, "Mitshi ya m'vidi: Les arbres-a-esprits au Kasai," Bulletin de l'Institut royal colonial belge 8, 2 (0937), pp. 347-77. On the cyabu altar, see

MacLean (note i), pp. 177-90; and Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny, "Le Theme de la maternite dans l'art luluwa du Kasail" (memoire de licence, Universite

Nationale du Zaire, Lubumbashi, 1973-74), PP. 92-93.

4. Rafael van Caeneghem stated over half a century ago that the term bzz?anga cannot be translated adequately. He rightly proposed that scholars and others

should not translate such terms; see van Caeneghem, "De psychologie der Baluba in hun spreekwoorden over de ziekten," Congo 21, 3 (Mar. 1940),p. 287 n. i. In Les communications des indlgenes du Kasai avec les ames des morts

(Brussels, 1939), J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and Henri Morlighem point to the unmis-

takable analogy between bwanga and lupingu among the Luluwa and nkishi

among the peoples of the Sankuru River (pp. 57-62). For a discussion of the

nkisi as a "fetish" among the Congo peoples, see Wyatt MacGaffey, "African

Objects and the Idea of Fetish," Res 25 (Spring 1994), pp. I23-3I.

5. As Luc de Heusch has shown, the power of the bishimba can best be under- stood on the basis of the concepts of "metaphor" and "metonvm"; see de

Heusch, "Pour une Approche structuraliste de la pensee magico-religieuse bantoue," in Jean Pouillon and Pierre Maranda, eds., Echanges et communica-

tions: Melanges offerts a Claude Levi-Strauss (The Hague and Paris, 1970), vol. 2, pp. 810-13. See also Dunja Hersak, Songye Masks and Figure Sculpture (London, 1986), pp. 129-32.

6. See Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny (note 3), pp. 62-88; and Albert Maesen, "Statuaire et culte de f6condit6 chez les Luluwa du Kasaii (Za'ire)," Quaderni Poro

3 (1982), pp. 55-57. Among the Luba-Lubilanji, the term bwanga bwa mbombo is

more current. See Alidoor Samain, "Zeden en gebruiken der Baluba's," Congo 2,

i (Jan. 1921), pp. 23-24; Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), PP. 53-55; and Rafael Van Caeneghem, "Godsgebeden bij de Baluba," Aequatoria 7, I (1944), p. 29.

7. The cibola cult is part of the wide range of fertility and healing cults shared

by various Bantu peoples in central and southern Africa. See esp. John M.

Janzen, Ngoma: Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa

(Berkeley, Calif., I992); and RenC Devisch, Weaving the Threads of Life: The

Khita Gyn-Eco-Logical Healing Cult Among the Yaka (Chicago and London,

1993). The hea~nga bwa cibola of the Luluwa is apparently closely related to

the jebola (or zebola) cult of the Mongo. For instance, Tshisanda Ntabala-

Mweny (note 3) mentioned possession by the cibolaz spirit as a possible way- of

becoming a cult member (pp. 64-6y). For a discussion of the Mongo cult, see

Edmond Boelaert, "Yebola," Kongo-Overzee I, I (Oct. '934), pp. 16-19; and

Piet Korse, Mondjulu Lokonga, and Bongondo Bonje wa Mpay, Jebola: Textes, rites et signification (Bamanya and Mbandaka, 199go).

8. The Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren holds a schematically carved, small half-figure that was collected among the Luluwa by Henri Morlighem in 1934 (RG. 38816; h. 16 cm [6Y4 in.]). Identified as a cibola figure by the collector, it was probably meant for a woman initiated in the cult to wear at the belt.

9. Paul Timmermans, "Essai de typologie de la sculpture des Bena Luluwa du Kasai," Africa-Tervuren 12, i (1966), pp. 21, 24.

Io. Thanks to the wood analyses conducted by Roger Dechamps, we know that the figures in the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren were made of

mutocz wood (Crossopterix febrifuga) (RG. 18805; De Deken) and of lukwanga wood (Hymenocardia acida) (RG. 43863; Fourche); see Gustaaf Verswijver et al., eds., Treasures from the Africa-Museum Tervuren, exh. cat. (Tervuren, 1995), cat. nos. 1io-11. While the figure collected in the region between 1933 and 1936 by Dr. Tiarko Fourche looks used and weather-beaten, the one acquired by Father Constant De Deken at the end of the nineteenth century is remarkably unblemished. Perhaps Father De Deken got it shortly after it was made, but it may very well be that this refined, almost manneristic figure was being carved specifically for sale to Europeans. This would also explain why no cavity was made at the top of the figure's head to hold the bishimba.

1ii. Rafael van Caeneghem wrote that when a man dies without having fathered children, "a sharpened end-piece of a boxwood sprig is driven into his back," and that a woman who dies childless is buried "with a piece of pottery on her head"; see Van Caeneghem, "Het vrijgezellen-leven in de spreekwoorden van Luba- en Moyo-volk," Congo 21, I (Jan. 1940), p. 5o.

See also Remi

Mbiyangandu, "Le But du mariage," Bulletin du Centre d'etude des prob- lemes sociaux indigenes 17 (1951), p. 23. Figures holding a small cup filled with porcelain clay in one hand also tend to symbolize fertility and pregnancy. They are called lupingu lea bwsimpe by the Luluwa; the Luba-Lubilanji, who apparently imported their sculptures from the Luluwa, prefer the name bulenga. These figures were made specifically whenever children deemed beautiful were born and were primarily intended to safeguard and foster the beauty and the health of such newborns. See Maesen (note 6), pp. 52-54; and Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny (note 3), pp. 89-92.

12. See Marie-Louise Bastin, "A Propos du Panier divinatoire tshokwe," Arts d'Afrique noire 68 (Winter 1988), pp. 19-27.

In several villages, I was told that the Luluwa placed small, anthropomorphic figures in the divination basket. See Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), pp. 21-22; and David A. McLean and Ted J. Solomon, "Divination Among the Bena Lulua," Journal of Religion in Africa 4, 1 (1971), p. 34.

13. This is probably the aqua lustralis (nsompo), meant to ward off and neu- tralize negative influences, described by Leo Stappers in his studies on the BaaMilembwe (Songye) of eastern Kasai. The author distinguished between sprinkling and washing, which is always done in a centrifugal motion, and emphasized that the salutary effect of the potion is due to the intervention of the ancestral spirits; see Stappers, "Nsompo, het aqua lustralis bij de BaaMilembwe," Kongo-Overzee 16, 5 (June 1950o), p. 299; and idem, "Prieres luba-kasaayi datant de 1912," Cahiers des religions africaines 3, 5 (Jan. 1969), p. 115.

14. Muteba Nzambi Mushipula wrote about the cizaba receptacle that the Luba-Lubilanji used in their kukobolola ritual, which was meant to remove impurities from newborn children. Impurities (mikiya; singular, mukiya) may be a blemish, an irregularity, or "moral ugliness" sustained at birth. The actual

kukobolola denotes the lifting of the mother's sexual abstinence and the presen- tation of the newborn child to the ancestors. Special births are accompanied by particular mzklya and a separate kukobolola; see Muteba Nzambi Mushipula, "'Mukiya,' 'Tshibau' et 'Tshibindi': Sanction sociale et morale chez les Luba du Kasa'," Zaire-Afrique 27 (May 1987), pp. 277-79. See also Alidoor Samain, "Geestenbomen bij de Baluba's," Congo 5, 2 (Feb. 1924), pp. 221-22; and Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), pp.

52-53?

I1. See Samain (note 6), pp. 23-24; and Diambila Luboya, "La Sage-Femme et

le couple mere-enfant chez les Beena Luluwa," Journal de la Societe des africanistes 6o, 2 (1990), p. 166.


A note on orthography: In accordance with the phonetic African alphabet, the letter "c" in italicized vernacular terms should be pronounced "ch" as in "cheese." Vocalic quantity is indicated by a doubling of the vowels.

i. In Im Innern Afrikas: Die Erforschung des Kassai wd.hrend derJahre i883, 1884 und 1885, 3d ed. (Leipzig, 1891), Hermann von Wissmann usually called the Luluwa "Baluba." For general ethnographic information, see Leo Frobenius, "Bena Lulua," in Hildegard Klein, ed., Leo Frobenius: Ethnographische Notizen aus den Jahren 19o5 und 19o6 (Stuttgart, 1988), pp. 3-29; Prosper Denolf, Aan de rand van de Dibese (Brussels, 1954); David A. MacLean, "The Sons of Muntu: An Ethnological Study of the Bena Lulua Tribe in South Central Congo" (M.A. thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1962); and Ntambwe Luadia-Luadia, "Les Luluwa et le commerce luso-africain (I870-1895)," Etudes d'Histoire africaine 6 (974), pp. 55-10o4.

2. In Unter deutscher Flagge quer durch Afrika von West nach Ost von i88o his 1883 (Berlin, 1889), Hermann von Wissmann described how he saw chief Chinkenke and his first wife and children invoke the ancestors while standing before a small earthen mound behind his house (p.

lO6). The ancestors were rep-

resented as little zoomorphic mud figures; they received millet beer and pieces of meat as sacrificial offerings. Similar mud constructions, often representing quadrupeds, are found among the Chokwe and the Luba-Shaba. See, for example, Hermann Baumann, Lunda: Bei Bauern und Jdgern in Inner-Angola (Berlin, 1935), figs. 33-34; and William E P. Burton, Luba Religion and Magic in Custom and Belief (Tervuren, 1961), fig. 13.

3. For more information about trees dedicated to the spirits among the Luluwa and other Kasai peoples, see Alidoor Samain, "Geestenbomen bij de Baluba's," Congo 4, I (Jan. 1923), pp. 43-49; and J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and Henri Morlighem, "Mitshi ya m'vidi: Les arbres-i-esprits au Kasai," Bulletin de l'Institut royal colonial beige 8, 2 (937), pp. 347-77. On the cyabu altar, see MacLean (note i), pp. 177-90; and Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny, "Le Thime de la maternit6 dans l'art luluwa du Kasai" (mimoire de licence, Universit6 Nationale du Zaire, Lubumbashi, 1973-74), pp. 92-93.

4. Rafael van Caeneghem stated over half a century ago that the term bhwanga cannot be translated adequately. He rightly proposed that scholars and others should not translate such terms; see van Caeneghem, "De psychologie der Baluba in hun spreekwoorden over de ziekten," Congo 21, 3 (Mar. 1940), p. 287 n. i. In Les communications des indigines du Kasai avec les dines des morts (Brussels, 1939), J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and Henri Morlighem point to the unmis- takable analogy between bwanga and lupingu among the Luluwa and nkishi among the peoples of the Sankuru River (pp. 57-62). For a discussion of the nkisi as a "fetish" among the Congo peoples, see Wyatt MacGaffey, "African Objects and the Idea of Fetish," Res 25 (Spring 1994), pp. 123-31.

5. As Luc de Heusch has shown, the power of the bishimba can best be under- stood on the basis of the concepts of "metaphor" and "metonvm"; see de Heusch, "Pour une Approche structuraliste de la pensie magico-religieuse bantoue," in Jean Pouillon and Pierre Maranda, eds., Echanges et communications: MIlanges offerts d Claude Livi-Strauss (The Hague and Paris, 1970), vol. 2, pp. 81o-13. See also Dunja Hersak, Songye Masks and Figure Sculpture (London, 1986), pp. 129-32.

6. See Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny (note 3), pp. 62-88; and Albert Maesen, "Statuaire et culte de ficondit6 chez les Luluwa du Kasai' (Zaire)," Quaderni Poro 3 (1982), pp. 55-57. Among the Luba-Lubilanji, the term bwanga bwa

nmbombo is

more current. See Alidoor Samain, "Zeden en gebruiken der Baluba's," Congo 2, i (Jan. 1921), pp. 23-24; Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), pp. 53-55; and Rafael Van Caeneghem, "Godsgebeden bij de Baluba," Aequatoria 7, I (I944), p. 29.

7. The cibola cult is part of the wide range of fertility and healing cults shared by various Bantu peoples in central and southern Africa. See esp. John M. Janzen, Ngoma: Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa (Berkeley, Calif., 1992); and Reni Devisch, Weaving the Threads of Life: The Khita Gyn-Eco-Logical Healing Cult Among the Yaka (Chicago and London, 1993). The bwanga bwa cibola of the Luluwa is apparently closely related to the jebola (or zebola) cult of the Mongo. For instance, Tshisanda Ntabala- Mweny (note 3) mentioned possession by the cibola spirit as a possible way of becoming a cult member (pp. 64-65). For a discussion of the Mongo cult, see Edmond Boelaert, "Yebola," Kongo-Overzee i, 1 (Oct. 1934), pp. 16-19; and

Piet Korse, Mondjulu Lokonga, and Bongondo Bonje wa MpayJehola: Textes, rites et signification (Bamanya and Mbandaka, 19go).

8. The Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren holds a schematically carved, small half-figure that was collected among the Luluwa by Henri Morlighem in 1934 (RG. 38816; h. i6 cm [6Y4 in.]). Identified as a cihola figure by the collector; it was probably meant for a woman initiated in the cult to wear at the belt.

9. Paul Timmermans, "Essai de typologie de la sculpture des Bena Luluwa du Kasai," Africa-Tervuren 12, I1(1966), pp. 21, 24.

iv. Thanks to the wood analyses conducted by Roger Dechamps, we know that the figures in the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren were made of mutoci wood (Crossopterix fehrifuga) (RG. i8805; De Deken) and of lukwanga wood (Hymenocardia acida) (RG. 43863; Fourche); see Gustaaf Verswijver et al., eds., Treasures from the Africa-Museum Tervuren, exh. cat. (Tervuren, 1995), cat. nos. iio-ii. While the figure collected in the region between 1933 and

1936 by Dr. Tiarko Fourche looks used and weather-beaten, the one acquired by Father Constant De Deken at the end of the nineteenth century is remarkably unblemished. Perhaps Father De Deken got it shortly after it was made, hut it may very well he that this refined, almost manneristic figure was being carved specifically for sale to Europeans. This would also explain why no cavity was made at the top of the figure's head to hold the hishimha.

ii. Rafael van Caeneghem wrote that when a man dies without having fathered children, "a sharpened end-piece of a boxwood sprig is driven into his hack," and that a woman who dies childless is buried "with a piece of pottery on her head"; see Van Caeneghem, "Het vrijgezellen-leven in de spreekwoorden van Luha- en Movo-volk," Congo 21, 1 (Jan. 1940), p. -O5 See also Remi Mbiyangandu, "Le But du mariage," Bulletin do Centre d'6tude des prob- limes sociaux indigines 17 (1951), p. 23. Figures holding a small cup filled with porcelain clay in one hand also tend to symbolize fertility and pregnancy. They are called lupingu la bhwimpe hy the Luluwa; the Luba-Lubilanji, who apparently imported their sculptures from the Luluwa, prefer the name hulenga. These figures were made specifically whenever children deemed beautiful were born and were primarily intended to safeguard and foster the beauty and the health of such newborns. See Maesen (note 6), pp. 52-54; and Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny (note 3), pp. 89-92.

12. See Marie-Louise Bastin, "A Propos du Panier divinatoire tahokwe," Arts d'Afrique noire 68 (Winter 1988), pp. 19-27- In several villages, I was told that the Luluwa placed small, anthropomorphic figures in the divination basket. See Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), pp. 21-22; and David A. McLean and Ted J. Solomon, "Divination Among the Bena Lulua," Journal of Religion in

Africa 4, 1 (1971), p. 34.

13. This is probably the aqua lustralis (osompo), meant to ward off and neu- tralize negative influences, described by Leo Stappers in his studies on the BaaMilembwe (Songye) of eastern Kasai. The author distinguished between

sprinkling and washing, which is always done in a centrifugal motion, and

emphasized that the salutary effect of the potion is due to the intervention of the ancestral spirits; see Stappera, "Naompo, het aqua lustralia bij de BaaMilembwe," Kongo-Overzee 16, 5 (June 1950), P. 299; and idem, "Priires luba-kasaayi datant de 1912, Cahiers des religions africaines 3, 5 (Jan. 1969), p. 115.

14. Muteba Nzambi Mushipula wrote about the cizaha receptacle that the Luba-Lubilanji used in their kukoholola ritual, which was meant to remove impurities from newborn children. Impurities (mikiya; singular, mukiya) may be a blemish, an irregularity, or "moral ugliness" sustained at birth. The actual kukoholola denotes the lifting of the mother's sexual abstinence and the presen- tation of the newborn child to the ancestors. Special births are accompanied by particular mikiya and a separate kukoholola; see Muteba Nzambi Mushipula, "'Mukiva,' 'Tshibau' et 'Tahibindi': Sanction sociale et morale chez lea Luba du Kaasai," Zaire-Af~rique 27 (May 1987), pp. 277-79. See also Alidoor Samain, "Geestenbomen bij de Baluba's," Congo 5, 2 (Feb. 1924), pp. 221-22; and Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), pp. 52-53.

I~ See Sam~ain (note 6), pp. 23-24; and Diambila Luboya, "La Sage-Femme et le couple mire-enfant chez lea Beena Luluwi," Journal de la Sociicie des alfricanistes 6o, 2 (1399), p. i66.

Museum Studies 199




16. See J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and Henri Morlighem, "Conceptions des indigenes du Kasai sur l'homme et la mort," Journal de la Socie't6 des africanistes 7, 2 (1937), p. 201; idem (note 4), p. 53; and Maesen (note 6), p. 57.

17. Such special births, which are generally called mapanga (singular, bupanga), entail observing specific prescriptions and prohibitions. Still, a number of sources clearly distinguish between manga children and mapanga children. Compare Samain (note 6), pp. 25-27; idem (note 14), pp. 219-21; van Caeneghem (note 6), p. 33; MacLean (note I), pp. xxviii-xxxii; Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny (note 3), PP. 69-70; Cl6mentine M. Falk-Nzuji, "Les Diff6rentes Cat6gories de noms propres des personnes dans la socidt6 luba," Zaire-Afrique 24 (Nov. 1984), p. 562; Muteba Nzambi Mushipula (note 14), p. 28o; and Diambila Luboya (note

15), p. 167. The contextual information on fig. 6 in the present article, which was photographed during linguistic field research by Professor Amaat Burssens among the Luluwa in 1937, is based upon Albert Maesen's field notes of 1954 (notebooks no. 29, p. 36, and no. 30, p. 70, Ethnography Section, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren).

18. Maesen (note 6), p. 56.

19. See Samain (note 6), p. 24; Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), P. 54; Van Caeneghem (note 6), p. 29; and Maesen (note 6), p. 56. In Negerkunst und Negerkiinstler (Braunschweig, 1960), Hans Himmelheber, referring to the Luba-Shaba and the Fang (Gabon), intuitively stated that such half-figures end- ing on a point might be intended for a "fetish basket" (p. 399). However, during his visit to the Luluwa in 1939, Himmelheber did not himself see half-figures in context. The woven baskets collected by Albert Maesen in 1954 for the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren were not large enough to contain any- thing but bishimba and small cibola sculptures (see RG. 53.74-432o and RG. 53-74-4323).

20. Contrary to what Paul Timmermans suggested, it is unlikely that large half- figures in a refined style, such as the one in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (fig. 7), were also meant for women to wear at the belt; see Timmermans (note 9), p. 24.

21. See Louis De Brandt, "Het heelal van den Muluba," Congo 2, 2 (Feb. 1921),

pp. 250o-51; and J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and Henri Morlighem, "Architecture et analogies des plans des mondes, d'apris les conceptions indigines du Kasai et d'autres regions," Bulletin de I'Institut royal colonial belge 9, 3 (1938), p. 633. The Luluwa, much like many other Bantu peoples, attribute special cultural meaning to the moon (mwenshi). They believe that the moon cycle influences human fertility; the reappearance of the moon after a moonless period is wel- comed with dances of joy. For further information, see Theodore (Jacques) A. Theuws, De Luba-mens (Tervuren, 1962), pp. 300o-30o5; and Allen E Roberts, "Social and Historical Contexts of Tabwa Art," in Roberts and Evan M. Maurer, eds., The Rising ofa New Moon: A Century of Tabwa Art, exh. cat. (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1985), pp. 1-3.

22. Maesen (note 6), p. 53. The figure in the Art Institute originally had a waxy" patina as well. The only existing photograph prior to its "cleaning," is

not clear enough to draw definite conclusions as to the patina's composition. See Sotheby's, New York, Fine African and Oceanic Art (Nov. 14, 1980: lot 227).

23. See August De Clercq, "Lubavolkeren in den spiegel van hun spreuken," Onze Kongo 2, 2 (Sept. 1911), p. 96; Alidoor Samain, "Geschiedenis der Bena Lulua's," Congo 3, 2 (July 1922), p. 232; and Fourche and Morlighem (note 21), p. 637. The Luba-Lubilanji call the original inhabitants and landowners basan- gana and distinguish them from the bakalenga, the rulers from outside the area; see Denolf (note I), pp. 349, 388.

24. The lwendu lea mucipu ritual demonstrates that women have always had an unobtrusive though profound influence on political decisions. When a series of accidents or problems beset several villages at once, the chiefs will jointly perform the cipumba ritual. If this fails to achieve the desired results, the chiefs will turn to elderly women and widows. These women come together in secret at night and hold a "cursing-march" through the village. Almost naked, with the exception of a small loincloth, their bodies painted white with lupemba kaolin, they sing songs and march to a crossroads at the edge of the village. While pronouncing secret spells and formulas, they sacrifice a dog, which is buried at the crossroads. See Badibanga Kantshama and Tshishimbi Katumumonyi, "Le R81e de la femme dans la societe luluwa," Les Cahiers du CEREKA I, I (June 1988), pp. 88-90.

25. In this regard, I believe it useful to refer to the distinction made by Roberts (note 21) in his discussion of the Tabwa between "statement" and "process" arts (pp. io-16, 23). Statement art is concerned with perpetuating an existing order and the glorification of an existing authority, while process art is directed toward making change or solving problems connected with change. Inspired by the anthropologist Victor Turner, Roberts associated statement art with cer- emony as "confirmatory," and process art with ritual as "transformative." Among the Tabwa, statement art "rose in the specific politico-economic conditions of the mid-nineteenth century, when Tabwa chiefs sought to consolidate their power" (p. iO). However, among the Luluwa there are no ancestral figures that "represent their lineage and are a focus of prayers to ancestral spirits."

26. A similar distinction between figures made for the whole community by professional sculptors and figures made for individuals by religious specialists was described in the case of the neighboring Chokwe and Songye. See Marie- Louise Bastin, "Les Styles de la sculpture tshokwe," Arts d'Afrique noire 19 (Autumn 1976), p. 17; and Hersak (note 5), pp. 140-6o.

27. The Luluwa's preference for women as art subjects is strongly reminiscent of the Luba-Shaba. See Mary H. Nooter, "Secret Signs in Luba Sculptural Narrative: A Discourse on Power," Iowa Studies in African Art 3 (1990), p. 45; and idem, "Fragments of Forsaken Glory: Luba Royal Culture Invented and Represented (1883-1992) (Zaire)," in Erna Beumers and Hans-Joachim Koloss, eds., Kings ofAfrica: Art and Authority in Central Africa, exh. cat. (Maastricht, I992), p. 86.

28. Albert Maesen, Umbangu: Kunst uit Kongo in het Museum van Belgisch- Kongo (Brussels, i960), pl. 27. See also idem (note 6), p. 55.

29. Letter from Henri Morlighem to Joseph Maes, Apr. 23, 1935, ethnographic file no. 858, Ethnography Section, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren. See also August De Clercq, Dictionnaire luba: Luba-Frangais (Ldopoldville [Kinshasa], 1937), P. 136.

30. See Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), p. 63; and Marcel Lecomte, "Le Theme des deux fontanelles dans l'esot6risme lulua," Jeune Afrique io, 26

(I957), pp. o-12.

31. Rafael Van Caeneghem's monograph Hekserij bij de Baluba van Kasa* (Brussels, 1955), which for the most part applies to the Luluwa, is probably one of the most thorough studies on this subject.

32. Maesen (note 6), pp. 53-54.

33. Fourche and Morlighem (note 21), pp. 653-58. See also Climentine M. Faik-Nzuji, "L'Art plastique africain comme extension de l'art corporel," in De l'Art negre l'art africain (Arnouville, 1990o), pp. 59-62. The erotic conno- tations of the tactile aspect of the scarifications again remind us of the Luba- Shaba. See Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen E Roberts, "Body Memory," in Roberts and Roberts, eds., Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History, exh. cat. (New York, 1996), pp. 111-12. The Luluwa also apply scarifications for healing purposes. See Diambila Luboya (note 15), pp. 165, 169.

34. Von Wissmann (note I), pp. 166-67. Frobenius (note i) mentioned that Chokwe decorations gradually took the place of Kuba elements in scarification, especially among the western Luluwa (p. 13; compare figs. 9 and 34, and see also fig. 430o). At the time of Frobenius's visit, elderly people among the north- ern Luluwa apparently still had elaborate curvilinear nsalu (p. 14 and figs. 9-13).

200 Museum Studies

16. See J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and Henri Morlighem, "Conceptions des indig~nes du Kasai sur ihomme et la mort," journal de la Socie&t des africanistes 7, 2

(937), p. 201; idem (note 4), p. 53 and Maesen (note 6), p. 57.

17. Such special births, which are generally called mapanga (singular; bupanga), entail observing specific prescriptions and prohibitions. Still, a number of sources clearly distinguish between manga children and mapanga children. Compare Samain (note 6), pp. 25-27; idem (note 14), pp. 219-21; van Caeneghem (note 6), p. 33; MacLean (note i), pp. xxviii-xxxii; Tshisanda Ntabala-Mweny (note 3), pp. 69-70; Clkmentine M. Faik-Nzuji, "Les Difffrentes Catkgories de noms propres des personnes dans la sociit6 luba," Zaire-Afrique 24 (Nov. 1984), p. 562; Muteba Nzambi Mushipula (note 14), p. 280; and Diambila Luboya (note I1), p. 167. The contextual information on fig. 6 in the present article, which was photographed during linguistic field research by Professor Amaat Burssens among the Luluwa in 1937, is based upon Albert Macsen's field notes of 1954 (notebooks no. 29, p. 36, and no. 30, p. 70, Ethnography Section, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren).

I8. Macsen (note 6), p. 56.

19. See Samain (note 6), p. 24; Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), p. 54; Van Caeneghem (note 6), p. 29; and Macsen (note 6), p. 56. In Negerkunsr und Negerkiinstler (Braunschweig, 1960), Hans Himmelbeber, referring to the Luba-Shaba and the Fang (Gabon), intuitively stated that such half-figures end- ing on a point might be intended for a "fetish basket" (p. 399). However, during his visit to the Luluwa in 1939, Himmelbeber did not himself see half-figures in context. The woven baskets collected by Albert Macsen in 1954 for the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren were not large enough to contain any- thing but bishimba and small cibola sculptures (see RG. 53.74-432o and RG. 53-74-4323).

20. Contrary to what Paul Timmermans suggested, it is unlikely that large half- figures in a refined style, such as the one in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (fig. 7), were also meant for women to wear at the belt; see Timmermans (note 9), p. 24.

21. Sec Louis Dc Brandt, "Het heelal van den Muluba," Congo 2, 2 (Feb. 1921),

pp. 250-51; and J.-A. Tiarko Fourche and Henri Morlighem, "Architecture et analogies des plans des mondes, d'apr~s les conceptions indigtnes du Kasai et d'autres regions," Bulletin de l'Institut royal colonial beige 9, 3 (0938), p. 633. The Luluwa, much like many other Bantu peoples, attribute special cultural meaning to the moon (mwenshi). They believe that the moon cycle influences human fertility; the reappearance of the moon after a moonless period is wel- comed with dances of joy. For further information, see Thfodore (Jacques) A. Theuws, De Luba-mens (Tervuren, 1962), pp. 300-305; and Allen E Roberts, "Social and Historical Contexts of Tabwa Art," in Roberts and Evan M. Maurer, eds., The Rising of a New Moon: A Century of Tabwa Art, exh. cat. (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1985), pp. 1-3.

22. Macsen (note 6), p. 53. The figure in the Art Institute originally had a "waxy" patina as well. The only existing photograph prior to its "cleaning," is not clear enough to draw definite conclusions as to the patina's composition. See Sotheby's, New York, Fine African and Oceanic Art (Nov. 14, 1980: lot 227).

23. See August De Clercq, "Lubavolkeren in den spiegel van bun spreuken," Onze Kongo 2, 2 (Sept. 1911), p. 96; Alidoor Samain, "Geschiedenis der Bena Lulua's," Congo 3, 2 (July 1922), p. 232; and Fourche and Morlighem (note 21), p. 637. The Luba-Lubilanji call the original inhabitants and landowners basan- gana and distinguish them from the bakalenga, the rulers from outside the area; see Denolf (note i), pp. 349, 388.

24. The lwendu lwa mucipu ritual demonstrates that women have always had an unobtrusive though profound influence on political decisions. When a series of accidents or problems beset several villages at once, the chiefs will jointly perform the cipumba ritual. If this fails to achieve the desired results, the chiefs will turn to elderly women and widows. These women come together in secret at night and hold a "cursing-march" through the village. Almost naked, with the exception of a small loincloth, their bodies painted white with lupemba kaolin, they sing songs and march to a crossroads at the edge of the village. While pronouncing secret spells and formulas, they sacrifice a dog, which is buried at the crossroads. See Badibanga Kantshama and Tshishimbi Katumumonyi, "Le Rble de la femme dans la soci~t~ luluwa," Les Cahiers du CEREKA I, i (June 1988), pp. 88-90.

25. In this regard, I believe it useful to refer to the distinction made by Roberts (note 21) in his discussion of the Tabwa between "statement" and "process" arts (pp. io-i6, 23). Statement art is concerned with perpetuating an existing order and the glorification of an existing authority, while process art is directed toward making change or solving problems connected with change. Inspired by the anthropologist Victor Turner, Roberts associated statement art with cer- emony as "confirmatory," and process art with ritual as "transformative." Among the Tabwa, statement art "rose in the specific politico-economic conditions of the mid-nineteenth century, when Tabwa chiefs sought to consolidate their power" (p. io). However; among the Luluwa there are no ancestral figures that "represent their lineage and arc a focus of prayers to ancestral spirits."

26. A similar distinction between figures made for the whole community by professional sculptors and figures made for individuals by religious specialists was described in the case of the neighboring Chokwe and Songyc. See Marie- Louise Bastin, "Les Styles de la sculpture tshokwe," Arts d'Afrique noire 19

(Autumn 1976), p. 17; and Hersak (note 5), pp. 140-60.

27. The Luluwa's preference for women as art subjects is strongly reminiscent of the Luba-Shaba. See Mary H. Nooter, "Secret Signs in Luba Sculptural Narrative: A Discourse on Power;" Iowa Studies in African Art 3 (1990), p. 45; and idem, "Fragments of Forsaken Glory: Luba Royal Culture Invented and Represented (1883-1992) (Zaire)," in Erna Beumers and Hans-Joachim Koloss, eds., Kings of Africa: Art and Authority in Central Africa, exh. cat. (Maastricht, 1992), p. 86.

28. Albert Macsen, Umbangu: Kunst uit Kongo in bet Museum van Belgisch- Kongo (Brussels, 1960), pl. 27. See also idem (note 6), p. - 5

29. Letter from Henri Morlighem to Joseph Macs, Apr. 23, 1935, ethnographic file no. 858, Ethnography Section, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren. See also August De Clercq, Dictionnaire luba: Luba-Fran~ais (Lkopoldville [Kinshasa], 1937), p. 136.

30. See Fourche and Morlighem (note 4), p. 63; and Marcel Lecomte, "Le Thtme des deux fontanelles dans l'6sotkrisme lulua," Jeune Afrique 10, 26

(0957), PP. 10-12.

31. Rafael Van Caeneghem's monograph Hekserij hzj de Baluba van Kasai* (Brussels, 1955), which for the most part applies to the Luluwa, is probably one of the most thorough studies on this subject.

32. Macsen (note 6), pp. 53-54.

33. Fourche and Morlighem (note 21), pp. 653-58- See also Clkmentine M. Faik-Nzuji, "L'Art plastique africain comme extension de l'art corporel," in De IArt nkgre lPart africain (Arnouville, 1990), pp. 59-62. The erotic conno- tations of the tactile aspect of the scarifications again remind us of the Luba- Shaba. See Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F Roberts, "Body Memory," in Roberts and Roberts, eds., Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History, exh. cat. (New York, 1996), pp. 111-12. The Luluwa also apply scarifications for healing purposes. See Diambila Luboya (note 1i), pp. 165, 16q.

34. Von Wissmann (note i), pp. 166-67. Frobenius (note i) mentioned that Chokwe decorations gradually took the place of Kuba elements in scarification, especially among the western Luluwa (p. 13; compare figs. 9 and 34, and see also fig. 430). At the time of Frobenius's visit, elderly people among the north- ern Luluwa apparently still had elaborate curvilinear nsalu (p. 14 and figs. 9-13).



Documents

African Art at The Art Institute of Chicago || Notes