the arts of africa - Dallas Museum of Art

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236 3 : african decorative arts 85 Ointment pot with effigy cover Côte d’Ivoire, Baule peoples Early to mid-20th century Wood 9¼ × 415/! 6 in. diam. (23.50 × 12.54 cm) Gift of Henry H. Hawley III, 1981.175.A–B 86 Pigment box with peaked corners Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kuba peoples Late 19th or early 20th century Wood 43/* × 71/* × 7¾ in. (11.11 × 18.10 × 19.69 cm) The Clark and Frances Stillman Collection of Congo Sculpture, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, 1969.S.66.A–B African women in traditional societies enhanced their natural beauty with scarification and cosmetic preparations. For example, they applied black kohl to their eyes, painted their faces and bodies with a reddish powder or paste, and moisturized their skin with shea butter. These and other cosmetic substances required containers for mixing and storage. Natural objects such as gourds and shells were available to all, but those who could afford to stored their cosmetics in pots, boxes, and bowls artfully carved by sculptors. Lidded containers, like the ointment pot illustrated on this page (cat. 85), were used to store shea butter, a traditional lubricant that has been a staple ingredient in Western brand-name moisturizers since the late twentieth century. Sculptors typically carved the lid in the form of a female head with carefully detailed hairstyle and facial features. This figure’s elaborate hairstyle, downcast eyes, scarification marks, and long neck reflect Baule ideals of feminine beauty and comportment. The bowl of the container resembles a type of water vessel Baule women once made. Religious sculpture in traditional Baule society was kept hidden. To advertise their skill and creativity, specialist artists and workshops produced utilitarian objects—such as loom heddle pulleys, doors, chairs, and ointment pots—in quantity, decorated them with the masks and figures found in religious art, and sold them publicly. The similarity in form and decoration in this ointment pot and three other published examples suggests they came from the same workshop.28 Kuba sculptors carved boxes in a variety of shapes—square, round, oval, semilunar—to store twool (or tool). This reddish powder, made from the inner bark of a hardwood tree (Baphia and Pterocarpus families), was mixed with vegetable oil to create a pigment the Kuba used to dye raffia cloth and to paint their faces and bodies. The Kuba decorated their wooden boxes extensively with incised and low-relief motifs that have names that were probably symbolic. The entire surface of the Dallas box (cat. 86) is covered with geometric and figurative motifs. The faceted lid transcends simple geometry with its peaked corners. Each corner is filled with a circle surrounding the sun (phila or itang, a scallop-edged circle), a raised vessel-like form that may be the most abstract rendering of a design known as Mutu Chembe (head of God), and cowrie shells on a ground of vertical lines. Multiple lines of chevrons (mbish angil) dominate the center of the slanted sides of the lid and heart shapes, which complement the hearts on the center of the lid, wrap around the corners. The heart motif along with traces of basket weave and interlace patterns also appears on the box’s well-worn bottom.29 CAT. 85 CAT. 86
238 3 : african decorative arts 87 Cup in form of head Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pende peoples Late 19th or early 20th century Wood and pigment 57/* × 37/! 6 × 313/! 6 in. (14.92 × 8.73 × 9.68 cm) The Clark and Frances Stillman Collection of Congo Sculpture, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, 1969.S.161 88 Cup with handle in form of a hand (mbwoong ntey) Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kuba peoples Late 19th or early 20th century Wood 513/! 6 × 3¾ × 45/! 6 in. (14.76 × 9.53 × 10.95 cm) The Clark and Frances Stillman Collection of Congo Sculpture, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, 1969.S.44 89 Cup in form of male figure Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pende peoples Late 19th or early 20th century Wood 6 × 315/! 6 × 37/* in. (15.24 × 10 × 9.84 cm) The Clark and Frances Stillman Collection of Congo Sculpture, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, 1969.S.162 90 Cup in form of female figure Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wongo peoples Late 19th or early 20th century Wood 87/! 6 × 53/* × 43/! 6 in. (21.43 × 13.65 × 10.64 cm) The Clark and Frances Stillman Collection of Congo Sculpture, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, 1969.S.49 On ceremonial occasions, such as funeral celebrations, men and women in many parts of Africa consumed a low-alcohol beverage made from the raffia palm. Men would also drink palm wine in the evenings when they gathered in their retreats to discuss the affairs of the community. African sculptors carved special, elaborately decorated wooden drinking cups that expressed an owner’s status. The Pende cups depict female and male figures (cat. 87 and 89). They are distinguished by their facial features, which replicate those on carved wooden village masks (mbuyu). Both faces display the characteristic prominent eyebrows above downcast eyes in a triangular face. The eyebrows on the standing male figure are exaggerated by the multiple lines above the brow, and the lips form an inverted V that identifies the “hyper male” in the Pende visual vocabulary.30 The female’s smooth, high round forehead, lowered eyelids, and upturned lips express feminine modesty. Kuba drinking vessels (cat. 88) were carved out of wood or animal horn and decorated with geometric and figurative motifs derived from body scarification and textile designs. Some motifs reflected the status of the owner as a member of an association. Cups with handles carved in the form of a severed hand, for example, were owned by warriors. This refers to a time when Kuba warriors cut off an enemy’s hand as proof of their victory. This act admitted warriors to an elite organization and conferred the right to display its emblem.31 A nineteenth-century visitor observed that when Kuba men traveled or visited friends, they carried their personal cups with them, tied to the waist.32 The Wongo cup (cat. 90) portrays a standing female figure with arms akimbo, her face and torso decorated with raised scarification patterns. The lateral triangles formed by her bent arms echo the inverted triangle of her torso. Instead of being carved on a platform, she stands firm and perfectly balanced on her two feet. This cup, and two other examples— one of a standing female, the other, a seated female with outstretched legs—collected early in the twentieth century, are evidence of masterful innovation. They raise the question, however, For whom were they made: local client, missionaries, or foreign visitors?33 CAT. 87 CAT. 88
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Roslyn Adele Walker is Senior Curat
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the arts of africa at the dallas mu
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director’s foreword and acknowled
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AfRicAn ARt At the DMA: A bRief his
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16 african art at the dma: a brief
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AfRicAn ARt in context fig 10 Figur
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32 african art in context african a
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chapter 1 icons and symbols of lead
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42 1 : icons and symbols of leaders
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chapter 2 african art in the cycle
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Page 161 and 162: 318 index index 319 LaGamma, Alisa,
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the arts of africa - Dallas Museum of Art

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