Traditional African art : an illustrated study

153 Pages·2015·27.97 MB·English

by  Shakarov

Traditional
African Art
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Traditional
African Art
An Illustrated Study
Avner Shakarov and
Lyubov Senatorova
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
Shakarov, Avner, author.
Traditional African art : an illustrated study /
Avner Shakarov and Lyubov Senatorova.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-9874-1 (softcover : acid free paper) ♾
ISBN 978-1-4766-2003-9 (ebook)
1. Art, African. I. Shakarov-Senatorova, Lyubov, author.
[II. Senatorova, Lyubov, author] [III.] Title.
N7380.S53 2015 709.67—dc23 2015020731
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2015 Avner Shakarov and Lyubov Shakarov-Senatorova. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Mask, Baule-Yaure, Ivory Coast, wood, height 14 in. (35.6 cm);
Couple with Child, Zela, Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire)—
wood, height 91⁄ in. (24.1 cm) (photographs by the authors)
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Printed in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Table of Contents
About This Book (Lyubov Senatorova) vii
Preface (Avner Shakarov) 1
Introduction 3
Ancient Monuments of African Art

Rock Art 9
Ancient Sculpture: Court Art 16
Between pages 24 and 25 are 8 color plates containing 25 photographs
Traditional Art

Western Sudan 26
Guinean Coast 46
Congolese Basin and Adjacent Areas 87
Gabon and Adjacent Areas 88
Democratic Republic of Congo and Adjacent Areas 104
East Africa 135
South Africa 142
Conclusion 143
Glossary 145
Bibliography 147
Index 151
v
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About This Book
Lyubov Senatorova
With this book, we are proud to present artwork from Africa
that possesses great beauty and power and high aesthetic quality.
We set out to explore the heritage that informs the art of black Africa,
its nature and the styles of various individual artists, as well as the
culture and artistic past of the people. This book gives the reader a
clear look at the work of many sculptors, showing the beauty and
expressive form of their carved figures and masks which have the
power to move us aesthetically and emotionally.
This collection presents a classic picture of the traditional
African art that was available when Avner Shakarov began to take
an early interest in what was still called primitive art. In his foreword
to Vil Mirimanov’s book Spirits of Black Africa (2009), Shakarov
recounts his personal experience in collecting African art. He
responded to it aesthetically and emotionally and his response grew
in intensity over the years. His first objects from Africa were
acquired in 1962, when he was introduced to African art while study-
ing at Moscow College. Young African students were also studying
there and in other colleges. Through his college friends he befriended
many African students, including those from the Moscow University
of Patrice Lumumba. When the students went back home to Africa
on winter and summer vacations they would bring him artworks
from their ancestors’ villages and photographs of their tribal life,
traditions and culture. In the early 1970s Shakarov moved to Western
Europe, where he traveled to and lived in many European countries,
and then in the United States.
We hope that readers will find this book useful as well as beau-
tiful; that it will be helpful to study and an important addition to
the literature and history of African art. Through African sculpture
we begin to understand the ennobling vision and sensibility inherent
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viii About This Book
in these civilizations and we see how this vision has been manifested
by its extraordinary artists. Avner Shakarov has studied the arts of
Africa for decades. He is dedicated to African art and has traveled
the African continent during summer student vacations. He visited
African villages throughout the 1960s and studied African arts. He
visited caves and altars where some cultures kept figures carved in
memory of deceased ancestors. He is the principal author of this
book, which is devoted to African art techniques. Vil Mirimanov,
author of many African art books, in the introduction to his Spirits
of Black Africa characterized the collection of Avner Shakarov as
containing unique pieces of African art.
Preface
Avner Shakarov
Having spent a good many years as a researcher of African art, I understand that
education is of critical importance. This book is designed to bring the benefits of knowl-
edge to general public, and to provide basic principles of ethnology to offer the reader
greater depth of feeling for the beauty and powerful aspects of African art. It has been
designed as a general text, providing a well- balanced variety of information to the reader.
The book is constructed efficiently with historical and analytical text and photo-
graphs of stunning artworks that are essential for collectors, students, artists and for all
lovers of African traditional art and culture. It is thematically organized around key motifs
and may assist museum staff. It presents carefully documented objects, many of which
are unique or rare. In the appreciation of African art both past and present, anyone who
has eyes to see a work of art does not need an explanation to form a judgment. One imme-
diatelyperceives what is good and what is not. In other words one grasps the universal
language of art. We are pleased, thanks to this language, to show the world what Africa
has accomplished, to collect and preserve this material evidence of the cultural heritage
of many peoples, to present the objects making up this heritage to the public, and to
carry out research on their production and use.
The history of art in Africa covers many centuries. Among the most ancient of
these arts are the rock paintings and engravings from Tassili and Ennedi in the Sahara.
Other works created by historical African artists living south of the Sahara are each
characterized by local tradition and artistic forms. Tribal art of Africa reveals and por-
trays the marvelous achievements of African artists over thousands of years. The earliest
pieces date from the beginning of the first millennium, the most recent from the early
twentieth century, before commercial production of art for the tourist trade in the 1980s.
All were made by Africans for their own use. I also point out that the book will only
examine art forms that sprang up before the period of independence, that is, prior to
the 1960s. Before that date powerful religious traditions promoted the creation of
numerous high quality sculptures. Religion is the dominant force in African life and
society. It determines the nature of African art forms. It is most often manifest in masks,
sculpture, ancestor or cult figures, fetishes, and reliquary figures. To analyze these
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