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African Ritual Masks: "Value" or "Values"?
- By Turley, Andrew
- Published 21 March 2008
- Primitive and Pre-Columbian Art
- Unrated
Innovation and Abstraction
I also hear these leather armchair collectors and sellers say “a new style is not a true style”. Yet in Africa there is a preference for varied forms of abstraction. I’m sure this has occurred through the continent-wide concern with creativity and this has driven artworks that are bold in either style or colour. Across geographic areas and across history most masks are forceful in their visual impact (colour pallet) while others are inventive departures from human or animal form. These innovations were often promoted by local art patrons and cultural institutions such as the imperative that kings coming to the throne must create a new palace and capital along with a new range of art forms to distinguish their reign.
The innovation and abstraction of colour (with the use of European paints and beads) has, by necessity, focused some of the artists’ attention on balanced composition, the power of negative space and symmetry versus asymmetry. So as the physical environment has changed (and this isn’t a debate for whether it is better or worse) it has evolved first the social landscape and then the criteria for artistic and/or aesthetic acceptance as a subset. We can see a direct reflection of this thought in one of the more recent masks I collected (Fig. 5&5a).
In his 1976 book, Masks of Black Africa, Ladislas Segy wrote about the fourth trip he undertook to Africa, and noted that “one important change is the newer, generally more vivid, colouration of the face masks (in the villages). In the market places where dealers currently still sell decorative modern carvings and copies of old statues and masks for the tourist trade, no vividly coloured new masks are offered, probably because they would not sell. But the motivation for the new coloured face mask is not commercial. What is paid for by the visitor is not the art work but the dance itself, which is not new but traditionally unaltered. Thus the added colour is part of the new standard of “beauty”, no doubt introduced under the strong influence of the bright printed cottons and commercial colours now widely used in Africa”.
Traditions change over time for many reasons. Because memory is selective and fallible or they may be consciously re-interpreted for reasons of aesthetic, political gain or commerce. The same occurs with the African ritual art forms. Each minor change is absorbed and forgotten but contributes to the over all story. This is much like a visual variant of the African oral tradition.
Ritual Art as an Echo of the Oral Tradition
Every mask in a collection has had its life cycle interrupted, but the masks were made to be replaced. Like its own Chinese whisper, the replacement took the place of a lost piece, which itself has been a replacement.
The ritual artist is not a passive copyist even though one of his responsibilities is to replace lost works. Different styles and preferences evolve. This evolution can be seen in the images referenced in some of the definitive books written on African art from the 70’s through to the 90’s. And from what I have seen I believe that the range of construction styles and carving traits have expanded rather than one form evolving directly into another. Outside Sakassou in Baule country, Ladislas Segy noted that “two dancers wore reddish brown masks with a black coiffure, probably carved by the same hand. The traditional masks of this type are light black and have a more abstract expression”. From his own observation, Ladislas confirmed a new variant of a traditional form. The masks that he identified and photographed in his 1976 book bore distinct similarities in the facial plane, construct of the coiffures, positioning and style of the decorative markings to those in Fig. 6. It is fair to assume that they could be a continuation of the same style and construction type identified in 1976.
The masks in Fig. 7 from the High Museum and now residing in the Tookalook Gallery (www.tookalook.com) are very similar to a mask shown in African Masks of the Barbier Mueller Collection (Fig. 9) and similar in style to those purported to be from 1950-1960’s. Whereas Fig. 8 has been carved in a style most similar to that of the 1930-1950’s and a style reflected in a well photographed Kpan mask in the Indiana University Art Museum (although I have no concrete evidence - provenance - to support the age). The styles represented by Fig. 6, 7 & 8 are easy to reference to sub-groups, but all must have started with a “common ancestor” mask. In this fashion the carver is the generations link with the past.
"Carvers are not producers of passive copies but are the creators of works whose requirement of familiarity of style and form can be inventively modified by particularly talented artists. The carvers are also advocates of religious doctrine, theory, or practice and attempt to re-evaluate and restate the past based on newly acquired standards. This reflects revisionist art rather than objective copies of the western sense".
New constructs arise and exist in parallel, in some groups replacing the older styles.
On 12 Jan 07 Alexander Bortolot looked at this from a different perspective. He made reference to the Makonde when he wrote:
“Novelty and invention are clearly appreciated by both sculptors and masquerade audiences, and Makonde artists find creative freedom when they carve masks for themselves, or for dance groups of which they are members. However, they also must satisfy their clients, who typically determine the style and subject matter of the masks they commission; sometimes patrons ask artists to carve masks in another artist's style. Thus you have a conflict between an artist's vision of himself as wholly original, and indigenous market forces that at times require him to conform to popular tastes”.
What he did correctly assess is that this revisionist change is driving the western age hunt.
”In the West we have a similar tension between originality and conformity, but for somewhat different reasons: most dealers and collectors value conformity over originality, since in the absence of the artist's voice or identity they are forced to fall back upon connoisseurship and precedent to prove "authenticity" and determine value. This makes for a very conservative market that constantly reaffirms the same tired canon of African ‘masterpieces’”.
The Qualities of a “Saleable” Piece
In her book, Four Dan Sculptures Continuity and Change, from the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Barbara C. Johnson notes differences in the quality of the sculptures of three carvers of three generations. Her opinion is that the work of Zlan (two generations back) is amongst the finest the Dan have ever produced. The carving of Zon (one generation back) is well executed, although it tends to be a little less fluid and somewhat repetitive. Dro’s work (the current generation) seems to be carved with less confidence and care, and his attention to detail is not as great.
“It seems that the main reason for the decline in quality relates to the changes in the system of patronage and prestige. Zlan carved what he considered to be “important” pieces for discerning, powerful chiefs or individuals in his culture who knew the traditional forms and their meanings, insisting upon the best. Zon, to some extent, and Dro, largely, carved for a new, external market. Many pieces were bought by traders to be resold to outsiders, or were sold directly to missionaries, Peace Corp volunteers, rubber plantation workers, or other foreigners. These people, who did not know the artistic tradition, were less demanding; they merely wanted souvenirs, not objects important to their station in life, as was true for the chiefs. Less work was required to produce a saleable piece for good money”. Her text points out that ‘as the world changes, so changes much of the context, opportunities and motivations of artisans, craftspeople and traders’.
Lee Rubinstein in the African Art & Culture discussion group on 7th November 2007 carried this thought on in a modern social and commercial context…“the products of contemporary manufacture (ritual and commercial) do have a quite specific value and meaning. Many are primarily objects of/for trade and are intended to be revenue producing for the individuals trading them. They are created in response to those who purchase them and as such, their market value is directly linked to the system of value (monetary) that dominates the discourse of exchange now driving the traffic of cultural and artistic objects”.
He went on to say “collectors and tourists who help drive the art and crafts industries and markets have precipitated these shifts of value from the ritual/religious/internal toward the commercial/monetary/external, reflecting changes in the economic, social and cultural geographies from which the objects arise and the increasingly necessary reliance on an external market for the objects produced. In regions where agricultural production and community structure have been de-stabilized and transformed by modern historical, political and environmental change, carvers and traders are simply participating in the market economy linked to the broader global economy which has displaced previously dominant systems of value. This is true also in more industrialized societies where populations who were previously artisans and craftspeople producing furniture, pottery, cloth, metal objects, glassware, etc., no longer find those economic opportunities as viable occupational or economic choices. We now more frequently buy [through individuals working for large conglomerate employers rather than local small businesses] globally produced and traded, mass-produced objects rather than locally produced, artisan-made objects”.
Good examples of quality affected by patronage and prestige as well as the impact of tourists and collectors driving modern artistic traditions, can be seen in the two Dan masks in Fig.10&10a. Fig.10 is a Dan Go Ge mask made of wood, horse hair, rope, nails, cowrie shells, burlap, cloth and kaolin. Its western history started with Primal Art Source (Amitin and Attia Zouhir) in 1981, then involved a stint with the Ralph Proctor Gallery, Pittsburgh 1981-2002 and now resides in my collection. Its form, age and patination suggest that it has gained status over the years as its owner has (or as it has been passed on from one owner to another). The quality of carving can be seen in the details - a patterned ridge in the middle of the forehead and the same patterns in a ‘V’ shaped formation at the outside of the eyes (both are well worn and smooth). The slit eyes show ancient remnants of kaolin. Many of these features are indicative of the Deangle mask but an elaborate plaited coiffure has been added to this piece - over the top of the already worn forehead and eye ridges - made of plaited horse or human hair and edged by tightly plaited rope that closely resembles the pattern of the carving.
On the other hand Fig.10a is based on a Dea or simple entertainment mask. The mask is a basic shape of contemporary manufacture – the forehead still bears the scratch patterns of scouring by the carver, highlighted where the stain has infilled the scratches; softened cut marks are visible below the nose and lips; the forehead is lightened to a middle shade of brown, where the stain has not been deeply ingrained in the wood; the eyebrows above the eyes are simple cuts into the mask rather than being in relief; the bells on the chin are not very functional and make little noise – indicative of a revenue producing object made for sale and requiring less work.
As individual collectors and lovers of the African arts we cannot change the economic, cultural and social environments. But we can be informed and accountable for our own acquisitions. Or, alternately, uninformed and accountable for our own acquisitions.
I also hear these leather armchair collectors and sellers say “a new style is not a true style”. Yet in Africa there is a preference for varied forms of abstraction. I’m sure this has occurred through the continent-wide concern with creativity and this has driven artworks that are bold in either style or colour. Across geographic areas and across history most masks are forceful in their visual impact (colour pallet) while others are inventive departures from human or animal form. These innovations were often promoted by local art patrons and cultural institutions such as the imperative that kings coming to the throne must create a new palace and capital along with a new range of art forms to distinguish their reign.
The innovation and abstraction of colour (with the use of European paints and beads) has, by necessity, focused some of the artists’ attention on balanced composition, the power of negative space and symmetry versus asymmetry. So as the physical environment has changed (and this isn’t a debate for whether it is better or worse) it has evolved first the social landscape and then the criteria for artistic and/or aesthetic acceptance as a subset. We can see a direct reflection of this thought in one of the more recent masks I collected (Fig. 5&5a).
In his 1976 book, Masks of Black Africa, Ladislas Segy wrote about the fourth trip he undertook to Africa, and noted that “one important change is the newer, generally more vivid, colouration of the face masks (in the villages). In the market places where dealers currently still sell decorative modern carvings and copies of old statues and masks for the tourist trade, no vividly coloured new masks are offered, probably because they would not sell. But the motivation for the new coloured face mask is not commercial. What is paid for by the visitor is not the art work but the dance itself, which is not new but traditionally unaltered. Thus the added colour is part of the new standard of “beauty”, no doubt introduced under the strong influence of the bright printed cottons and commercial colours now widely used in Africa”.
Traditions change over time for many reasons. Because memory is selective and fallible or they may be consciously re-interpreted for reasons of aesthetic, political gain or commerce. The same occurs with the African ritual art forms. Each minor change is absorbed and forgotten but contributes to the over all story. This is much like a visual variant of the African oral tradition.
Ritual Art as an Echo of the Oral Tradition
Every mask in a collection has had its life cycle interrupted, but the masks were made to be replaced. Like its own Chinese whisper, the replacement took the place of a lost piece, which itself has been a replacement.
The ritual artist is not a passive copyist even though one of his responsibilities is to replace lost works. Different styles and preferences evolve. This evolution can be seen in the images referenced in some of the definitive books written on African art from the 70’s through to the 90’s. And from what I have seen I believe that the range of construction styles and carving traits have expanded rather than one form evolving directly into another. Outside Sakassou in Baule country, Ladislas Segy noted that “two dancers wore reddish brown masks with a black coiffure, probably carved by the same hand. The traditional masks of this type are light black and have a more abstract expression”. From his own observation, Ladislas confirmed a new variant of a traditional form. The masks that he identified and photographed in his 1976 book bore distinct similarities in the facial plane, construct of the coiffures, positioning and style of the decorative markings to those in Fig. 6. It is fair to assume that they could be a continuation of the same style and construction type identified in 1976.
The masks in Fig. 7 from the High Museum and now residing in the Tookalook Gallery (www.tookalook.com) are very similar to a mask shown in African Masks of the Barbier Mueller Collection (Fig. 9) and similar in style to those purported to be from 1950-1960’s. Whereas Fig. 8 has been carved in a style most similar to that of the 1930-1950’s and a style reflected in a well photographed Kpan mask in the Indiana University Art Museum (although I have no concrete evidence - provenance - to support the age). The styles represented by Fig. 6, 7 & 8 are easy to reference to sub-groups, but all must have started with a “common ancestor” mask. In this fashion the carver is the generations link with the past.
"Carvers are not producers of passive copies but are the creators of works whose requirement of familiarity of style and form can be inventively modified by particularly talented artists. The carvers are also advocates of religious doctrine, theory, or practice and attempt to re-evaluate and restate the past based on newly acquired standards. This reflects revisionist art rather than objective copies of the western sense".
New constructs arise and exist in parallel, in some groups replacing the older styles.
On 12 Jan 07 Alexander Bortolot looked at this from a different perspective. He made reference to the Makonde when he wrote:
“Novelty and invention are clearly appreciated by both sculptors and masquerade audiences, and Makonde artists find creative freedom when they carve masks for themselves, or for dance groups of which they are members. However, they also must satisfy their clients, who typically determine the style and subject matter of the masks they commission; sometimes patrons ask artists to carve masks in another artist's style. Thus you have a conflict between an artist's vision of himself as wholly original, and indigenous market forces that at times require him to conform to popular tastes”.
What he did correctly assess is that this revisionist change is driving the western age hunt.
”In the West we have a similar tension between originality and conformity, but for somewhat different reasons: most dealers and collectors value conformity over originality, since in the absence of the artist's voice or identity they are forced to fall back upon connoisseurship and precedent to prove "authenticity" and determine value. This makes for a very conservative market that constantly reaffirms the same tired canon of African ‘masterpieces’”.
The Qualities of a “Saleable” Piece
In her book, Four Dan Sculptures Continuity and Change, from the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Barbara C. Johnson notes differences in the quality of the sculptures of three carvers of three generations. Her opinion is that the work of Zlan (two generations back) is amongst the finest the Dan have ever produced. The carving of Zon (one generation back) is well executed, although it tends to be a little less fluid and somewhat repetitive. Dro’s work (the current generation) seems to be carved with less confidence and care, and his attention to detail is not as great.
“It seems that the main reason for the decline in quality relates to the changes in the system of patronage and prestige. Zlan carved what he considered to be “important” pieces for discerning, powerful chiefs or individuals in his culture who knew the traditional forms and their meanings, insisting upon the best. Zon, to some extent, and Dro, largely, carved for a new, external market. Many pieces were bought by traders to be resold to outsiders, or were sold directly to missionaries, Peace Corp volunteers, rubber plantation workers, or other foreigners. These people, who did not know the artistic tradition, were less demanding; they merely wanted souvenirs, not objects important to their station in life, as was true for the chiefs. Less work was required to produce a saleable piece for good money”. Her text points out that ‘as the world changes, so changes much of the context, opportunities and motivations of artisans, craftspeople and traders’.
Lee Rubinstein in the African Art & Culture discussion group on 7th November 2007 carried this thought on in a modern social and commercial context…“the products of contemporary manufacture (ritual and commercial) do have a quite specific value and meaning. Many are primarily objects of/for trade and are intended to be revenue producing for the individuals trading them. They are created in response to those who purchase them and as such, their market value is directly linked to the system of value (monetary) that dominates the discourse of exchange now driving the traffic of cultural and artistic objects”.
He went on to say “collectors and tourists who help drive the art and crafts industries and markets have precipitated these shifts of value from the ritual/religious/internal toward the commercial/monetary/external, reflecting changes in the economic, social and cultural geographies from which the objects arise and the increasingly necessary reliance on an external market for the objects produced. In regions where agricultural production and community structure have been de-stabilized and transformed by modern historical, political and environmental change, carvers and traders are simply participating in the market economy linked to the broader global economy which has displaced previously dominant systems of value. This is true also in more industrialized societies where populations who were previously artisans and craftspeople producing furniture, pottery, cloth, metal objects, glassware, etc., no longer find those economic opportunities as viable occupational or economic choices. We now more frequently buy [through individuals working for large conglomerate employers rather than local small businesses] globally produced and traded, mass-produced objects rather than locally produced, artisan-made objects”.
Good examples of quality affected by patronage and prestige as well as the impact of tourists and collectors driving modern artistic traditions, can be seen in the two Dan masks in Fig.10&10a. Fig.10 is a Dan Go Ge mask made of wood, horse hair, rope, nails, cowrie shells, burlap, cloth and kaolin. Its western history started with Primal Art Source (Amitin and Attia Zouhir) in 1981, then involved a stint with the Ralph Proctor Gallery, Pittsburgh 1981-2002 and now resides in my collection. Its form, age and patination suggest that it has gained status over the years as its owner has (or as it has been passed on from one owner to another). The quality of carving can be seen in the details - a patterned ridge in the middle of the forehead and the same patterns in a ‘V’ shaped formation at the outside of the eyes (both are well worn and smooth). The slit eyes show ancient remnants of kaolin. Many of these features are indicative of the Deangle mask but an elaborate plaited coiffure has been added to this piece - over the top of the already worn forehead and eye ridges - made of plaited horse or human hair and edged by tightly plaited rope that closely resembles the pattern of the carving.
On the other hand Fig.10a is based on a Dea or simple entertainment mask. The mask is a basic shape of contemporary manufacture – the forehead still bears the scratch patterns of scouring by the carver, highlighted where the stain has infilled the scratches; softened cut marks are visible below the nose and lips; the forehead is lightened to a middle shade of brown, where the stain has not been deeply ingrained in the wood; the eyebrows above the eyes are simple cuts into the mask rather than being in relief; the bells on the chin are not very functional and make little noise – indicative of a revenue producing object made for sale and requiring less work.
As individual collectors and lovers of the African arts we cannot change the economic, cultural and social environments. But we can be informed and accountable for our own acquisitions. Or, alternately, uninformed and accountable for our own acquisitions.