Painting the Picture
In the African tribal artifact market, intense colours and European paints seem to be considered more of a deterrent than a motivation for purchase. But the reality is that with genuine African artifacts, rich colour and European paints:
• Reflect a more authentic sense of African ritualism
• Give the piece greater ritual energy and power than non coloured pieces

Additionally they are:
• less likely to be counterfeit or fraudulent (in form-for-form comparison)
• less susceptible to irrational price inflation.

If it is a choice between paint or patination on "like quality" pieces, give me paint every time. "You must be mad", I hear you say.

Before I go on to explain why, it is important that I apply a definition to "genuine African artifacts". In my opinion a genuine African artifact must have been made by an African artist for a specific ritual purpose and also must have been used during tribal ritual ceremony.

When I say that painted pieces are less likely to be counterfeit, I qualify that with a form-for-form statement. This simply means that the statement applies to "like quality" pieces, that items of similar quality are less likely to be counterfeit if they have European paint rather than patination.

So now I will defend my opinion and hopefully stimulate some open debate that helps to enlarge, deepen or enrich our emotional response to African objects. Maybe it will even assist in discovering something that otherwise may have escaped our attention.

The Authenticity of Change
Some purists seem to share the ideal that African art is "authentic" only if the style was conceived in an environment untainted by European influence. Ironically these idealists conveniently forget that African art was highly influentual on what they consider "authentic" western art, such as the cubist and abstract art movements.

It would be like saying "only Christian Reformation art is a legitimate reflection of western religious art".

I'm sure we would agree that all art, ritualistic or otherwise is in a constant state of flux.

Just as in the last 100 years western art movements and fashion have evolved and been adopted from the abstract (Picasso) to the expressionists (after WWII), so too has African ritualistic art. One well known example is Goli, the most widespread and typical dance to represent the Baule, which was actually adopted from their neighbours, the Wan people. Most Baule villages acquired Goli some time between 1900 and 1910, either from a neigbouring village or by sending people directly to the Wan to purchase and learn the dance.

In "African Masks of the Barbier Mueller Collection", Maria Kecskesi and Lazlo Vajada also point out that one of the best known of all art forms, the Chi Wara masks of the Bamana (a headdress with a striking antelope design) emerged only just over a century ago. Originally it was a mask consisting of a cap of wicker with two small horns and a face piece of fabric or leather.

The only certainty in African art is continent-wide evolution, innovation and creativity. Diversity has been widely promoted by local art patrons and cultural institutions, such as kings and chiefs coming to power wanting to distinguish their reigns. Much the same as it has been throughout European history.

This innovation and development is obvious, and can still be seen in masquerades such as Flali, invented by an artist working with a performer in a Guro community in Cote d'Ivoire during the 1970's.

In both ancient and more modern history, tribal groups have looked outside their local communities for inspiration, in other cultural areas of Africa and also other continents. But how they expressed that inspiration has been unique to the group or individual. William Fagg wrote, "every tribe is, from the point of view of art, a universe to itself ... the tribe ... uses art among many other means to express its internal solidarity and self sufficiency and conversely, its difference from all others".

It is no doubt that paint (and therefore the intensity of recent colour palettes) are certainly European influences. African artisans of pre-European times employed organic or mineral pigments.

A Gelede mask seized by Lieutenant-Governor John H Glover between 1864 and 1870 from "a heathen temple in a small town which was destroyed" can now be seen in the Manchester Museum in all its oil painted glory.

In the early to mid 20th Century polychromy or coloured masks were generally characteristic of certain geographical areas, such as southern Nigeria and the southwestern region of the DRC. Now, imported oil-based paints are widespread. Western society is the only place that has the luxury to debate the ideological nuance of authenticity by antiquity, influence or isolation.

The evolution of African ritualistic fashion through colour and paint has created a new authenticity - it is simply a new reality in Africa. Genuine pieces of tribal African art that use paint reflect a more authentic sense of African ritualism.

Colour as Ritual Energy
The African idea of a beautiful object is that it should not only correspond to tribal artistic rules and concepts but that it should have the energy to cure, place curses, to instruct, entertain and indeed to protect individuals and communities. It is not only the mask that provides the energy it is the paraphernalia, the dancer and the belief given without reservation by the audience. The rituals themselves are a physical release of emotional tension in which the mask will only play one part - whether the ritual is judiciary, social regulation, initiation or entertainment.