It was my love and understanding of world weapons and culture that sparked a desire for me to properly understand African weapons and culture. My somewhat tenacious studies of African arms have been strenuous, enduring six years. The radical complexity that one encounters involving African weapons are not encountered with weapons from many other cultures. This is spawned from the flux of artistically expressive ceremonial weapons commonly seen in most publications (books or the internet) and auction houses rather than functional examples. African weapons can be separated into three basic categories: functional utility, functional expressive, and ceremonial weapons.

A few years ago the English translation of an unusual French-language book from Africa was published. It is a theoretical work on African dance, the first of its kind written by an African. Alphonse Tiérou is a Francophile of the Quenon people in Cote d'Ivoir (Ivory Coast). Even though the publication deals with the laws of African dance, it is of considerable interest to the study of African sculpture, especially the figurine. Its importance lies in the fact that, for the first time, a study of this kind reveals the close link between African sculpture and traditional African dance.

The Yoruba of central Nigeria have an extremely a high number of twin births (4.5%) compared to other populations, especially those of western Europe and the United States. There is no known reason for this extraordinary phenomenon. There are a few theories, including the hypothesis that the yam has something to do with it, but I don´t believe that this has much evidence to support it. In many African tribal societies, twins were seen as a signs of impending bad fortune and were killed after birth. The Yoruba people, on the other hand, believe that twins are the bearer of magic power and might, and need a special kind of attention from the family and the society of the village.

The art of the Senufo people is quite popular nowadays, and their sculpture and masks are found in many European and American collections.  There are about 3 million Senufo living in the north of the Ivory Coast and the southern area of Mali. As in every country that was in touch with Islam and Christianity, many aspects of the traditional "native" culture were destroyed, especially in the 1950's where a new syncretic movment, "Massa or Alkora", was in the area.  There has been much French ethnologic field researchin that region.  Those pioneers had their own methods of acquiring pieces (that's another story).

When Uli Beier arrived in Nigeria there was more than just a dying of the Nigerian culture.  Artists were faced with fewer commissions from the shrines and from private people for religious objects.  So, many of them began to produce for the colonial tourism or they worked for the churches.  A famous example of a great carver with a lot of satirical humour was Thomas Ona Odulate of Ijebu Ode (11), who worked from the turn of the century into the the late fifties.

This essay tries to show different kinds of artists and their historic places.  It focusses on the survival of the traditional pattern and renewal of Yoruba culture in the 1950's.   This began with an introduction into the religious dimension of the Yoruba world, and continues with the master carvers.  The first is Olowe of Ise, the most famous carver of the 20th century, an artist well known beyond the confines of Nigeria.   Next is Areogun/Arowogun of Osi Ilorin, a traditional artist who worked for the public and for kings.  As a link between traditional world and early tourist art, we look at works of Thomas Ona Odulate of Ijebu Ode.   In the 1950's, then, I give an overview of the artist that Father Kevin Caroll supported.   Finally, I focus my interest on contemporary traditional carvers like Buraimoh Gbandamosi and Kasali Akangbe.

For me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of getting to know African art is the process of  "eye sharpening" that happens as you learn more about the material.  Knowledge and experience can open up whole new worlds - it's a matter of learning how to see a particular kind of beauty that isn't readily accessible to someone accustomed to European art. When collectors and dealers refer to this process of eye-training, they generally talk about learning to distinguish the "authentic" from the "fake," with the presupposition that authenticity is also a marker of esthetic quality.   From this perspective, if it's authentic, made by a particular group for its own use, then it's beautiful; if it's fake, made for sale to visitors, then it's kitsch.

The cost of art objects in general and those of black art in particular, has increased during the last thirty years at a dizzying rate.  Following the law of supply and demand, quality pieces have reached prices today that were unimaginable only a few years ago.  For example, in 1966 at the Helena Rubinstein auction, for which I was engaged as the expert, acquired a Fang head for $22,000.  This had been purchased for about $9,500 before the war by the Princess Gourielli.  Several weeks later, a Swiss collector offered me $35,000.  Today (1974) I have offers varying between $80,000 and $100,000 for it.

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.

Over the last 2 years I have watched and read with fascination (and I must admit, moments of both amusement and annoyance) as debate has ebbed and flowed around African art in the west. Everywhere I turn, antique hunters, individuals and auction houses have been crying “real or not?” or probably more realistically “valuable or not?”

My annoyance comes from a feeling that this type of commercial “one-up-manship” has been trivializing objects based on their dollar value, the previous owner or the objects documented age, and diverting from ritual and/or aesthetic appreciation.