Tribal Art

The Baga, along with the Nalu and Landuma, are a small community of rice farmers living along the Guinean coast in West Africa. They became famous following the discovery of their extraordinary sculptures by explorers, colonial administrators, ethnologists, collectors and art dealers in the late 19th century. Today, the art of the Baga is admired in public and private collections in Northern Europe. Their works consist mainly of different types of wooden masks and statues of various sizes, as well as wonderful percussion instruments, chieftain's chairs and other skillfully carved utilitarian objects.
All these sacred objects were once created and used as important elements of their ritual behavior based on the manifestation of their deities, ancestor worship, rites of passage, ...

Although many societies in the Congo were once renowned for their masquerades and architectural carvings, these phenomena have only been studied as living traditions among a handful of peoples, notably the Pende. Drawing on the extensive fieldwork of many scholars since the 1950s, this text offers a unique window into the dynamic performance contexts of masquerades and architecture in Central Africa. He favors the voices of the Pende as much as possible and seeks to understand the interrelationship between ritual practice and aesthetic form. Attentive to history, the text also shows that these artistic practices responded (sometimes unpredictably) to colonial and post-colonial pressure.

Author: Z.S. Strother
Editions: Five Continents
Color photographs

Although many societies in the Congo were once famous for their masquerades and architectural sculptures, these phenomena have only been studied as living traditions among a handful of peoples, notably the Pende.
Drawing on the extensive fieldwork of many researchers since the 1950s, this text offers a unique window on the contexts of dynamic performance in masquerade and architecture in Central Africa. It privileges as much as possible the voices of La Pende and seeks to understand the interrelation between ritual practice and aesthetic form. Attentive to history, the text also shows that these artistic practices have responded (sometimes unpredictably) to colonial and post-colonial pressure.

Author: Z. S. Strother
Editions: Five Continents
Color ...

The Mossi people of Burkina Faso have a rich and complex history that is reflected in the different types and styles of figures and masks they create. They originated around 1500 AD, when a large group of horsemen from what is now northern Ghana rode north into the Volta Valley and conquered the local farmers.
The descendants of the conquering horsemen became the ruling class and used political art in the form of royal figures to validate their authority. Meanwhile, the descendants of the conquered farmers became the spiritual class and made masks to represent the spirits of nature. The stylistic diversity of this art reflects the geographically divergent peoples who were conquered in 1500 and eventually became the Mossi we know today.
Unlike many other West African peoples, ...

The Yaka, a tribe of the southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, have been producing figurative statuettes, masks and other objects that have fascinated Western researchers, collectors and explorers for more than a century.
This impressive book brings together some of the earliest and most visually striking examples and explores their use in installation and initiation ceremonies and healing rituals, examining their relationship to leadership, divination, and witchcraft.
Colonial influences as well as "anti-fetish" religious movements are studied for their impact on traditional Yaka art. The book includes eighteen black and white illustrations and drawings accompanying the text, sixty-two color plates with commentary, and an annotated bibliography.

Author: ...

Art lovers are familiar with the works of the different groups of people generally called "Guro" who live in the center of the Ivory Coast. Close to the Wan, Baoulé, Yaure and Bète, the Guro have maintained close contacts with their neighbors, and the reciprocal influences are manifested in their various artistic creations.
Masks have a special importance that goes far beyond the value attributed to them for their aesthetic qualities on the art market. These objects can even be considered emblematic, having so far allowed those who define themselves as Guro to claim this identity.
While French colonization greatly weakened the prestige of the men whose power resulted from their hunting and warfare activities, the pursuit of complex rituals involving the use of masks allowed ...

Art lovers are familiar with the works of the different groups of peoples generally called "Guro" who live in the center of Côte d'Ivoire. Close to the Wan, Baoulé, Yaure and Bète, the Guro have maintained close contacts with their neighbors, and the reciprocal influences are evident in their various artistic creations. Masks have a particular importance that goes well beyond the value attributed to them for their aesthetic qualities in the art market. These objects can even be considered emblematic, having until now allowed those who define themselves as Guro to claim this identity. While French colonization largely weakened the prestige of men whose power derived from their hunting and warfare activities, the pursuit of complex rituals involving the use of masks allowed men to retain a ...

The organological collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, in Tervuren, currently includes more than 8,000 musical instruments, more than three-quarters of which come from Central Africa and more precisely from the Congo.
These harps, drums and slotted drums, lamellophones, bells, flutes, whistles were harvested from the end of the 19th century, which means that some pieces are now more than a hundred years old and represent the cultural wealth that has characterized the African continent for centuries.
This richly illustrated volume presents many of them, recalling their specificities, the playing techniques, the materials they are made of and revealing the splendor of these pieces, always unique and surprising, both in sound quality and aesthetics.

...

Immersing yourself in Europe's artistic heritage means first of all going to meet prestigious museums, intimately anchored in the heart of the greatest cities of the Old Continent, as in the imagination of the curious around the world. They house artistic treasures that form the soul and face of our civilization.
This work is accompanied by a DVD, on which an audio guide in mp3 is available to browse the rooms and admire in detail the masterpieces on display.
A huge popular success, the Quai Branly Museum represents a real Copernican revolution in the world of aesthetics. The objects exhibited there are no longer regarded as mere subjects of ethnographic study but as works offered for contemplation and likely to provoke a universally shared aesthetic emotion.

...

This catalog was produced for the exhibition "arts d'Afrique noire", "Les ateliers du Grand Hornu", July-August 1976.

Black and white photographs
Condition: very good
Language: French
Number of pages: 139
Dimensions: 265 x 210 mm
Paperback

This publication was edited on the occasion of the exhibition: "Benin, royal art of Africa "n organized in Brussels, by the Crédit Communal, from December 21, 1990 to February 10, 1991. The Benin collection of the "Museum für Völkerkunde" in Vienna

Text: Armand Duchâteau
Color and black and white photographs
Condition: very good
Language: French
Number of pages: 174
Dimensions: 295 x 215 mm
Paperback
ISBN : 978-2871931195

For the first time, sculpture is the exclusive subject of an art history. It is therefore a unique collection, realized with the collaboration of internationally renowned specialists in the various fields, and which, by its conception, offers the public two choices of reading. A universal history of sculpture, each of its volumes is nevertheless self-sufficient. The originality of the critical essays, the seriousness of the documentation, the exceptional quality of the images make it an irreplaceable work at all levels of culture.

Text: Guy Rachet
Color and black and white photographs
Condition: very good, small tear in the cover
Language: French
Number of pages: 190
Dimensions: 280 x 220 mm
Bound
ISBN : 28653504011

This very rare collector's book was published on the occasion of the exhibition "Beauté fatale. Armes d'Afrique centrale", organized in the Galerie du Crédit Communal, Boulevard du Jardin Botanique, 44 in Brussels, from December 18, 1992 to February 28, 1993.

Crédit Communal de Belgique
Color and black and white photographs
Condition: very good
Language: French
Number of pages: 263
Dimensions: 295 x 210 mm
Paperback
ISBN : 978-2871931720

The theme of life and death concerns us all. It occupies two of the five permanent floors of the MAS in Antwerp and is based on the great existential questions: where do we come from? Where do we go? What happens after death? Throughout history and in all cultures, people have sought answers to these great questions of life. Life and death. On the seventh floor, Gods and Men introduces us to the wide variety of interpretations and the deep need for rituals that can be found wherever man has taken up residence. The exhibits, which are part of the permanent collection of the MAS, come mainly from ancient Egypt, sub-Saharan Africa, Melanesia, India, Tibet, Turkey - and Antwerp. They illustrate how people from various cultures view life and death. Is a body buried or cremated? Is there life ...

This book constitutes the two volumes of the catalog of the exhibition organized by the Royal Museum for Central Africa in 1997.
Table of contents of volume I :
Portrait of a cave. An introduction to the cave paintings of the Zimbawe.
Zimbawean figures from the Iron Age. Images of a fertility complex.
Origins and development of Zimbawe stone structure crops.
The region of Zimbawe 1490-1900. Some aspects of the history.
Traditional social and religious life in Zimbawe.
The arts and material culture of Tonga's zimbawe. Tradition and changes.
The arts and material culture of the Ndebele.
The art and material culture of the Venda.
The arts of the Hlengwe/Tsonga of Zimbawe.
The art of the Shona. Utilitarian objects ...

Rago Auction Catalog - Tribal Art including 435 lots, of which: American Indian (85), African (178), Oceanic (99), Pre-Columbian (68).

Dating: March 1, 2009
Color photographs
Condition: NEW
Language: English
Number of pages: 146
Dimensions: 280 x 210 mm
Paperback

The impressive collections of the Royal Museum for Central Africa have been built up over more than one hundred years through numerous purchases, harvests and donations. Over time, the professional profile of the collectors has been extremely varied: territorial agents, agricultural engineers, ethnologists, military, doctors, and missionaries.
This book deals with the collections made by the Jesuits in the southwest of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo and the scientific links that these missionaries established with the RMCA.
Churchmen and researchers, the Jesuits contributed to a better knowledge of the various cultures of the DRC. Their collections were important (several thousand pieces) and were initially divided between the museum of Tervuren and the museum ...

This book deals with a little-known cult known as nswo shared by several cultures in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo such as the Yanzi, Sakata, Hungana, Buma, Mfunuka, Tsong, Mbala, Teke, Dikidiki and Yaka. Many copies of sculptures used in the nswo are kept in the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium) and are reproduced in this richly illustrated book. This catalog deals with the origins of the cult, its diffusion and its regional variants, which are expressed both at the level of rites and statuary.

Author: Julien Volper
Royal Museum of Central Africa
Color photographs
Condition: NEW
Language: French
Number of pages: 96
Dimensions: 180 x 155 mm
Paperback
ISBN : 978-9492244246

Nigerian art has long been sought after by art collectors in France. Accompanying a major exhibition, Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections explores the rich artistic production of Nigeria through a collection of beautiful works, including many striking figurative pieces, in a wide variety of media. Internationally renowned experts provide texts that present Nigeria, its peoples and its diverse cultures. The superb photographs of the works add to the value of this sumptuous volume.

Museum of Civilization - Quebec City
Color photographs
Condition: NEW
Language: English
Number of pages: 287
Dimensions: 290 x 250 mm
Bound
ISBN : 978-8874395811

The art of Southern and Eastern Africa, in contrast to the better-known traditions of Central and West Africa, has been neglected until recently.
The complex history of the region, marked by migrations rather than sedentary kingdoms, and the very nature of the objects produced, considered as handicrafts by the Western eye, are the main reasons for this relative obscurity. The objects illustrated and catalogued in the book include rare figurative carvings, jewelry, insignia, prestige sticks carved with heads and ornamental decorations, walking and fighting sticks, headrests, snuff containers, and occasionally ornamental but useful ornaments that also serve as combs and snuff spoons. Southern African objects are distinguished by the pastoral and specifically nomadic nature of ...

The astonishingly varied art of the Kulango, a people of northeastern Ivory Coast, intrigues and baffles. Especially in their metal creations, with a striking freedom of expression, the bodies seem to reinvent movement by sometimes adopting an almost choreographic gesture, an aerial grace, sinuous lines. In this work, more than one hundred figurines reappear, like apparitions from another world. Who are these enigmatic beings whose bulging eyes scrutinize the invisible?

Author: Alain-Michel Boyer
Editions: Five Continents
Color photographs
Condition: NEW
Language: English and French
Number of pages: 255
Dimensions: 235 x 235 mm
Linked
ISBN : 978-8874397808