Tribal Art

The different types of statues Luluwa, Lulua, or Bena Lulua, with multiple scarifications, glorify local leaders, motherhood, fertility and the female figure. The umbilical is particularly prominent, the center of the body and the object of all solicitudes ( The Power of the Sacred, M. Faïk-Nzuji) Diamonds, erogenous and symbolic protruding scarifications, checkered circles and rectangles embellish strategic parts of the anatomy and face of perosnnage.
s dark satinpatine.
The Lulua, or Béna Lulua from West Africa, settled in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their caste-based social structure is similar to that of the Luba. They produced few masks, but especially statues of ancestors representing the ideal warrior, mulalenga wa nkashaama, as well as the head of ...

This female figure depicted sitting on a stool, nursing her child, is wearing braids assembled in shells forming a stylized motif linked to the bird of divination, the calao. Beautiful blackish patina, lustrous, speckled with mahogany brown, residual kaolin in the hollows. Erosions on the back of the headdress. Ancient piece from the Belgian Mercier collection, patiently collected over three generations.
The Senoufos, the name given to them by french settlers, are mainly made up of farmers who have dispersed between Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. The councils of elders, led by an elected chief, administer the senoufo villages. Governed by matrilineal traditions, they are composed of clusters of dwellings named katiolo . Each of them has its own association Poro which ...

Ex collection French African art.

A woman kneeling with her hands resting on her thighs, looks at the horizon. Its features are both simple and realistic, typical of lobi statuary. The patina is raw, leaving visible the multitude of wood rings still testifying to the desication to which it was subjected. Fertility, one of the central themes of African cultures, is addressed in this piece as evidenced by the volume of this pregnant woman's belly and chest.

Lobi communities are organized around nature spirits. When honoured, these spirits show their benevolence in the form of heavy rains, good health, numerous births. Ignored, they remove it and lead to devastating epidemics, drought and suffering. These figurines are placed on the tombs, in a dark corner of the ...