African Art: Symbol and Spirit: An African Art Essay Contest

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African Art: Symbol and Spirit: An African Art Essay Contest

Inspired by the exhibition: Accent on Africa: Recent Acquisitions of African Art
At the North Carolina Museum of Art from April 6 — August 10, 20

Accent on Africa celebrated the Museum’s commitment to building a world-class collection of African art representing the highest achievements of artists from all regions of the African continent. As in the African art collections of many museums, the strength of this collection has been sculpture from West and Central Africa, primarily dating from the 19th and first half of the 20th century. In the last few years, however, the Museum has focused on expanding the collection in several ways: by acquiring important objects from earlier periods of history, purchasing seminal works by internationally renowned contemporary artists, exhibiting fine examples of African costumes and textiles, and acquiring major examples of the intricate beadwork produced in South Africa. Over time, we plan to build on these efforts and add additional masterpieces from North and East Africa.

The Outreach Project

Students are invited to participate in an independent study program using the Museum’s collection as an impetus for writing an essay about African art. Open to any middle- or high-school student, this project offers an opportunity to study the Museum’s collection by using the NCMA’s Web site, visiting the Museum or reading African Art: Symbol and Spirit, a booklet containing detailed information about 10 works in our permanent collection.

Guidelines:

Students should deliver a thoughtful essay about an intriguing characteristic of a particular work of African art or the culture from which the work originates. The composition should not be a research paper but a personal account of one’s response to an African work of art in the Museum’s collection. Students are encouraged to complete additional study using literature, science, music and/or other disciplines that may be relevant.
Each essay should be between 250 and 500 words long, typewritten and double-spaced.
Each essay must be accompanied by the following: essay title, name, school, home address, home telephone number, e-mail address (if available) and teacher’s name.
Deadline: All entries must be postmarked by February 20, 2004.
Prizes will be awarded accordingly: $50 for middle-school and $100 for high-school finalists.
A jury of educators will select the final awardees.

All entries should be addressed to :
Deborah Reid Murphy at dmurphy@ncmamail.dcr.state.nc.us
Or
Deborah Reid Murphy
North Carolina Museum of Art
4630 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4630

For Educators:

African Art: Symbol and Spirit, a booklet highlighting 10 works in the African collection, is available free of charge for educators and their students. As quantities last, the Museum will gladly mail as many copies for students as a teacher requests.

Educators with a significant number of student entries for the writing project may host a performance relating to West African culture and/or elect to visit the Museum. The North Carolina Museum of Art will underwrite performances that will be shared with at least 150 students. Eligible schools may receive transportation assistance to visit the Museum.

For additional information, contact Deborah Reid Murphy, assistant director of education, at (919) 839-6262, ext. 2199, dmurphy@ncmamail.dcr.state.nc.us.

The North Carolina Museum of Art gratefully acknowledges Liggett Vector Brands Inc. for their generous support of this outreach effort and other educational programming for the 2003 exhibition Accent on Africa: Recent Acquisitions of African Art.

Accent on Africa: Recent Acquisitions of African Art
Presenting Sponsor: RBC Centura
Additional Support: Liggett Group Inc.

Works from Accent on Africa

Nigeria, Yoruba
Man’s Three-Piece Ceremonial Outfit
before 1955
Handspun cotton
Gift of Mary Hester Powell in memory of her parents, Reverend and Mrs. J. Carlyle Powell, 2001 (2001.10 / 1-3)
The Yoruba are known for their love of beautiful fabrics and their distinctive garments. Yoruba men layer yards of expensive cloth into voluminous garments that signal their status, prosperity and good taste. For traditional festivities, men’s outfits consist of a robe called an agbada worn over gathered pants, with a matching hat. The finest of these outfits are fashioned from “prestige cloth,” narrow strips of handwoven cloth stitched together to form larger cloths that are decorated with elaborate needlework.

This outfit, including a pair of pants, was presented to Reverend and Mrs. J. Carlyle Powell, Southern Baptist missionaries among the Yoruba from 1919 to 1955, on the occasion of their retirement in 1955.

Asante kente cloths
Photo: Rebecca M. Nagy, 200o

Master weaver James Osei Kwaku Antobre models a kente cloth woven in his workshop in Bonwire, Ghana.

South Africa, Natal Province, Zulu
Woman’s Hat (Isicholo)
20th century
Plant fiber, cloth, fat and ochre pigment
Gift of Charles Jones African Art, 2000 (2000.8)

Zulu women’s hats were developed in the late 19th or early 20th century based on a cone-shaped hairstyle worn by married women. Today most Zulu women wear traditional hats only on ceremonial occasions. The hat (isicholo) is an indication of the wearer’s maturity and marital status. Craftsmen make the hat by overlaying dyed string on a basketry foundation.

South Africa, Zulu, Ngwane subgroup
Wedding Day Cape (Isikoti)
1960s
Cloth, glass beads, yarn and brass buttons
Purchased with funds from Kenneth and Ellen Chance, 2001 (2001.8)

The Zulu are known for their elaborately patterned and colorful beadwork, worn by both sexes but made by women. The beaded garments and jewelry signify an individual’s home region, clan affiliation, age, gender, marital status and social position. In preparation for marriage, an Ngwane woman and her female relatives produce a wedding day beadwork cape. The design includes letters, symbols and meaningful color combinations, which are understood by members of her community.

This cape is one of approximately 50 collected in South Africa by Professor Frank Jolles, a leading authority on Zulu art. Jolles purchased the garment from Mrs. Kafogo Mazibuko, for whom it was made in the 1960s.

Lamidi Ọlọnade Fakeye
Nigerian, born 1925
Three Figural Veranda Posts
1984
Iroko wood
Purchased with funds from the North Carolina Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), 2001 (2001.9.1-3)
Lamidi O. Fakeye comes from a long line of Yoruba wood carvers. After an apprenticeship with a master sculptor in Nigeria, he studied and taught in Europe and the United States. His focus is a personal interpretation of traditional techniques and styles of Yoruba woodcarving.

These monumental veranda posts were carved for a cultural center in Ibadan, Nigeria, but the building project was canceled and the commission for the posts withdrawn with only three posts completed. They portray a priestess of Osun, goddess of water, and a priest of Ogun, god of iron; a priest of Shango, god of thunder, and a drummer for Shango; and a babalawo, or divination priest, and his drummer.

Ghana, Akan, Asante
Man’s Cloth in the Asa saa wa (Assemblage) Pattern
Early 20th century
Silk, cotton and rayon fibers
Gift of the NCMA Docents, 2000 (2000.6.1)
Kente cloth has been woven into clothing for the Akan ruling classes for approximately 300 years. The cloth, traditionally made by men only, is constructed from narrow strips woven on a loom and sewn into larger cloths that men wear toga-style and that women wear as wrap skirts and bodices.

Workshop of Samuel Cophie
Ghanaian, born 1939
Man’s Double-Weave Cloth
2000
Rayon (warp) and silk (weft)
Gift of the NCMA Docents, 2001 (2001.3)
In recent decades customs in Ghana have changed, and kente cloth is now available to anyone who can afford such a luxury. Worn for ceremonies and festivals, kente has become a symbol of Ghanaian national pride.

Master weaver Samuel Cophie is famous for his variations on traditional kente designs. The dazzling design of this cloth was created in 2000 for Chief Osayem Tetteh Odorkor Tuumeh I. The weaver accepted a commission from the NCMA Docents to reproduce the design for the Museum’s collection.

Ghana, Akan, Fante
Soul Washer’s Badge
20th century
Gold alloy
Purchased with funds from the Art Trust Endowment, 2002 (2002.14)
Gold regalia have always played a crucial role in the courts of Akan chiefs and kings as symbols of power and authority. A “soul washer” conducted purification rituals on behalf of the king and wore this disk ornament as an emblem of his office.

Côte d’Ivoire, Akan, Baule
Linguist’s Staff with Leopard Finial
20th century
Wood with gold leaf
Purchased with funds from Elizabeth B. Craven, 2002 (2002.15/a-d)

In an Akan court, the linguist serves as counselor, interpreter and intermediary for the chief. Each linguist carries a wooden staff sheathed in gold as an emblem of office. Because of its strength and cunning, the leopard seen on the finial is a favorite symbol of Akan chiefs.

Ghana, Akan, Fante
Comb with Hunter and Elephant, Sankofa Bird, and Knots
20th century
Wood
Purchased with funds from the Art Trust Endowment, 2002 (2002.16)

This comb is rich with symbolism and imagery. Hunters were admired for their strength, courage and skill, and felling an elephant was a particular achievement. As the Sankofa bird looks over its shoulder, it represents reflection upon the past in order not to repeat mistakes.

Ghana, Akan, Fante
Comb with Sankofa Bird and Crown
20th century
Wood
Purchased with funds from the Reverend Monroe and Marjorie Diggs Freeman, 2002 (2002.12)

In this comb, a popular art form among the Akan people, a Sankofa bird stands on a traditional Akan stool, a symbol of leadership. The crown was inspired by European-style crowns, familiar to the Fante people from years of interaction with European merchants, slave traders and colonial officials.

Nigeria
Tripod Cooking Vessel
20th century
Ceramic
Gift of Charles Jones African Art, 2000 (2000.9)

In most African societies, women produce pottery, primarily for domestic use. While unadorned, these practical designs may have elegant forms or beautifully burnished surfaces. Other vessels are adorned with incised, raised or painted ornamentation.

This cooking vessel from Nigeria is distinguished by its three-legged form and incised geometric decoration as well as raised designs on the shoulder. The tripod form is a practical alternative to the three cooking stones customarily used in West Africa.

Skunder (Alexander) Boghossian
Ethiopian, 1937–2003
Night Flight of Dread and Delight
1964
Oil on canvas with collage
Purchased with funds from the North Carolina Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), 1998 (98.6)
Growing up in Ethiopia, Skunder Boghossian was inspired by that country’s tradition of Christian religious painting. In 1955 he went to Europe to study art and was influenced by surrealism. Painted in Paris, Night Flight of Dread and Delight is a visionary fantasy inspired by the novels of Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, which are filled with spirits and supernatural forces. The painting reflects the influence of European modernism and the Pan-African movement, which led African artists to draw from the creativity of the entire continent.

South Africa, Xhosa, Thembu subgroup
Costumes for a Female Diviner and Her Acolyte
before 1966
Cloth, glass beads, monkey fur, jackal fur, cowhide, cow tail, goatskin, goat gall bladder, horn, seeds, calabash, brass, copper, rubber, wood, leather, shells, porcupine quills, roots, plastic, wood and mother-of-pearl buttons
Purchased with funds from the State of North Carolina, by exchange, 2000 (2000.7.1/1-155; 2000.7.2/1-69)
The primary vehicle for artistic expression in South Africa is elaborate beadwork, which for Xhosa-speaking peoples plays a key role in ancestor veneration. The layers and weight of the beads signify the presence of the ancestors. In Xhosa religious practice, divination priests communicate with the ancestors and other spirits. Beadwork worn by priests is predominately white, the color of purity and the spirit of the ancestors.

Liberia, Dan
Feast Ladle
Early 20th century
Wood, metal and plant fiber
Purchased with funds from The Christensen Fund and the North Carolina Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), and Gift of Allen Clayton Davis in memory of his mother, Mildred Grace Lee Davis, 2001 (2001.11)

Among the Dan, a decoratively carved feast ladle is an emblem of honor for the woman recognized as the most hospitable in her community. When used to serve food, the rice-filled ladle symbolizes a pregnant belly, thus linking human and agricultural fertility.

This sculpture was collected in Liberia by Dr. George Way Harley (1884–1966), a North Carolinian who made tremendous contributions to the study of African art. During 35 years as a medical missionary in Liberia, he devoted himself to learning about local cultures and served as a research associate in anthropology for the Peabody Museum at Harvard. A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Harley attended Trinity College (now Duke University) before completing his medical training at Yale.