AFRICA. Artful Adventures. An interactive guide for families. Your African Adventure Awaits You! See inside for details

Transcription

1 AFRICA Artul Adventures An interactive guide or amilies 56 Your Arican Adventure Awaits You! See inside or details

2 ART OF AFRICA Arica is a very large continent with many countries, states, and territories. The continent contains large, urban cities as well as rural regions and is home to more than 1,000 ethnic groups who speak a variety o languages and dialects. Each ethnic group has its own traditions and customs. In many areas, traditional rituals have given way to the pace and conveniences o modern lie. By studying the objects that were used in traditional ceremonies and rituals, we are able to learn about the social and religious customs that were once practiced. We are going to look at a ew o those objects today. The Arican gallery is on the lower level o the museum. Walk down the stairs and turn to your let. Walk through the Chinese and Japanese galleries until you come to the Arican gallery. The irst piece we are going to look at is straight ahead, in the large case against the wall. Nigeria, Igbo artist: Ikenga, irst hal o the 20th century. Wood and polychrome, h cm., w cm., d cm. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class o 1921, Fund ( ). Photo: Bruce M. White. IKENGA This twentieth-century Igbo Ikenga igure was made by a Nigerian sculptor who was probably rom the village o Nteje. It was carved rom one piece o wood. Ikenga represents power and leadership. Men would pray to it and give it gits o nuts, wine, and sometimes a rooster or a ram. They believed that Ikenga would save them rom enemies and bring them wealth and good luck. What does he have on his head? Ikenga is always shown with horns, symbols o power and aggression. This artist has turned the horns into an elaborate headdress. What is he holding in his hands? The details o Ikenga igures dier depending on the status o the owner. This igure is holding a sta, the symbol o authority, in one hand and an elephant tusk, symbolizing power and leadership, in the other. This Ikenga probably belonged to a man or group o men with wealth and power. There are several masks in a case on the right as you irst enter this gallery. Can you ind them?

3 MASKS Masks play an important role in the traditional rituals and ceremonies o many Arican cultures. Although the speciics o the rituals vary rom one ethnic group to another, the masks are generally used to represent spirits, or supernatural beings, in social and religious events. They are part o elaborate costumes worn by dancers and musicians in these ritual ceremonies. Many Arican cultures believe that spirits dwell inside the masks and are brought to lie during the masquerades, the dramatic perormances by ully costumed igures. The masks usually take the orm o a human or animal ace. Since they are intended to represent a spirit or supernatural being, they are not realistic they don t look like a person or animal would look in real lie. Instead, they are oten abstract and geometric, or made o dierent shapes. Have you ever made a ace using geometric shapes like triangles, rectangles, circles, and ovals? Give it a try on the mask below. Mali, Bamana artist: Kore Society mask, late 19th 20th century. Wood, h cm., w cm., d cm. The John B. Elliott, Class o 1951, Collection ( ). Photo: Bruce M. White.

4 South Arica, Northern Nguni artist: headrest, late 19th 20th century. Wood, h cm., l cm., d cm. Bequest o John B. Elliott, Class o 1951 ( ). Photo: Bruce M. White. HEADRESTS In South Arica headrests were commonly used as pillows. People would rest their heads on them to protect their elaborate hairstyles while they slept. They believed that a headrest also helped its owner sleep well and have good dreams. Headrests were so valued that they were oten buried with their owners or passed on within amilies. Can you ind the other headrests in this gallery? One o the headrests has a handle. Can you ind it? This would have been especially convenient or traveling. CHAIRS This chair was made about 100 years ago in central Arica by a Chokwe artist rom the Congo or Angola. A throne or a Chokwe chie, it is elaborately carved and decorated. What are the people on the chair doing? Can you ind a man with a drum? Dancers? These igures show us that the chair belonged to an important person. When the chie wasn t using the chair, it was stored on its side. I the chie visited another village, a chair-bearer would carry the chair or the chie. Tshikapa region, East Angola or Democratic Republic o the Congo, Chokwe artist: chair, early 20th century. Wood and metal, h cm. Git o Perry E. H. Smith, Class o 1957 (y ). Photo: Bruce M. White.

5 WHERE IN AFRICA IS IT? Draw a line connecting the work o art to the country it came rom. Ikenga Igbo artist Nigeria Headrest Northern Nguni artist South Arica Western Sahara (Morocco) Cape Verde Madeira Islands (Portugal) Canary Islands (Spain) Gambia Guinea-Bissau Mauritania Senegal Sierra Leone Liberia Morocco Arica Mali Algeria Benin Burkina Guinea Cote D'Ivore Ghana Togo Sao Tome & Principe Equatorial Guinea Cabinda (Angola) Niger Nigeria Tunisia Libya Congo Gabon Chad Camaroon Central Arican Rep. Angola Democratic Republic o Congo Rwanda Burundi Zambia Egypt Sudan South Sudan Eritrea Uganda Kenya Tanzania DJibouti Malawi Ethiopia Chair Chokwe people o Democratic Republic o the Congo Somalia Comoros Seychelles Namibia Zimbabwe Mauritius Botswana Mozambique Reunion (France) Madagascar Kore Society mask Bamana artist Mali Headdress Eut people Cross River Region, Nigeria South Arica Lesotho Swaziland Thank you or joining us today to explore the art o Arica. Don t orget to stop at the inormation desk to collect a sticker or your Artul Adventures Passport. We hope that you enjoyed your visit to the Princeton University Art Museum and that you will come back again to join us or another Artul Adventure! On the next page you will ind some suggestions or ways that you can continue your Arican Adventure at home:

6 ART PROJECT: MAKE YOUR OWN AFRICAN SHIELD You will need: Cardboard or cardstock Scissors Colored construction paper Tape or glue Crayons, colored pencils, or markers Draw an oval shape on cardboard and cut it out. Draw a similar oval shape on one or more pieces o construction paper and cut it out. Cut the construction paper oval into geometric pieces that can be reassembled, like a puzzle, on the cardboard. Tape or glue these pieces to the cardboard to make a design on your shield. Use the crayons, colored pencils, or markers to decorate. Use letover scraps o cardboard to make a handle or the back o your shield and tape it into place. Chenille stems or twine can also be used.

7 Suggested reading Picture Books The Best Beekeeper o Laibela: A Tale rom Arica, by Christina Kessler; illustrated by Leonard Jenkins I Lost My Tooth in Arica, by Penda Diakite; illustrated by Baba Wague Diakite Anansi and the Magic Stick, by Eric A. Kimmel; illustrated by Janet Stevens The Village that Vanished, by Ann Grialconi; illustrated by Kadir Nelson Non-iction or young children A is or Arica, by Ieoma Onyeulu Fiction or older children One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Dierence, by Katie Smith Milway; illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes Tales rom an Arican Drum, by Charles Robinson Non-iction or older children Atlas o Arica, by Karen Foster Tales rom Arica, compiled by Mary Medlicott; illustrated by Ademola Akintola; oreword by Vincent Magombe All o these books can be ound in the children s section o the Princeton Public Library. Copyright 2011 by the Trustees o Princeton University.