Collections: Arts of Africa

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Photo Survey of Historic African Collection

Kevin D. Dumouchelle on August 12, 2010

Careful watchers of the museum's online image collections may have noticed some large new batches of African works begin to pop up over the last month.



This summer, with the help of Connie Jang, an intern with the Digital Collections department (and incomparable prep work by Katie Apsey, our Curatorial Assistant, and a loaned photo backdrop from the Egyptian offices), I've started a photo survey of one of our most important sub-collections of African objects—the significant number of works acquired by our curator Stewart Culin during a 1922 Museum-sponsored collecting expedition to Europe. While on this trip, Culin purchased several important pieces from William Oldman and Paul Guillaume, pioneering art dealers in London and Paris, respectively, before making his way to Brussels. There, Culin was introduced to an obscure employee of a local veterinary school named François Poncelet who, through means as yet unknown, had amassed a collection of over 1500 pieces, mostly from the Congo. Culin managed to acquire the entire collection for around $2,000—twice his initial budget, but a shrewd investment, as time has told. In addition to being the foundation for the Museum's African collection, and the subject of the groundbreaking 1923 exhibition Primitive Negro Art, Chiefly from the Congo, this sub-collection is a crucial historical artifact in its own right, reflecting the creation and circulation of Congolese art at a specific (and comparatively early) time and place.

Single Head Goblet (Mbwoongntey), early 20th century. Wood, 8 1/16 x 3 1/2 in. (20.5 x 9.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1485.

Many of these works have not been previously photographed, and this has also served as a crucial opportunity to review and update our records on these works. Every day in the store room brings with it a new discovery, and I look forward to sharing them with our visitors as the project progresses. You can keep an eye on our progress, by visiting this link.

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Lulua Mother and Child Figure Returns to View

Kevin D. Dumouchelle on December 15, 2009

One of the African collection's most famous, signature objects has recently returned to view in the first-floor galleries, after well over a year's worth of travel around the country.



Lulua. Mother with Child (Luphinga Lua Limpe), 19th century. Wood, 14 x 3 3/8 x 3 1/2 in. (35.6 x 8.6 x 8.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 50.124

The Lulua mother and child figure (lupingu lua luimpe) was featured in the exhibition Art and Power in the Central African Savanna, which was organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, and travelled to the Menil Collection, in Houston, and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, in San Francisco. The mother and child figure featured prominently, among an assortment of figurative sculpture from the cultures of the southern Congolese grasslands, including the Chokwe, Songye and Luba, in addition to the Lulua—art traditions that are all well represented in Brooklyn's collections.

 

Lulua. Mother with Child (Luphinga Lua Limpe), 19th century. Wood, 14 x 3 3/8 x 3 1/2 in. (35.6 x 8.6 x 8.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 50.124

Lupingu lua luimpe figures such as this were used by a cult among the Lulua, called Bwanga bwa Cibola, which aimed to cure infertility. Women who were having trouble conceiving could be initiated into the cult, after which they would receive a lupingu lua luimpe figure, which was designed to ward off any ill intentions that might be directed her way. With incredibly elaborate, finely carved scarification patterns on the mother's face, shoulders and back, and an otherworldly grace to her facial features, Brooklyn's piece remains an unrivaled masterpiece.



Salampasu. Standing Female Figure (Tulume), late 19th century. Wood, pigment, 14 3/16 x 4 5/16 x 3 9/16 in. (36 x 11 x 9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, by exchange, and Designated Purchase Fund, 74.32

While the Lulua figure was making its way around the U.S., its place in the gallery was held by a Salampasu style standing female figure (tulume), from a neighboring cultural region. The face of this carved figure exhibits many of the same distinctive facial features found in Salampasu masking traditions. This figure's hat, like masks from the region, may have originally held feathers. Whereas masks are used in public performance among the Salampasu, figurative sculptures are either privately owned or used in various religious cults. Tulume figures are quite rare, and since little research has been done among the Salampasu, hypotheses about the role of sculptures in this Central African culture remain highly speculative.

  

Left: René Gaffé. La sculpture au Congo belge. Paris: Éditions du Cercle d'Art, 1945. Right: Brooklyn Museum. Masterpieces of African Art (exh. cat.). New York, 1954.

The Lulua piece remains one of the iconic works of Brooklyn's African holdings. (Indeed, while it has only traveled about once a decade, it has been published over 20 times - likely more.) While we were happy to share the work with new audiences in Cleveland, Houston and San Francisco, we are exceedingly pleased to have it back home.

For more on the Lulua mother and child, and other iconic works in Brooklyn's African collection, consult our new catalog - African Art: a Century at Brooklyn Museum. William C. Siegmann (ed.), Kevin D. Dumouchelle and Joseph Adande. New York: Prestel, 2009.

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Elephant Mask on View

Kevin D. Dumouchelle on November 12, 2009

Once permanent installations are set into place, the opportunities for placing previously unseen works on view are rather rare—even with a collection as deep (with over 6000 objects) and well-regarded as Brooklyn's collection of African art (ranked among the most important holdings of art from the African continent in North America). The chief opportunities come from outward loans of objects on display in the permanent galleries, allowing an equally intriguing work from storage a "guest spot" in the open casework, or through textile rotations. (Look for more on the latter in another posting.) Thus, it was with considerable pleasure that I, along with our crack Art Handling, Conservation and Design teams, was able recently to return our Kuosi Society Elephant Mask, by an unknown artist working in the Bamileke style, to view from an extended hiatus in storage.

The circumstances for the Elephant Mask's return were a bit unusual. As you may have noticed, it currently has pride of place in our shop, gracing the cover of the newly published catalog of the African collection, African Art: A Century at the Brooklyn Museum.



The mask was one among a series of candidate objects, of the roughly 130 in the book, for the cover slot on the catalog (more on this process another day, as well). Once it was selected, our Chief Curator and I met and decided that it needed to be returned to view in the permanent galleries.

The Elephant Mask had last been on view in 2001, when the current version of the "Arts of the Africa" galleries was last completely reinstalled. After a brief sojourn on the 1st floor, it was returned to storage the following year, out of conservation concerns (the cloth background, from which it is primarily constructed, is best preserved with limited long-time light exposure). Unfortunately, the casework and mount in which it was displayed were not retained.

While a new case was being constructed, our Conservation team set about re-examining the work, first determining if it was stable enough for display—and, if so, for how long. Once convinced that it could be returned, our mount-maker began the task of studying the construction of the mask, in order to best design a metal mount that would both bear the weight of the entire composition and, in particular, support the large, round projecting ears, which are only loosely sewn on to the edge of the mask's face.



The result was cleverly simple—a post that runs from the bottom of the case (largely obscured by the trunk) into a round, foam support behind the face, with two half-circles extending from the central core, running along the edge of the face and the back and bottom of the ears.



(When you examine the object closely next time in the galleries, note how the mount was painted with specks of color, to mimic the beaded patterns on which it is overlaid.)



Consultation with our Chief Designer determined that the mask could be inserted into the existing installations with minimal disruption. A late 19th century funerary headdress, or tugunga, in the neighboring Bamum or Tikar styles was re-oriented in the gallery, from the current location of the Elephant Mask onto an axis in direct line of sight with the (former) Hall of the Americas.



After a few, small paint touch-ups on the walls, the Elephant Mask was ready for its return last month.

The mask itself is among the boldest and most colorful examples of Bamileke beadwork that I know - a genre that ranges from certain types of clothing and items of personal adornment, to the decoration of large, ceremonial or political objects, like stools. Moreover, the mask remains in stunningly good condition (most such masks would have been discarded - or sold - only after they had become worn, no longer suitable for continued use). The artist has, very cannily, used a combination of complimentary shades of blue beads, against an indigo-blue cloth background, in contrast with a smaller number of red, white and ochre beads to add visual interest to the radiating circular and wedge motifs covering most of the surface. The mask, as a persona of political enforcement within the Kuosi Society, was used by the Bamileke fon, or king, in periodic displays reinforcing his own authority. (For the full gallery label, visit the object in our online collections). Better still, come examine it in person, and re-discover the depth and variety of Brooklyn's world-class African collection.

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