Over the centuries, artists across sub-Saharan Africa have
memorialized eminent figures in their societies using an
astonishingly diverse repertoire of naturalistic and abstract
sculptural idioms. Adopting complex aesthetic fromulations, they
idealized their subjects but also added specific details--such as
emblems of rank, scarification patterns, and elaborate
coiffures--in order to evoke the individuals represented. Imbued
with the essence of their formidable subjects, these works played
an essential role in reifying ties with important ancestors at
critical moments of transition. Often their transfer from one
generation to the next was a prerequisite for conferring legitimacy
upon the leaders who followed. The arrival of Europeans as traders,
then as colonizers, led to the dislocation of many of these
sculptures from their original sites, as well as from the contexts
in which they were conceived; thus, today, they are seen primarily
as timeless representations of generic archetypes. "Heroic Africans
"reexamines the sculptures in terms of the individuals who inspired
them and the cultural values that informed them, providing insight
into the hidden meaning and inspiration behind these great artistic
achievements.
Author Alisa LaGamma considers the landmark sculptural
traditions of the kingdoms of Ife and Benin, both in Nigeria; Ghana
and Cote d'Ivoire's Akan chiefdoms; the Bangwa and Kom chiefdoms of
the Cameroon Grassfields; the Chokwe cheifdoms of Angola and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.); and the D.R.C's Luluwa,
Kuba, and Hemba chiefdoms. More than 140 masterpieces created
between the 12th and the early 20th century--complemented by maps,
drawings, and excavation and ceremonial photographs--reveal the
religious and aesthetic conventions that defined distinct regional
genres.
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