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Post by Shymmex on Jan 10, 2016 22:07:39 GMT
Beaded Crown (Ade) of Onijagbo Obasoro Alowolodu, Ògògà of Ikere 1890-1928 ARTS OF AFRICA On View: Double Take Installation, East Gallery, 1st Floor ART OF INNOVATION These three works speak to the highly inventive history of Yoruba art. Incorporating outside materials, they each reflect how both a colonial past and global exchange shaped shifting ideas about local identity. Even this bead-embroidered crown, the ultimate symbol of Yoruba kingship, is the product of a complex global story. Although the Yoruba have a long history of glassmaking, the large, multicolored ade crown depicts figures wearing bowler hats and contains beads imported by the British in the late nineteenth century into what would soon become the Nigeria colony. The smaller beaded crown, known as an oríkògbòfó, is an evolution of the ade form, but it is modeled after the wig of a British barrister (lawyer), still worn in court today by members of the Nigerian judiciary. Yinka Shonibare, a British artist of Yoruba and Nigerian descent, used Dutch wax-printed fabric to create Skipping Girl. This material—a commodity associated with Africa but actually created in Europe, based on Indonesian designs, and sold in West Africa—serves as a symbol of the web of economic and cultural interrelationships among Africa, Asia, and Europe. Shonibare exposes cultural "authenticity" as an illusion and evokes the layers of historical connections among global cultures. This text refers to these objects: 70.109.1a-b; 2010.8; 2012.74 CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Basketry, beads, cloth Place Made: Osun State, Nigeria DATES late 19th century DIMENSIONS 37 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. (95.9 x 24.1 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 10, 2016 22:08:38 GMT
Door (Ilekun) ARTS OF AFRICA On View: African Storage Annex, East Gallery, 1st Floor The Yoruba often install doors carved in low relief in places frequented by people of special distinction. This door probably belonged to a babaláwo, or diviner, who is represented on horseback in the second register. The row of kneeling female figures in the top register are most likely devotees of Eshu-Elegba, the orisha (god) associated with divination. CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Iroko wood Place Made: Ikare, Ondo State, Nigeria DATES late 19th century DIMENSIONS 48 x 31 3/16 x 1 1/4 in. (121.9 x 79.2 x 3.2 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 10, 2016 22:10:00 GMT
Housepost, One of Pair ARTS OF AFRICA On View: African Storage Annex, East Gallery, 1st Floor Figurative posts often support the verandas of distinguished places such as important shrines or the dwellings of kings, titled elders, and priests. Just as a post supports the house, the carved figures represent the individuals who support and uphold the leader in his office. This text refers to these objects: 82.154.2; 82.154.1 CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood, pigment Place Made: Nigeria DATES late 19th or early 20th century DIMENSIONS 62 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 6 in. (159.4 x 21.6 x 15.2 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 11:15:46 GMT
Figure of Shango on Horseback Yoruba, Toibo of Erin ARTS OF AFRICA This figure has been attributed to the workshop of the renowned Yoruba carver Toibo, of the town of Erin. It was probably carved in the 1920s or 1930s for the timi (king) of Ede (one of the historic Yoruba kingdoms), who kept it in a shrine dedicated to the orisha (god) Shango. Equestrian figures are potent symbols of power in many parts of Africa where ownership of horses was long restricted to warriors and political leaders. In Yoruba mythology, Shango was both a king and the orisha associated with thunder and lightning. ARTIST Toibo of Erin, died ca. 1937 MEDIUM Wood, pigment Place Made: Erin, Osun State, Nigeria DATES early 20th century DIMENSIONS 40 x 14 1/2 x 9 in. (101.6 x 36.8 x 22.9 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 11:17:11 GMT
Pair of Twin Figures (Ere Ibeji) ARTS OF AFRICA On View: Double Take Installation, East Gallery, 1st Floor ART OF DOUBLES Duality is present in art throughout the continent as an expression of essential concepts that drive human nature—from gender to humanity’s place in the cosmos. This pair of pairs illustrates some of the ways that artists have expressed these ideas. Ere ibeji are carved by the Yoruba primarily as memorial figures for twins. Because twins are considered spiritually powerful beings, with power to provide considerable good or to inflict harm, ibeji figures are the focus of great personal interaction and care. Such figures are considered a point of access to the spirit of a departed twin, and an icon of status for a mother of twins. Worn on the heads of male dancers, ci-wara headdresses are danced in male and female pairs to symbolize the fertility of land and animals. Each headdress represents an antelope, which for the Bamana is a metaphor for the successful farmer who tirelessly tills his fields. This text refers to these objects: 77.245.1; 77.245.2; 2010.22.1a-b CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood, pigment, beads, metal, cowrie shells GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS Possible place made: Egbe, Kogi State, Nigeria Possible place made: Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria DATES late 19th-early 20th century DIMENSIONS a: 12 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (30.5 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm) b: 11 1/2 x 2 x 2 1/2 in. (29.2 x 5.1 x 6.4 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 11:18:17 GMT
Kneeling Female Figure (Arugba) ARTS OF AFRICA This figure was probably carved by Maku, the master carver of the town of Erin, or by Toibo, his son. The elongated oval head, set on a slightly curved neck, the stylized ears, and the incised lines across and below the half-closed eyes are characteristic of these carvers. The figure probably served as a receptacle for small gifts on a shrine altar, possibly dedicated to Shango, the god of thunder and lightning. CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood, pigment Place Made: Oshogbo, Osun State, Nigeria DATES early 20th century DIMENSIONS 22 x 7 x 8 in. (55.9 x 17.8 x 20.3 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 11:20:09 GMT
Divination Tapper (Iroke Ifá) ARTS OF AFRICA On View: Double Take Installation, East Gallery, 1st Floor ART OF THE BODY These five artworks from throughout the African continent display the range of approaches artists have taken to figural representation. They prove that the Western tradition of naturalism— depicting the body precisely as observed in life—is not even remotely the only possibility open to an artist. The Mossi mask celebrates the female form. While it is not an exact replica of the body, the proportions are relatively balanced. The Yoruba tapper, used with a board to draw images during divinations, was carved with more exaggerated proportions, partly in order to contain it within the functional form of a tapper and the shape of the ivory from which it was carved. The Fang figure, a masterpiece by a known artist or workshop, has primarily been reduced to a series of basic shapes—cylinders and circles. The legs and hips are conceived as the intersection of two perpendicular cylinders, echoing the cylindrical reliquary box on which the figure sat. The small Nsapo-Nsapo work and the Chamba figure take the abstraction of the human form even further by greatly exaggerating the proportions. The Nsapo-Nsapo example's stretched arms and the Chamba sculpture's outsized hands suggest different emotional states for these two protective figures—a tense anxiety, perhaps, in one and a lumbering aggression in the other. This text refers to these objects: 51.3; 80.100; 2005.13; 2011.4.1; 2011.31.1 CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Ivory Possible Place Made: Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria DATES 18th century (possibly) DIMENSIONS 13 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (33 x 3.8 x 3.8 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 11:21:12 GMT
Gelede Mask ARTS OF AFRICA CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood, pigment Place Made: Nigeria DATES late 19th century DIMENSIONS 11 1/4 x 9 x 14 15/16 in. (28.6 x 22.9 x 37.9 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 11:22:44 GMT
Beaded Crown (Ade) of Onijagbo Obasoro Alowolodu, Ogoga of Ikere 1890-1928 ARTS OF AFRICA CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Glass beads, cloth, basketry Place Made: Osun State, Nigeria DATES late 19th or early 20th century DIMENSIONS 22 3/4 x 8 1/2 in. (diam.) (57.8 x 21.6 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 18:14:18 GMT
Gelede Body Mask ARTS OF AFRICA CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood, paint Place Made: Benin DATES 19th century DIMENSIONS 49 1/2 x 22 x 15 1/2 in. (125.7 x 55.9 x 39.4 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 18:17:02 GMT
Figure of a Standing Male (Ere Ibeji) ARTS OF AFRICA CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood Place Made: Nigeria DATES late 19th or early 20th century DIMENSIONS 10 1/2 in. (24.5 x 7 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 18:23:44 GMT
Standing Female Figure (Ere Ibeji) ARTS OF AFRICA CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Beads, wood, pigment Place Made: Ekiti State, Nigeria DATES late 19th or early 20th century DIMENSIONS 11 1/2in. (29.2cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 18:35:52 GMT
Carved Dish for Palm Nuts (Agere Ifa) ARTS OF AFRICA CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood, paint Place Made: Abeokuta, Nigeria DATES late 19th century DIMENSIONS H: 6 1/4 x Diam: 8 in. (H: 16.0 x Diam: 19.5 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 18:37:25 GMT
Dance Wand for Eshu (Ogo Elegba) ARTS OF AFRICA CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood Place Made: Nigeria DATES 19th century DIMENSIONS 13 x 2 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (33 x 6.4 x 7 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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Post by Shymmex on Jan 12, 2016 18:40:10 GMT
CULTURE Yoruba MEDIUM Wood, pigment Place Made: Benin DATES late 19th or early 20th century DIMENSIONS 9 3/16 x 7 x 10 1/2 in. (23.3 x 17.8 x 26.7 cm) (show scale) COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
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