Panel (Holo). Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Wood, height: 34.1 cm.

Royal Museum for Central Africa,

Tervuren, Belgium.

 

 

Animal Representations

 

As soon as we leave the domain of human representation – or more exactly what appears to us as human representation, but is not so in the eyes of the Negroes – this sort of “incomprehension”, which assails us in spite of ourselves, disappears and we are in a better position to appreciate exactly the artistic value of the productions which are not so far removed from our own conceptions. In truth, the representations of animals, so numerous in Negro art, are no more imitations of nature than the human figures and just as often offer anomalies of proportion or an intentionally bizarre or repulsive aspect. But we are accustomed to chimeras, dragons, and unicorns, we do not find it extraordinary that animals are given a conventional attitude or incongruous attribute, so we are better prepared to perceive exactly the impression that the artist has brought to life in his work. For all the more reason, we have full liberty to admire, without reserve, compositions in which we are tempted to see only the fruit of an imagination gifted in the sense of line and harmony.

 

 

lndustrial Arts

 

At the side of religious art or art for art’s sake, there is another domain in which the Negroes are past-masters: it is that of the industrial arts, represented by work in clay, wood, iron, copper, gold, leather, and textiles. Ornamented and glazed pottery of all forms and dimensions, finely carved spoons, gongs, staffs of command, low or high stools each one of which is a masterpiece of patience and elegant execution; harmoniously slender paddles, straight or curved knives having handles of wood incrusted with metal, lances with multiple blades of graceful contours, axes for war or parade, small objects in moulded or hammered copper; golden jewellery of filigree or made in a mould, rings and bracelets with delicately wrought openwork, cushions, saddles, boots, and sheaths in supple leather diversely coloured; curious boxes of oryx skin, trays and mats of coloured reeds, fabrics of cotton, wool, or raffia that are veritable tapestries with motifs as sober as they are varied and of a very sure taste in colouring; silk or cotton embroideries of a singular richness and happy design. All this is beginning to be familiar to us, thanks to the collections brought together in museums or for exhibitions. More than one of our manufacturers has been inspired by them to produce new types in Europe that are highly appreciated by the public. Even in Africa missionaries are developing these artistic industries among the natives who find, in the exportation of these products of their ingenuity, unlooked-for sources of revenue. Perhaps it is even to be feared that the stimulus of an easier profit may push the Negro artisans to subordinate their own inspiration to the taste of the European buyer and to sacrifice their art to the temptation of mass production.

 

With regard to some specific objects, especially those of leather or fabrics of cotton and embroideries, the superiority of the southern peoples over the Sudanese is no longer apparent. Manifestly it is because we are dealing with industries imported from North Africa, together with their techniques and their motifs of decoration. Sudanese artisans are not more highly gifted in this domain than in the others with respect to their congeners of the south, but they have received knowledge of which the latter are still ignorant.