Boy with Bottle - Hargreaves Ntukwana - For African Art Gallery

Boy with Bottle - Hargreaves Ntukwana - For African Art Gallery

HARGREAVES NTUKWANA (1938 - 1999) 

Born at Crown Mines in Johannesburg on June 17, 1938and was schooled locally until he completed his secondary education and much to the disappointment of his father, Hargreaves decided to follow a career in fine art and music.  He worked as a clerk to pay for his art and music tuition. 

Hargreaves studied at the Pollo Street School of Art in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. From 1960 to 1962 his studies were under Cordelidos at the Artists' colony in Toledo, Spain. From 1971 to 1973 he received further private tuition from Professor Mel Edwards in New York. Hargreaves traveled extensively abroad and lived in the USA, Switzerland and the former West Germany during the seventies and eighties. Hargreaves was also a accomplishes sculptor and musician, playing double bass, saxophone and piano.

Hargreaves work is very popular in the United States where he developed a popularity after his first exhibition in Boston in 1974.  He lectured in the United States and Switzerland on South African Art. Hargreaves headed a workshop at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1984.

"God gives you talent which you in turn make use of and then other people are there to appreciate your God given talent" - Hargreaves Ntukwana

Superb Kuba Drum

Superb Kuba Drum

African drums are among the most important art forms in Africa, they used musical instruments as well as great sculptural African art works that are significant in many ceremonial functions, including dance, rituals, story-telling and communication of messages.

The Kuba tribe consists of about 250,000 people; they are located in Southeastern Congo. The Kuba tribe is actually a collection of smaller ethnic groups. The king of Kuba is always Bushoong, but each group has a representative at the Bushoong court. This is because the Kuba tribe believes the world was created by Bumba who decreed that Bushoong would always be the ruling class.

The Kuba tribe consists of traders, farmers, and fishers. Rivers define the region and provide them with the fish they consume. Women in the tribe would clear the fields and farm crops such as corn, bananas, pineapples, palms, and manioc. Men in the tribe would grow tobacco and hunt. Hunting brought prestige and reinforced the social cohesion between villages. A successful hunt was considered a gift from the gods.

Asante Stool 1622 - For African Art Gallery

Asante Stool 1622 - For African Art Gallery

Every Asante has a personal, utilitarian stool; there are hundreds of patterns expressing not only the owner's gender and social status, but also political orientation. Successful component state leaders bequeath their personal stools to the state as part of its regalia passed down to each new ruler, validating his right to his position. New leaders augment the collection. During his life a ruler may have many personal stools whose support design and decoration express his status and concerns; if he is successful, one of them will be blackened with soot and egg, laid on its side to avoid contamination by hostile spirits and placed in the stool house on its own throne as a shrine and means of access to the spirit of its former owner after his death.

Kwele Ekuk Mask #1623 - For African Art Gallery

Kwele Ekuk Mask #1623 - For African Art Gallery

Ekuk means both “protective forest spirit” and “children of beete.” It displays a flat surface and often has a whitened heart-shaped face, a triangular nose, coffee-bean eyes and small or non-existent mouth. This mask, with two large horns, represents the antelope. The faces are usually painted in white kaolin earth, a pigment associated by the Kwele with light and clarity, the two essential factors in the fight against evil.

Nupe Stool 1617 - For African Art Gallery

Nupe Stool 1617 - For African Art Gallery

These wonderful carved African art stools, created by the Nupe of Nigeria are carved out of one piece of wood with intricate patterns carved into the top. This particular Nupe stool has 10 legs.

The Nupe people live on the south-eastern corner of the plateau region of Nigeria and have had an important impact on their neighbors, both north and south of the Niger river. 

The Nupe are largely a Muslim people, converted by a travelling preacher during the eighteenth century.  The Nupe people have a more abstract form of art.

They are traditionally called the Tapa by the neighboring Yoruba

 

Chokwe Pwo African Passport Mask 1616 - For African Art Gallery

Chokwe Pwo African Passport Mask 1616 - For African Art Gallery

The Chokwe Pwo African art mask is a female mask.  When masqueraded, the performance which is for entertainment, a comedy of manners or social satire, is very popular and is open to every one.  In present times, it is mostly masqueraded at Christmas celebrations, political rallies or workshops on rural development run by NGOs.

The Chokwe Pwo mask can represent (in caricature form) only women in general, but it can also secretly represent a loved one, or be the source of a firm bond between a pwo mask owner and one of his ancestors.

A lot of care is taken in the pwo African masks presentation, the accessories and adornement can give hints to the fashion and period in which the mask was crafted.  The oldest pwo masks have always had beautiful scarification marks and teeth filed to point, which at one time was a sign of beauty.  Earrings are further adorned with coins, inported beads, ribbons and little zinc tokens that served as tax receipts in colonial times.

Passort masks are miniature masks with all the same attributes as the larger dance masks, but were kept on alters of members from the Pwo society.

African Currency Bracelet 1608 - For African Art Gallery

African Currency Bracelet 1608 - For African Art Gallery

Senufo Diviners Bracelet 1607 - For African Art Gallery

Senufo Diviners Bracelet 1607 - For African Art Gallery

The Senufo diviners used bracelets as part of their collection of items that were used during divination rituals.

The Senufo are spread across the Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso and number about one and a half million in total, sustaining a living off of farming and occasional hunting.  They live in villages that are governed by a council of elders, who in turn are led by a chief that was elected from them.  The tribal structure if controlled through the rituals of the Poro society who initiate and control the men from as young a seven yours of age and on.

Mama Mangam Mask 1599 - For African Art Gallery

Mama Mangam Mask 1599 - For African Art Gallery
The Mama people of northern Nigeria in the Benue River Vallery create Mangam head crests like this which represent a bush cow with open extended mouth and sculpted horns that extend upwards in a continuous single line to be joined at their ends.

When worn it is carried on the top of the dancer's head who is surrounded with a ruff of grasses extending from the bottom of the mask that hides the dancer.
Mangam masks dance during funerals and during the yearly agricultural cycle celebrations.

Mama Mangam Mask 1598 - For African Art Gallery

Mama Mangam Mask 1598 - For African Art Gallery
The Mama people of northern Nigeria in the Benue River Vallery create Mangam head crests like this which represent a bush cow with open extended mouth and sculpted horns that extend upwards in a continuous single line to be joined at their ends.



When worn it is carried on the top of the dancer's head who is surrounded with a ruff of grasses extending from the bottom of the mask that hides the dancer.


Mangam masks dance during funerals and during the yearly agricultural cycle celebrations.

Fang Ngil Mask #1589 - For African Art Gallery

Fang Ngil Mask #1589 - For African Art Gallery
The Ngil masks of the Fang tribe represent a masquerading tradition that waned over sixty years ago. They are worm by members of male Ngil society during the initiation of new members and the persecution of wrong-doers. Masqueraders clad in raffia costumes and attended by helpers would materialize in the village after dark, illuminated by flickering torchlight.
They are characterized by elongated features and a heart-shaped face and were thought to have judiciary powers and so were worn when sentences were handed down by society.

Kwele Ekuk Mask #1594 - For African Art Gallery

Kwele Ekuk Mask #1594 - For African Art Gallery

Ekuk means both “protective forest spirit” and “children of beete.” It displays a flat surface and often has a whitened heart-shaped face, a triangular nose, coffee-bean eyes and small or non-existent mouth. This mask, with two large horns, represents the antelope. The faces are usually painted in white kaolin earth, a pigment associated by the Kwele with light and clarity, the two essential factors in the fight against evil.

Tonga Chigaro Stool #1582 - For African Art Gallery

Tonga Chigaro Stool #1582 - For African Art Gallery

These, now African art,  Tonga stools were important status symbols used by the head of the household and known as Chigaro to the Tonga people.

Fang Ngil Mask #1592 - For African Art Gallery

Fang Ngil Mask #1592 - For African Art Gallery

Superb Somali Headrest # 1485 - For African Art Gallery

Superb Somali Headrest # 1485 - For African Art Gallery

Mambila Tadep Figure 1569 - For African Art Gallery

Mambila Tadep Figure 1569 - For African Art Gallery

Yoruba Ibeji Twin Figure 1568 - For African Art Gallery

Yoruba Ibeji Twin Figure 1568 - For African Art Gallery

Grain Basket - Democratic Republic of Congo

Grain Basket - Democratic Republic of Congo

Dogon Brass Martenity Figure 1530 - For African Art Gallery

Dogon Brass Martenity Figure 1530 - For African Art Gallery

These bronze and brass figures created by Dogon blacksmiths are identified with the myths as the blacksmith was one of the primordial beings know to the Dogon as Nommo, and created by Ama one of the important Dogon dieties.
This relationship between the blacksmith and the Nommo gives the blacksmith special powers such as the ability to call down rain, a very important aspect to Dogon life. A figure wrought in metal is not a simple abstraction if the smith that forged it is believed to have descended directly from his remote predecessor who brought the secret of ironmaking down from heaven itself.

Djenne Pot 1527 - For African Art Gallery

Djenne Pot 1527 - For African Art Gallery

Dogon pots have been found in Mali in the vacinity of Mopti and Djenne and as far north as Timbuktu, they are often simplistically called Djenne, the name also applied to terra cotta figures found in the same area.

Senufo Gourd Container - Ivory Coast

Senufo Gourd Container - Ivory Coast

Kissi Nomoli Figure 1526 - For African Art Gallery

Kissi Nomoli Figure 1526 - For African Art Gallery

These nomoli figures are found in a region along the Atlantic Ocean, stretching through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. They have been found, buried, by Kissi, Kono, Mende and Temne farmers working their fields and are attributed to the early peoples of this region. It is difficult to pinpoint the producers of these figures to one particular group due to the turbulent history that existed in this area.
The present day Mende farmers call the figures nomoli or mali yafeisia, and they are bleieved to have been placed in shrines in rice fields to ensure a fruitful harvest, it is further believed that the figures would receive offering of rice if the rice crops were growing as they hoped, but that if the crops failed to prosper as they expected, small whips were used to beat the figure.
among the neighboring Kissi people, these figures were more revered as ancestor figures and were kept in family shrines. The Kissi refered to them as pombo or pomton figures.
The carving of these figures ended generations ago, and are expected to be over a century old, and though were not carved by the Kissi, Kono, Mende or Temne, they were kept when found as they represented a mythical and heroic past to them.

Senufo Poro Society Ceremonial Bowl 1524 - For African Art Gallery

Senufo Poro Society Ceremonial Bowl 1524 - For African Art Gallery

Tiv Snuff Pipe 1522 - For African Art Gallery

Tiv Snuff Pipe 1522 - For African Art Gallery

Senufo Kpeli-yehe mask 1505 - For African Art Gallery

Senufo Kpeli-yehe mask 1505 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask #1439 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask #1439 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask 1443 ~ For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask 1443 ~ For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask 1444 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask 1444 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Blolo Bla Figure 1452 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Blolo Bla Figure 1452 - For African Art Gallery

Youruba Ibeji Fetish Figure 1474 - For African Art Gallery

Youruba Ibeji Fetish Figure 1474 - For African Art Gallery

Asante Akuaba Fetility Doll 1467 - For African Art Gallery

Asante Akuaba Fetility Doll 1467 - For African Art Gallery

Asante Akuaba Fertility Doll 1466 - For African Art Gallery

Asante Akuaba Fertility Doll 1466 - For African Art Gallery

Fante Akua'ba Fertility Doll 1465 - For African Art Gallery

Fante Akua'ba Fertility Doll 1465 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask 1445 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Mask 1445 - For African Art Gallery

Yoruba Opon Igede Ifa Bowl 1471 - For African Art Gallery

Yoruba Opon Igede Ifa Bowl 1471 - For African Art Gallery

Dan Takangle Mask 1457 - For African Art Gallery

Dan Takangle Mask 1457 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Ndoma Mask 1455 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Ndoma Mask 1455 - For African Art Gallery

BAULE NDOMA PORTRAIT MASK

Tribe: Baule
Country: Ivory Coast
Size: 18" (45.72 cm) Tall
Material: Wood.
Condition: Good
A portrait mask, signifying a beautiful woman, these masks were danced for entertainment. This portrait mask was probably created for a women that excelled at the production of cloth as there is a loom surmounting the head. Included on this mask are the scarification's on the cheeks that once typified the Baule (baule ngole) but no longer exist. Following independence, the government proscribed them in order to eliminate signs of ethnicity and bring all Ivoirians into a single people.
The Baule name comes from their myth of origin. In the seventeenth century, in what is today known as Ghana, the Denkyera kingdom rose to prominence, but a dispute led to a dynasty leaving the country. Abla Poku, the queen, had to flee far from Kumasi with her people, the Asabu, whom she led through the forests, but their trip was brought up short by the Comoe river. she consulted her diviner, who told her that to ensure safe passage across the river, she would have to sacrifice her only child. So, eager to escort her people to the promised land, she decided the she herself would throw the child into the waters as an offering to the river gods, crying out "Baouli" ("My child is dead!"), and the followers are said to have adopted this word as the name for their people in honor of the queen's sacrifice.

Baule Kplekple Mask 1454 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Kplekple Mask 1454 - For African Art Gallery

BAULE KPLEKPLE MASK

Tribe: Baule
Country: Ivory Coast
Material: Wood, Pigment
Size: 16.5" (42 cm)
Condition: Good
This mask is the first to appear in goli spirit dances. It performs a minor spirit associated with the junior rank of male dancers who perform before the more important masks appear. In keeping with its low status, it is of a simpler form of a disc shape. Known as a mischievous mask, the young dancers chase women around the village, goaded by their songs.
The Baule name comes from their myth of origin. In the seventeenth century, in what is today known as Ghana, the Denkyera kingdom rose to prominence, but a dispute led to a dynasty leaving the country. Abla Poku, the queen, had to flee far from Kumasi with her people, the Asabu, whom she led through the forests, but their trip was brought up short by the Comoe river. she consulted her diviner, who told her that to ensure safe passage across the river, she would have to sacrifice her only child. So, eager to escort her people to the promised land, she decided the she herself would throw the child into the waters as an offering to the river gods, crying out "Baouli" ("My child is dead!"), and the followers are said to have adopted this word as the name for their people in honor of the queen's sacrifice.

Baule Blolo Bla Figure 1458 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Blolo Bla Figure 1458 - For African Art Gallery

BAULE BLOLO BLA SPIRIT WIFE

Tribe: Baule
Country: Ivory Coast
Material: Wood
Size: 30.5" (75 cm)
Condition: Very Good.
This Baule sculpture represents a "blolo bla" or spirit wife (blolo bian being spirit husband). In Baule culture, the otherworld, (known to them as blolo), exists in contrast to the world of physical reality, existing in parallel to the lived world and is considered to be the world of the dead. Though, it must be noted that the blolo is more than a place for the 'departed', it is also a place of origin for the spirits of the newborn.
The initial knowledge of ones otherworld mate usually comes from some sort of crisis in young adult life, normally of a sexual nature, such as sterility. The person facing the crisis would consult with a diviner (wunnzueyifue), and it would normally be found out that the problems are caused by the unhappiness or jealousy of ones neglected otherworld opposite. In these situations, the divination could reveal that it is necessary to represent this other world person by a carved statue, to which offerings of food or money could be made on a regular basisand that it is necessary to consecrate one night a week to this blolo person by sleeping alone.
Recommended reading for more information: Dreams and Reverie - Phili L. Ravenhill ISBN:1-56098-650-6.

Baule Maternity Figure 1459 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Maternity Figure 1459 - For African Art Gallery

BAULE MATERNITY FIGURE

Tribe: Baule
Country: Ivory Coast
Material: Wood
Size: 17.5" (45 cm)
Condition: Very Good.

Classically carved figures such as this mother and child among the Baule are known generally as waka sran, meaning a 'person of wood'. Some maternity sculptures were owned by diviners known as Komien, who could tell the future, cure illnesses as well as solving local community problems. The figure embodies a number of symbolic elements as shrine figure; she is a 'mother' and for the diviner she is a place of residence for the spirit of the bush to reside ready to be called upon by the diviner. Advised by the bush spirit (asye usu) the diviner will determine the reason that a woman is barren and direct her as to what she must do bear children. It is the energy and power of the bush spirits that create and give life that are contacted by the diviner and directed to the woman.

Recommended reading for more information: Baule Statuary Art: Meaning and Modernization - Phili L. Ravenhill ISBN:1-56098-650-6.

Mende Sande Society Bundu Mask 1420 - For African Art Gallery

Mende Sande Society Bundu Mask 1420 - For African Art Gallery

Mende Sande Society Mask
Tribe: Mende
Country: Sierra Leonne
Material: Wood, Pigment
Size: 16" (40.5 cm) Tall

The Sande society is exclusively a womans society responsible for the initiation of young girls into womanhood and instructing them on the duties they will be responsible for as wives and members of the adult tribal community.  The authority of the Sande society gets its power and influence from Hale, the magic that women control and which resides in the Sowei mask.  The Sowei mask is the only mask danced by women in West Africa.  This is a ‘helmet mask’ worn over the head.

Dan Deangle African Face Mask #1417 ~ For African Art Gallery

Dan Deangle African Face Mask #1417 ~ For African Art Gallery

Dan Deangle Mask

Tribe: Dan
Country: Ivory Coast/Liberia
Material: Wood, Cloth, Metal, Raffia, Cowrie Shells
Size: 14" (35.5 cm)
Known as Takangle, these Dan masqueraders specialize in singing. In their function as singer masks (gle sö) they support the "great mask" (go ge) and give expression to the authority of the influential Go society. Great masks act as judges and justices of the peace.
On the other hand, this type of mask is also associated with the circumcicion camps for adolescent boys. Called deangle, or guard masks, they serve as mediators between the camp and the village.
The Dan people who are also known by the name Yucaba, live in the western part of the Cote d' Ivoire and into Liberia. They number about 350,000 and make their living farming cocoa, rice and manioc. The Dan villages used to be autonomous, governed by a chief chosen from within their ranks, based on his wealth and social standing, however, unifying secret societies were set up and play a very influential part in the daily life of the Dan.

Baule portrait or Ndoma Mask 1416 ~ For African Art Gallery

Baule portrait or Ndoma Mask 1416 ~ For African Art Gallery

Baule "Portrait" or Ndoma Mask
Ethnic Group: Baule
Country: Cote d'Ivoire
Material: Wood
Size: 12.5"
Condition: Good, nice patina from use.

A portrait mask, signifying a beautiful woman, these masks were danced for entertainment. included on this mask are the scarifications on the cheeks that once typified the Baule (baule ngole) but no longer exist. Following independence, the government proscribed them in order to eliminate signs of ethnicity and bring all Ivoirians into a single people.
The Baule name comes from their myth of origin. In the seventeenth century, in what is today known as Ghana, the Denkyera kingdom rose to prominence, but a dispute led to a dynasty leaving the country. Abla Poku, the queen, had to flee far from Kumasi with her people, the Asabu, whom she led through the forests, but their trip was brought up short by the Comoe river. she consulted her diviner, who told her that to ensure safe passage across the river, she would have to sacrifice her only child. So, eager to escort her people to the promised land, she decided the she herself would throw the child into the waters as an offering to the river gods, crying out "Baouli" ("My child is dead!"), and the followers are said to have adopted this word as the name for their people in honor of the queen's sacrifice.