Art of Africa - An African art Blog leading to an African Art site.: March 2011

Friday, March 25, 2011

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.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

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

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.