BAULE: VISIONS OF AFRICA
The Baule descend from the Akan peoples who inhabit Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Three hundred years ago the Baule people migrated westward from Ghana when the Asante rose to power. The Baule now reside at the center of the Ivory Coast and possess one of the most diversified of arts cultures. They employ different media, including wooden sculpture, gold and brass casting similar to their Asante ancestors, and mask and figure carvings. Their art is so varied that one might imagine some works...
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The Baule descend from the Akan peoples who inhabit Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Three hundred years ago the Baule people migrated westward from Ghana when the Asante rose to power. The Baule now reside at the center of the Ivory Coast and possess one of the most diversified of arts cultures. They employ different media, including wooden sculpture, gold and brass casting similar to their Asante ancestors, and mask and figure carvings. Their art is so varied that one might imagine some works originate from different cultures: what is there in common between a flat mask-disc and an idealized face mask which nevertheless come from a single ceremony? Or between a glazed statuette of a man or woman, and a monkey figure with the head of a dog, coated in coagulated blood? Their art encompasses every form of creation: not only masks and statuettes, but also sculpted doors, decorated divination boxes, gold jewels. The book presents a selection of Baule masterpieces from public and private collections worldwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of African art (Smithsonian), Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, Fowler Museum of UCLA, University of Pennsylvania Museum.
Baule, the Aesthetics op Harmony in Dissemblance 7Introduction 7The Baule lands 10The myth of origin 11The Baule religion 15Statuary 19Spirit-spouses (blolo bla and blolo bian) 20Hunting statuettes (bo usu) 30The plastic arts and divinatory rituals 32The dog-headed statues (Aboya and Mbotumbo) 38Masks 40The goli cult 40Conjuring masks or men's masks (bonu amuin) 54Entertainment masks 65Ancestor worship and the sacred heirlooms (aja) 74Everyday objects 76By way of conclusion 78The sculptors 78Baule aesthetics 80Plates 83Plate Captions 147Commented Bibliography 157
