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19th-Century Airport ArtAuthor(s): Ezio BassaniSource: African Arts, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Feb., 1979), pp. 34-35+90Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies CenterStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3335482 .Accessed: 20/01/2015 04:03

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19t h CENTURY IRPORT R T

SS A :?,

It was with the greatest interest thatI read the April 1976 issue of African

Arts discussing the complex problem offakes. Although the difficulties in defin-ing what is genuine African art wereclearly revealed, I do feel that the defini-tion put forward by J. Comet can be ac-cepted: Authentic African art is that artwhich is produced by a traditional artistfor a traditional purpose and conforms otraditional forms. I I wish not to re-openthe argument but merely to draw atten-tion to an early case in which the exis-tence of non-traditional sculptures, orwhat now is called airport art, was dis-covered by the director of an ethno-graphic museum.

In 1889, what is now the MuseoNazionale Preistorico ed EtnograficoLuigi Pigorini in Rome acquired an im-portant collection of ethnographic ob-jects assembled by the explorerGiuseppe Corona in 1887 in West Africa,

mainly in Calabar, and near the mouth ofthe Congo River. These objects, stored inAntwerp, were bought on the basis ofphotographs (which, alas, have disap-peared), and the objects were later de-clared unsatisfactory by the buyer, LuigiPigorini, founder and director of the mu-seum. In a letter dated July 12, 1889, heasked the Minister of Public Instructionto interrupt negotiations on the muse-um' s behalf and oblige the seller to eitherrefund expenses or reduce the price thathad been fixed for the acquisition. Pigo-rini stated the situation as follows:

Since there was no possibility of exa-mining the collection before we agreed tobuy it, when asked whether I consideredit suitable to acquire it for the museum Idirect, I answered in the affirmative, onthe condition, of course, that we receiveall the objects documented by the photo-graphs presented by the Cav. Corona,and on condition that each object bear un-

equivocal signs of having been used [myitalics] by the natives from whom itoriginated, thus excluding the possibilitythat it [the collection] might consist ofmaterials produced along the coast to besold to those who hunt for curios ... Ofsuch objects, which the Cav. Corona hadguaranteed the number given and thecondition of having been used, only afew reached us, or the items appear ut-terly new ... Instead of forty-four, thereare only twenty-five figures, and ofthese, eighteen cannot be accepted be-cause they have never been used, so thatonly six can be shown in the Museum.The catalogue of the collection, which Iam sending you, drawn up with thegreatest possible accuracy, shows all thatCorona has delivered to the Museumagainst that which, as shown in thephotographic plates and as described inthe printed notes accompanying each ofthem, he was bound to deliver. From thissame catalogue it appears that out of 664objects sold, 117 are missing, and pre-cisely those that constituted the value ofthe collection. One hundred forty-fivemust be refused because they are notauthentic, and, further, 32 are useless

because they are either broken or in-complete. The collection is thus reducedto 471 items, most of slight importance ornone at'all. If you do not decide to refusethe collection outright, it should not bepaid a lira above 2,000, that is, an averageprice of four lire per object [instead of5,000 lira as demanded by the seller].2

This letter reveals some interesting in-formation. Pigorini was not a specialistin African art but an ethnologist and mu-seum director; therefore, his concernwas not so much with the aesthetic qual-ity of the objects as with their rarity andauthenticity, that is, their having beenused. One learns that the production ofitems to be sold to those who hunt forcurios was flourishing along the Afri-can coast. The search for ethnographic orart objects from Africa must even inthose days have been anything but neg-ligible, and it may have precipitated theproduction of a new handicraft, perhapswithout the intention of bringing fakesonto the market.

It was during the last quarter of thenineteenth century that the great collec-tions of Western ethnographic museumswere amassed, thanks to indiscriminateINVENTORY NO 40764 33cm. 2 INVENTORY NO. 40757. 34cm. 3 INVENTORY NO. 40766. 23cm.

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4. INVENTORY NO. 40760. 36cm. 5. INVENTORY NO. 40761.38cm. 6. INVENTORY NO. 40763. 38.5cm. 7. INVENTORY NO. 40758. 40cm.

campaigns that completely strippedwhole regions of Africa of their art. Theliveliness of the hunt for African ob-jects on the part of explorers and mer-chants is expressed in a letter fromRomolo Gessi, the Italian explorer whotraveled in 1874-1880 in the southernSudan, defeating the Arab slave mer-

chants in the Bahr el Gazal. In a letterdated October 21, 1876, to a friend inCairo named Helios or Hellios, Gessiwrote: You suggest that I should bringyou curiosities. Is there a good marketfor them in Cairo? I made a collection butit is still incomplete. It is very difficult tofind these objects. Everybody herewants to buy them, and the prices havebeen spoiled, especially by Englishmenwho pay for this rubbish at its weight ingold. There are also many Greeks, Jews,etc. who buy up everything. I have sentorders to the chiefs of our military sta-tions3 to find objects. There is a Russian

doctor here4 who for 20,000 francs, hasalready bought utensils, lances, arrows,etc. from the savages. You will easily un-derstand that I cannot rival the pricesoffered by these people, who are readyto pay whatever price is demanded so asnot to return to Europe without a collec-tion. Therefore, let me know whether itis possible to sell these objects at a goodprice in Cairo because, believe me, it isdifficult to find any. 5

A few years ago, the Museo Civici,Reggio Emilia, received a group of ob-jects from the Museo Nazionale d'An-

tichita, Parma. They belonged to theCorona collection originally acquired bythe Museo Pigorini and given to theParma museum in 1896, probably in ex-change for archaeological material.These seven items (in the inventory ofthe Museo Pigorini they are entered asnumbers 40757, 40758, 40760, 40761,

40763, 40764, 40766, with the descriptionwooden figure, West Africa ) must al-most certainly be among the eighteenfigures refused by Pigorini becausethey had never been used. 6

The fake sculptures (I feel ratherembarrassed to apply this term to Afri-can carvings about 100 years old) are ofhard wood with a natural, light patina,except for number 40766, which is poly-chromed. The seven figures are clearlyby the same sculptor, and they showmorphological characteristics differentfrom any known African style. Althoughfrom a sculptural point of view they arenot

very impressive,their weakness of

style should not be a criterion for pro-nouncing them fakes. The heads showseveral common characteristics. Theclosed eyes are semicircular, the arch ofthe brows is carved in relief, the nose isflattened and triangular, the lips are alsoflattened and roughly modeled (in somefigures the mouth is half open, showingteeth), the protruding ears are high upon the skull, and the hands and feet aremerely indicated by engraved lines. Allof the figures wear hats; three have thesame round cap, flat at the top.

The objects in the Corona collectionwere collected in Calabar (southernNigeria) and in the Lower Congo. I be-lieve that the seven sculptures now inReggio Emilia come from the latterarea-not, as the Museo Pigorini's in-ventory indicated, West Africa. Thepractice of representing figures in Euro-

pean coats was followed in Nigeria, butin Yorubaland rather than in Calabar. Inthe Lower Congo, however, figures ofEuropeans have been commonly found,often polychromed, and the models forFigures 1, 5 and 7 appear to have beenEuropean. Figure 1 is portrayed with araised leg, a pose rare in traditional Afri-can sculpture. The posture of Figure 7(no. 40758), however, who holds hischin, is typical of certain figures from theLower Congo.

In the two unclothed figures, the sex-ual organs are exaggerated by thesculptor, as if in accordance with the

Europeansexual view of Africans. I have

concluded that this unknown artisanmust have worked on order, creatingsculptures for sale to foreign sailors andtravelers who wished to bring back fromAfrica curios and typical objects.These figures would have satisfied theserequirements and, at the same time,reassured the craftsman's customers oftheir racial superiority, a claim based on asuperficial and distorted interpretationof the evolutionary theories current inthe second half of the last century. O

Notes, page90

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of decency. Anyidoho can assert an alterna-tive to this oppression in the affirmation of thehuman spirit and its undefeatable hope. In so

doing he links himself most immediately withthe many other poets across Africa who aretrying to deny the oppression which affrontsthem all, as they are exiled and imprisoned.By joining their voices they forge an allegianceon a far wider scale with other poets of differ-ent lands and different periods, who equallysaw their functions as both protest and affir-mation. It was in the thirties that W. H. Audenwrote, All that a poet can do today is towarn. Perhaps in another period of politicaltension this can also be a measure of what theAfrican poet must attempt. In such a spiritthese three new books continue to make that

impressive statement of humanity which re-

pudiates all the shallow promises and cruel

practices of rulers, and this is the essentialtask of poetry.

John Povey

NEW PUBLICATIONS

Moche Art of Peru: Pre-Columbian SymbolicCommunication by Christopher B. Donnan.Museum of Cultural History, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles, 1978. 206 pp., 273b/w and 10 color illustrations, map, bibliogra-phy. $5.00 paper.

Hero and Chief: Epic Literature from the Banyangaby Daniel Biebuyck. University of CaliforniaPress, Berkeley and London, 1978. 320 pp.,appendices, bibliography, index. $20.00cloth.

Africa edited by Phyllis M. Martin and PatrickO'Meara. Indiana University Press, 1978. 482pp., 27 maps, 78 b/w photographs, 22 tablesand diagrams, bibliography, index. $20.00cloth.

Spirits in Ebony: Woodcarvings of the AfricanMakonde by Gordon L. Olson. Grand RapidsPublic Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan,1977. 26 pp., 30 b/w illustrations. $1.50 paper.

Danses d'Afrique. Photographs by MichelHuet, Introduction by Jean Laude, text (inFrench) by Jean-Louis Paudrat. Editions duChene, Paris, 1978. 242 pages, 126 color and140 b/w photographs, 3 maps, bibliography.190F cloth.

90

NESMITH, Notes, from page 241. The inquiry is part of a general study of village bronzes inWest Africa and comparable cultures, in progress since 1971.In gathering material for this essay, I owe particular thanks to

Anita R. Navon for support in languages and logistics;Mamadou Baba Niangado, antiquaire, Bamako; AbdoulayeSylla, Musiologue Conservateur, Musde National, Mali;Toumani Triande, Director, Mus6e National, Upper Volta;and to Peter and Nancy Mickelsen of Ouagadougou, who formany years have given close study to the Voltaic arts.2. The 45 Dogon bronzes studied are equally divided be-tween those bought by the author several years ago in theU.S. market, those acquired in Africa during research, andthose bought in the current U.S. market.3. The artistic use of the count 3 and 4 and 7 in a fertilitycontext is not limited to Voltaic peoples. For example, thecombination appeared on at least 34 bronzes at Igbo-Ukwu inca. A.D. 850 (Thurstan Shaw, Igbo-Ukwu, London, 1970, II,passim).NESMITH, BibliographyBrasseur, Gerard. 1968. Les Etablissements Humains aiu Mali.

Dakar: Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire.Desplagnes, Louis. 1907. Le Plateau Central Nigtrien: Une Mis-

sion Archdologique t Ethnographique u Sudan Francais. Paris:

Emile Larose, Libraire-Editeur.Dieterlen, Germaine and Solange de Ganay. 1942. Le Genie

des Eaux chlez es Dogons. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste PaulGeuthner.

de Ganay, Solange. 1941. Les Devises de Dogons. Paris: Institutd'Ethnologie.

de Ganay, Solange. 1942. Le Binou YibMn6. Paris: LibrairieOrientaliste Paul Geuthner.

Griaule, Marcel. 1938. Les Masques Dogons. Paris: Institutd'Ethnologie.

Griaule, Marcel. 1965. Conversations with OgotemmMli. Lon-don: Oxford University Press. Translation of Dieu d'Eau,1948.

Griaule, Marcel and Germaine Dieterlen. 1951. SignesGraphiiques oudanais. Paris: Hermann.

Griaule, Marcel and Germaine Dieterlen. 1954. The Dogonof the French Sudan, African Worlds, edited by DaryllForde. London: Oxford University Press.

Huguennin, G. (ed.). 1973. Les Tellemns t les Dogons. Auver-nier, Switzerland: Galerie Numaga.

Laude, Jean, 1973. African Art of the Dogon. New York: Brook-

lyn Museum-Viking Press.Leiri, Michel. 1948. La Langue Secrete

des Dogons de Sanga.Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie.

Paulme, Denise. 1940. Organisation Sociale des Dogon. Paris:Les Editions Domat-Montchrestien.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1974. African Art in Motion. Los

Angeles: University of California Press.Voltz, Michel. 1976. Initiation a l'Art de la Haute-Volta,

Guides Touristiques de l'Afrique, Cbte d'Ivoire, Haute-Volta,Bcnin, Togo, edited by Arlette Eyraud. Paris: Hatier.

BASSANI, Notes, from page 351. Joseph Comet, African Art and Authenticity. AfricanArts 9, 1 (1975), p. 55.2. My translation. Luigi Pigorini, Folder Acquisiti Corona.Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnografico Luigi Pigorini,Rome.3. Gessi created a series of military and commercial postsalong the upper Nile on behalf of the Egyptian government.4. This was W. Yunker, the Russian explorer, whose collectionis one of the oldest and important in the Museum of An-

thropology and Ethnology, Academy of Sciences, Leningrad.5. My translation of Gessi's letter, which was written in rather

faulty French. F. Surdich, Nuovi documenti su RomoloGessi, Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato (Rome, Jan.-Apr. 1974),pp. 171-172. Examples of the curiosities Gessi mentions area whole series of ivory sculptures, small tusks carved with

genre scenes. Produced on the Loango coast during the latterdecades of the nineteenth century, they were obviously in-tended for tourists and are sprinkled throughout variousmuseums and private collections. One of these works is in theMuseo Pigorini (no. 6545G). Others are in the Museum fdirV61kerkunde, Berlin (see K. Krieger, Westafrikanische lastik,vol. 3 [Berlin, 1969], pls. 154-163). and in the Katherine Whitecollection (see W. Fagg, African Tribal Images [Cleveland,1968], pls. 228, 229).6. The items in the Corona collection that can be consideredauthentic are: numbers 40755 and 40756 (mintadi), 40728 and40857 (nail fetishes), 40765 and 40858 (fetishes with the recep-tacle closed by a mirror) and 40769 (a fetish with a receptaclein the shape of a ball); in all of these there are visible traces ofusage. There are other human figural carvings from the samecollection that are clearly authentic, though with fewer tracesof usage and of lesser aesthetic quality; these, compared withthe fetish figures, must have impressed Pigorini as being verynew indeed.

I have identified 23 human figures instead of the 25 that

Pigorini mentioned, including a skin-covered mask from theEkoi. The Museo Pigorini has the seven authentic pieces,plus numbers 40768 and 40770; the Museo Civici in ReggioEmilia has the seven fakes illustrated in this article, plusnumbers 40757, 40759, 40856, 40859 and 40862. To completethe number of items, we might add numbers 40854 and40855.

OELMANN, Notes, from page 43I am grateful to the Trustees of the British Museum for allow-ing me to photograph examples of the Talbot screens fromtheir collection. My thanks also go to Malcolm McLeod andJohn Picton of the British Museum, Mr. Cranstone andElizabeth Sandford Gunn of the Pitt Rivers Museum, and toMarion Johnson, Alan Leary, Jill Salmons and Keith Nicklin

for their help and encouragement.One of the Talbot screens from the British Museum wasrecently exchanged and is now in the Minneapolis Institute ofArt. Another screen, not collected by Talbot, was brought tomy notice by Tess Gower, Assistant Keeper of the Depart-ment of Ethnography, the Glasgow City Museums and ArtGalleries. This example is particularly unusual and deservesseparate attention.1. The house system of social organization is described inDike (1956:34-37).2. For details of the Garrick Braide movement see Johnson(1916: 455-462) and Epelle (1955).3. The British Museum has, in fact, begun a program ofconservation of the screens.4. Horton observes that obumdum wood is favored forsculpture dedicated to the heroes and ancestors (1965:30).5. Horton's Kalabari Sculpture (1965) is the only monographon Kalabari art to date. It includes photographs of six screens,all quite different, from Abonnema, Buguma and Kula vil-lage.

6. Horton suggests that these dependents are the 'chil-dren,' 'messengers,' or 'followers' of the spirit (1965:29). Theidea that the small heads may represent slaves and that thehead between the legs of the deceased may represent a chiefappears on anonymous labels attached to some of the screensthemselves. Similarly William Fagg refers to the small headsas power symbols indicating that he had many slaves(1963, fig. 110).7. For a full account of the Ekine society see Horton 1963.8. Denis Williams discusses (with examples) how certainplaque figures are turned on their central axis and how theproblem of foreshortening may be tackled (1974:154-167).9. Illustrations and detailed descriptions of Urhobo ivri canbe found in Perkins Foss 1975.10. See Horton's outline of Kalabari cosmology in 1962.11. Horton recounts a tale describing how ancestral figura-tive sculpture was produced without legs, thus preventingthe spirit from coming alive and finishing off his descen-dants. The same author suggests that, while such a storyillustrates the localizing function of sculpture, it should notbe taken literally, as many of the ancestral memorial figureshave all their limbs represented.12. See Leonard (1906:162-166) and Talbot's account of a simi-lar ceremony (1932:236-238).13. For illustrations of these stools, see Talbot (1932, opp. pp.140, 144) and Horton (1965:45, figs. 1-3).14. See chapters by Fraser, Cole and Bravmann in Fraser andCole (1972), and Wilks (1975:77-78).OELMANN, BibliographyAlagoa, E. J. 1976. The Niger Delta States and Their

Neighbors to 1800, History of West Africa, edited by J. Ajayiand M. Crowder, 1. London, 2nd ed.

Dike, K. O. 1956. Trade nd Politics n the Niger Delta 1830-1885.Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Epelle, E. M. T 1955. The Church in the Niger Delta. PortHarcourt.

Fagg, W. 1963. Nigerian Images. London: Lund Humphries.Foss, P. 1975. Images of Aggression: Ivwri Sculptures of the

Urhobo, African Images: Essays in African Iconology, editedby McCall and Bay. Boston University Papers on Africa, 6.New York: Africana Publishing.

Fraser D. and H. M. Cole (eds.). 1972. African Art andLeadership. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Horton, R. 1962. The Kalabari World View: An Outline andInterpretation, Africa 32.

Horton, R. 1963. The Kalabari Ekine Society: A Borderlandof Religion and Art, Africa 33.

Horton, R. 1965. Kalabari Sculpture. Lagos: Federal Depart-ment of Antiquities.

Horton, R. 1966. Igbo: An Ordeal for Aristocrats, NigeriaMagazine 90.

Horton, R. 1969. From Fishing Village to City-State: A SocialHistory of New Calabar, Man in Africa, edited by M. Doug-las and P. Kaberry. London: Tavistock.

Horton, R. 1970. A Hundred Years of Change in KalabariReligion, Black Africa, Its People and Religion Today, editedby J. Middleton. Ontario: Macmillan.

Jeffreys, M. 1940. Psychical Phenomena Among Negroes,Jnl. Af. Soc. 39.

Johnson, J. 1916. Elijah II (Garrick Braide), Church Miss.Rev. 67.

Jones, G. I. 1963. The Trading States of the Oil Rivers: A Study ofPolitical Development n Eastern Nigeria. Oxford UniversityPress. Leonard, A. 1906. The Lower Niger and Its Tribes.London: Macmillan.

Leuzinger, E. 1960. Africa: The Art of the Negro Peoples. Lon-don: Muthuen.

Talbot, P. A. 1916. Some Beliefs of Today and Yesterday,lnl. Af. Soc. 15/s, 60.

Talbot, P. A. 1932. Tribes f the Niger Delta: Their Religions andCustoms. London: Sheldon Press.

Wilks, I. 1975. Asante in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford Uni-versity Press.

Willett, F. 1971. African Art: An Introduction. London: Thames& Hudson.

Williams, D. 1974. Icon and Image: A Study of Sacred and SecularForms of African Classical Art. London: Allen Lane.

FOSS, Notes, from page 50Work on Urhobo bridal traditions took place from August1971 to October 1972, with concentration on the more south-ern groups: Ughelli, Udu, Ughievwe, Uwherun, Ogo and

Eghwu. Many people were of immense help to me, particu-larly Eyamrere Akporido Awotoruvwe of Oteri and Iwhreko,her daughter Etarada Umukoro Kokorho and grandson Ben-nett. It is my hope that by recording these traditions, Eyam-rere's wisdom and strength will be remembered. Invaluableinformation and support were given by the Ovie WilliamAnyakweta Bialadja, who enabled me to record the events atOrhuwhorun, Chief T.E.A. Salubi of Ovu Inland, and E.B.Wetan, a local scholar. I also wish to acknowledge:Onogirorhena Odeghe Ezieke, Orhevweunu Omioworume,Okpako Omioworume, Otiti Okposio Forcados, UruededeUmukoro and Umukoro Oviemo, Agnes Avwraka and fam-ily, Uyovwitemu Umefe, William Okorotete, Deborah Ak-porovise, Arhavworhia Esi, Erhinyodjarhe OnojafiaIghoovo, Boni Riarho Ekete and family, Ovede Odjegba.Thanks go to Jean Borgatti Morrison, who encouraged me towrite this article. Finally, I want to thank Perkins Foss. With-out his inspiration and enthusiasm I would never have be-gun, and without his on-going encouragement I would neverhave finished.

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