Tribal Art Forum

Part 3:  Yoruba Carvers - Past and Present

by David Zemanek

The Contemporary Artist (1960-1980)

The Oshogbo story is part of the history of Nigeria, and the things done by Uli and Georgina Beier and by Susanne Wenger were the beginning of the so called “new sacred art” (14) and the mbari movement (15).  Some of the artists that continued the traditional way of wood carving will be introduced here.  Buraimoh Gbandamosi is an artist who works with stone and wood (16). 

Buraimoh Gbandamosi

He was born in Oshogbo/Oyo State, and is the younger brother of the writer, Bakare Gbadamosi.  He had no formal education before he met Susanne Wenger, who recognized his talent for woodcarving.  He has done an apprenticeship to a carpenter.  He was helping to reconstruct the temples for the Yoruba gods, and created a door with relief and later, another with columns.   He works for the Ogboni society, and has done the colums for the Ogboni meeting house in Oshogbo.  There are also Eshu figures that were used in traditional context, known to have been carved by him.

   
Works by Buraihmoh Gbandamosi.  Ancestor figures for Eshu (left); Eshu figure (right).

He had exhibitions in the Goethe Institution in Lagos (in 1981, 1982, and 1989) and in Europe.  He has an individual style that breaks with the classical Yoruba woodcarving tradition, using new forms with the traditional patterns and icons.

Kasali Akangbe is another popular artist (17).

Kasali Akangbe

He was born 1941 in Oshogbo/Oyo State; his family is an old woodcarving dynasty.  He helped Susanne Wenger to reconstruct the Oshogbo Shrines.   He developed his own style in a relatively short time.  Some of his most famous works are the big figure of Shango and Oya, and the figure that stands in the Oshun grove.  He works mostly for the traditional societies and traditional clients, but also made for sale to tourists and contemporary art lovers in Europe and the USA.

    
Works by Kasali Akangbe.  Ancestor figures (left); figure made for sale (right)

Those works were made with less care than those made for ritual use in the traditional societies.  His work is full of philosophical depth, wisdom and joy of life.   He had many exhibitions in Nigeria, and in the Goethe Institution in Lagos in 1981 and 1989.    Some of his works were also shown in Europe.

Conclusion

Much has been written about Yoruba art.   In my text I hope to draw the attention of the reader to the phenomena of cultural renewal.  That an African society survives even while the influences from the Christian and Islamic worlds are suppressing its culture, is a sign for me that there is still hope for an African traditional artist.  So the tradition is still alive and can be developed.  Even today there are two worlds in traditional Yoruba carving.  A more traditional one that keeps the old patterns and a dynamic abstract, and one that deals with the problems of modern society.  The modernists use all the available inspiration, so modern attributes of wealth like watches, telephones (18), bicycles, cars and airplanes are common patterns in their works or their masquerades that caricature Europeans.  So the syncretic influence of the modern world is reflected in their works.

Anago-Yoruba Gelede mask.

In my view, this traditional heritage must be preserved.

The reality looks different; there is a decline of traditional art in Nigeria.  For example, the traditional wooden Ibeji figures (19), that were made after the death of a twin (the Yoruba people believe that twins have an immortal soul and the Ere Ibeji acts as a container for it) are now often replaced by western plastic dolls (20).

    
Igbomina ere Ibeji by Master of the Fish Eyes (left); plastic dolls used as ere Ibeji (right)

So the tradition has survived, but the traditional form is gone forever.   I hope that I have described the concept of what we call an artist in an African context.  The religious element in the iconography is continuity, but you can also find Eshu shrine figures in modern European clothing today. This transformation of historic religious patterns into daily life will be the only chance to preserve the culture of the Yoruba people.  If I were to compare it to European art, I would focus on the new Christian or Jewish art, that breaks with traditional patterns and uses new materials.

Bibliography

Beier U.:  Art in Nigeria, Cambridge University, 1960

Beier U., Bochow P.,: Zeitgenössische Nigerianische Kunst, D-N Gesellschaft, Bonn, 1989

Cameron E.L.:  Isn't s/he a Doll ? Play and Ritual in African Sculpture, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1996

Chemeche G.:  Ibedji - The Cult of Yoruba Twins, Milan, 2003

Eisenhofer S.:  Kulte, Künstler, Könige in Afrika - Tradition und Moderne in Südnigeria, OÖ. Landesmuseum, Linz, 1997

Fagg W.:  Yoruba Sculpture of West Africa, New York, 1982

Himmelheber H.:  Negerkünstler, Stuttgart, 1935

Homberger L. ( editor):  Yoruba - Kunst und Ästhetik in Nigeria, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1991

Matthaes G.:  Illustriertes Handbuch des Kunstsammlers zur Echtheitserkennung von Antiquitäten, Band 3, Museo del Collezionista d´Arte, Milan, 2002

Pemberton J., and others:  The Yoruba Artist - New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts

Stoll G., Stoll, M.:  Ibedji, München, 1980

Stevenson M., Graham-Stewart:  The Mlungu in Africa, Art from the Colonial Period 1840-1940, 2003

Thompson R.F.:  Black Gods and Kings, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1976

Willet F.:  Afrikanische Kunst, München, 1998

Witte H., World in Motion - Gelede Puppets of the Anago Yoruba, Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, 2001

Zemanek D.:  Nigeria - Kunst und Ritus, Würzburg, 2002

Footnotes:

14.  Eisenhofer S.:  Kulte, Künstler, Könige, Linz 1997, p. 423
15.  ibid., p. 424
16.  Beier U.:  Zeitgenössische Nigerianische Kunst, Bonn 1989, p.15
17.  ibid., p.6
18.  Witte H.: World in Motion, Berg en Dal 2001, p.89, fig 48 and cover
19.  Zemanek D.: Nigeria - Kunst und Ritus, Würzburg 2002, S. 27-28
20.  Cameron L.C.:  Isn’t s/he a Doll? – Play and Ritual in African Society, UCLA 1996., p.89

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