Bodies of Meaning

While some of these objects directly depict the body or parts of it, for others the human connection comes from the fact that they were worn, carried, or otherwise used in daily life. 

Constantine Petridis, Rita Knox Chair and Curator, Arts of Africa, walks us through five ways the body comes into play in Body and Being in African Art, a presentation opening this November featuring 55 works from our permanent collection.

Reading the Body

Whether fully abstract or somewhat more realistic, human representations in African art do not mimic the natural world. Instead, they express cultural ideas and ideals through formal conventions, such as particular ways of representing anatomical details or distinctive hairstyles, jewelry, and other adornment. Often these ideals highlight the local values of a specific culture.

This male Dogon figure wearing a braided hairstyle, beard, and amulet pendant and carrying a ritual staff over his left shoulder likely represents a man of high rank. Once part of an altar honoring ancestors, the figure received repeated ritual applications of sacrificial animal blood, millet porridge, plant juice, and oil, which resulted in its current crusted surface. Possibly dating to the 18th century, the sculpture has been well preserved because it had been stored in a dry cave.

This female Fante figure features a variety of elements that embody local ideals of beauty—the beaded necklace, waistband, and anklets as well as a hairstyle that was fashionable in the mid-19th to early 20th century. This genre of figure was meant to help realize the desire for children. Such objects’ popularity testifies to the value women enjoyed in Fante society because of their procreative powers.

Masks and the Body in Performance

In most African cultures, the local term for “mask” does not simply refer to the physical face covering but encompasses the costume, accessories, the dance and musical accompaniment, as well as the spirit entities that temporarily inhabit the performer or mediate through the masks. It is a fully embodied experience.

This female Baule mask was an idealized portrait honoring a living community member, identified by her unique hairstyle and scarifications, whose name it would also carry. The woman who was portrayed would dance alongside the male masker, dressed at her best. The sculpture’s shiny surface suggests clean and healthy skin, while its high forehead symbolizes intelligence and downcast eyes signal introspection. 

This Yaka helmet mask with its extravagant hairstyle was primarily used in the context of initiation rituals for young boys, worn by the novices during coming-out festivities. Its performances, accompanying songs, and complex imagery contained strong sexual references. The upturned nose connotes seduction and desire, while the house at the top suggests the union of a married couple.

Crowning the Body

African hats and other headwear in the most inventive forms are still worn today to enhance, alter, protect, reveal, or conceal the head as the seat of wisdom, dreams, willpower, and destiny. Their formal and material diversity is the result of personal taste but also tied to regional trends and temporary fashions. Whether worn by men, women, or children, they can signal ethnicity, age, gender, or an occupation, and they often mark authority and status.

Imitating a once-popular hairstyle, this type of Fang headdress (above left) was worn as a wig on the shaved head of a man or woman until the early 20th century. Decorating the fiber structure are costly trade materials such as copper tacks, plastic buttons, and cowrie shells that evoke prestige and wealth. Similarly, the projecting discs in copper on the pagoda-shaped Ekonda hat (above right) define the status and wealth of the chief who wore it on public occasions. Both the body of the chief and his hat were smeared with a mixture of red camwood powder and oil to make the skin shiny and smooth as a sign of good health.

Decorating the Body

Jewelry and other types of body decoration are used across the African continent with the aim to extend and enlarge the body and draw attention to certain body parts and the cultural values they represent. Much like hats and headwear, they express notions of identity and belonging but also reveal a sense of beauty. Adding to their appeal are the various colorful materials they often include, especially the rare and expensive items imported through long-distance trade from distant places. Materials derived from powerful animals that are feared and respected are typically exclusively owned and used by men and women of rank and authority. 

Ceremonial swords with beaded sheaths and hilts (above left) are the prerogative of Yoruba kings and high-ranking chiefs in the Owo region. The representations of a horse and rider and of hunters with their rifles signal prestige, while the bird images allude to the supernatural powers of women. In the Asante kingdom, gold insignia continue to indicate status and wealth and are ostentatiously worn at festivals by kings, chiefs, and other titleholders and court officials. Until 1991, the Art Institute’s large pectoral disk (above right) was owned by Odeefuo Boa Aponsem III (r. 1955–2016), the 18th King of Denkyira, a state that has been an Asante vassal since 1701.

Holding and Being Held by the Body

Furniture and household objects express a universal desire to embellish one’s environment and to use practical objects that are pleasing to the eye and the touch. However, their elaborate forms and decorations suggest that they also signaled the prominence and good taste of their owners.

Carved from a single piece of wood, this elaborate stool (above left) is one of many status objects that are associated with the complex hierarchy of titles that defines Igbo society. Earning a title comes with responsibilities and restrictions but is rewarded with the privilege of possessing and displaying certain works of art like this. The elegant egg-shaped form of this Zulu container (above right) and the finely grooved decorative pattern of its surface suggest that it was the work of the virtuoso carver Unobhadule, who became famous for the objects he made for the 1862 International Exhibition in London. While this type of vessel would have been used to store tobacco or milk, this example does not appear to have been used at all, indicating that it was made for a European audience and served a decorative function.

Whether depicting idealized forms, transforming the body through masks or embellishments, or beautifying the domestic environment, the widespread emphasis on the human body in the arts of Africa reflects the common belief that outward appearance indicates inner character. This fusion of visual beauty and ethics shines through the various objects featured in Body and Being in African Art, a welcome return of a permanent collection display of the arts of Africa in the museum’s galleries this fall.

—Constantine Petridis, Rita Knox Chair and Curator, Arts of Africa

Topics

• Collection
• Arts of Africa