From left, Kongo ntadi, and a royal memorial wooen figure from Cameroon
Laura Tanna, Contributor
PERSPECTIVES ON African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection', an exhibition of 50 works from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda opened on April 15, conceived with the perspectives of 'Performances, Power and Design'.
Masks dominate the performance element, both the 20th century Salampasu peoples' mask of wood, copper and fibre from the DRC but more particularly the 20th century Byeru mask from the DRC. Of dark wood dramatically painted with white spots, it was probably worn by a masquerader whose body would have been painted in the same manner, who might also be wearing a netted hat with feathers or raffia attachments, fibre armlets, anklet rattles, civet sins or skirts of leaves.
If your mind immediately thinks of Jonkannoo you're on the right track as Jamaican Jonkannoo is descended from African masquerades. Curatorial intern Nichole Bridges, who wrote the exhibition programme, noted that the masks on view were used solely by initiated men and mostly in initiation ceremonies for young boys and girls, necessary to marry or assume leadership roles.
She noted: "Typically, initiates retreat from family and community into isolated wilderness encampments where they receive instruction from leaders. During transitional moments where the community gathers for the initiates' departure to or return from seclusion, masqueraders may lead a general dance or procession accompanied by horns, song and percussive instruments such as drums, rattles and bells."
Other objects on view include examples of art reinforcing positions of power. There are 20th century Leadership Staffs, one of wood by the Kwere people of Tanzania and another of wood and iron by the Makonde people of Tanzania Mozambique, the latter of interest as it portrays a serpent devouring a four-legged reptile carved below the staff head, a motif suggesting the leader's ability to strike like a snake. Clans associated with specific animals will have their totem figures represented, which must be treated with respect.
Anyone familiar with Jamaican Maroons or with Kumina knows that traditionally power resides with the ancestors who may influence one's life positively or negatively. Ancestral figures -- one over two-feet tall from the Hemba people of the DRC - are also represented in the Bareiss Collection. Another striking piece from the DRC, this time from the Holo people, is a 19th century ceremonial Leadership Axe of wood and iron, a human head above the blade. An 18th-19th century bronze, wood and sheet metal crucifix with iron nails and tacks reminds us that in 1483 Portuguese explorers established contact with the Kingdom of Kongo (today lower DRC and northern Angola) and within a few decades, the Kongolese aristocracy made Christianity the state religion. A modern transitional power figure, a painted wooden sculpture of an Ashanti Ghanaian Police Officer wearing a fez, demonstrates how during British colonial rule in that part of Africa a man could attain another kind of leadership role outside of the traditional lineage or clan.
On the third theme of design, an 18th-19th century raffia cloth of the Kuba people from the DRC, with vivid geometric and zigzag patterns, is especially beautiful, woven by men and embroidered by women for use as a ceremonial robe or burial shroud. Similarly, the zigzag patterning and triangular geometric designs on finely woven Tutsi baskets from Rwanda and Burundi, delicate coils sewn together to create storage for grain, household objects, or if smaller, for gifts, are exquisite items rarely exhibited.
Walter Bareiss, the 84-year-old family patriarch, with his wife, Molly, is responsible for having collected more than 800 art works from sub-Saharan Africa, primarily from Central and Southeastern countries. His experiences working on an acquisitions committee for a Western museum of modern art motivated him to create his own collection as they were interested only in pieces relating to African influence on European artists such as Picasso or Brancusi. Walter Bareiss recognised that African works of art were not 'primitive' nor mere 'artefacts or curios' but demanded their own place of perfect place to open this exhibition, in the Elvehjem Museum of Art, founded in 1970 on the campus of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The university now boasts 70 faculty members specialising in African studies, with 4,000 undergraduates annually taking African studies in everything from art history to zoology courses and more than 100 Africanist graduate students in training.
CELEBRATION
This exhibition, attended by the Bareiss family, opened in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the African Literature Association (ALA) and the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Department of African Languages and Literature at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The theme of this year's ALA conference was Verbal Performance & Visual Cultures, chosen in part to honour Professor Harold Scheub who altered the way African oral narrative performance is regarded. His influence in the field in terms of respect for the performer, accurately recording and creatively analysing oral narrative has been enormous.
For those of you who might wonder why this exhibition would be of particular interest to us in Jamaica, over the past two decades the Congolese/Angolan influence in Jamaica is progressively being brought to light. Through the African/Caribbean Institute of Jamaica (ACIJ), whose first director was Kwame Dawes' father, Neville Dawes, the work of Monica Schuler on Congolese indentured labourers in Jamaica was first brought to my attention. Following that, through the Jamaica Memory Bank (JMB), founded by Olive Lewin, what appeared to be vestiges of Congolese ancestry were brought forward. When I appealed to the University of Wisconsin for assistance in further exploring these contacts, it was Dr. Hazel Carter of the Department of African Languages and Literature who, through the combined efforts of the ACIJ/JMB and the University of the West Indies (UWI), came to Jamaica in 1986 to examine Congolese retentions through linguistic research. Building on that and a great deal more research, Dr. Maureen Warner-Lewis -- retired recently from UWI -- has written, The Central African Heritage in the Caribbean, UWI Press, 2003, a fascinating clarification of what Jamaica owes to its Central African ancestors. The next issue of Jamaica Journal will feature a distilled essence of her findings in a shorter article by her.
"African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection" continues at the Elvehjem Museum, 800 University Ave, Madison, Wisconsin through June 27th Tues-Fri, 9 to 5 (www.lvm.wisc.edu). Of course, the best thing would be if the Bareiss Family would agree to an exhibition of some of the 800 works of African art to be held in our own National Gallery of Jamaica!
