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The Chokwe, the most famous and artistically prolific ethnic group in Angola, command a rich visual world, as this exhibition catalog illustrates using artworks carefully selected from prominent private and museum collections in the United States, Europe, Canada, and South America. One hundred and fifty of the finest masterpieces of the Chokwe are displayed here in vibrant color, as well as works from neighboring groups resident in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, to include masks, chief's and ancestral figures, thrones, scepters, divination tools, and ceramic figures.
Africa is a vast continent, home to many millions of people. Its history stretches back millennia and encompasses some of the most ancient civilizations in the world. Modern Africa boasts a rich cultural heritage, the legacy of many diverse influences from all around the world, reflecting the central role African plays in world history. Encyclopedia of African Peoples provides extensive information about Africa's cultures, history, geography, economics, and politics; it provides an invaluable overview of the whole continent, region by region, ethnic group by ethnic group, nation by nation, personality by personality. Sections include: *Africa Today * The Peoples of Africa * Culture and History * The Nations of Africa * Biographies Past to Present * Glossary * Index.
This introduction to the visual art of one of the most renowned peoples of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo deals exclusively with sculpture. After providing a brief history of the Chokwe, the different chapters examine the figurines used in the ritual of divination, the statuary connected with the humba possession cults, antique (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) classical statuary referred to as of the native land, court items, privileges of the warrior aristocracy, and wooden masks linked to the chieftianship and the initiation rites of circumcision. Particular attention is devoted to the precious effigies of Chibinda Ilunga, the civilising hero of the myths of the origins, almost all the exemplars of which were brought to Europe in the nineteenth century, as well as to chairs, whose symbolism and function are revelatory both of the religion and the hierarchical structure of the chieftianship.
Revealing the powers immanent in works that the West long regarded only as exotic or abstract, Constantine Petridis looks beneath the surface of the arts of the Luba, Songye, Chokwe and Luluwa peoples to find, literally embedded in sculpture, the forces that enable the spirit world to intervene in daily life. Ritual use of these objects is expected to ensure a healthy birth, successful hunt, or triumph over an enemy. Analysis of the scholarly record illuminates the changing visions of leadership and prestige that fostered the development of the majestic, elaborate figure styles long prized in the West. These sculptures nevertheless retain the mysterious potency of more humble objects trusted for centuries to protect, heal and harm. Art and Power in the Central African Savanna examines an artistic culture in which the sacred and the secular are indivisible, and aesthetic and moral value inseparable.