by Klaus-Jochen Krüger |
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fig. 31
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It is quite unusual to find sculptures from the southern
part of Sudan in early collections, whether public or private. This
war-torn region has been inaccessible for many years, and, until very
recently, southern Sudan was one of the few regions unscathed by African
traders scouting for works of art. Sculpture from this remote region
has only recently begun to appear in greater numbers on the art market,
but despite their lack of pedigree they are worthy of detailed examination.
In this article, we will describe the funerary sculptures of the Bongo
and Belanda tribes. In a second article, to be published in a future
issue of Tribal Arts, we will address the sculptural traditions of
other ethnic groups in the region as well as other forms of artistic
production by the Bongo.
Although Bongo art has long been known by specialists, and a few pieces
found their way into the museums in the nineteenth century, no major
Bongo work appeared in any Western public collection during the colonial
period. It is therefore not surprising to see the paucity-or even
total absence-of illustrations of Bongo and Belanda sculptures in
works on African sculpture. Enthusiasts of African art did not start
to take an interest in these remarkable works until they appeared
in the major exhibition Afrikanische Skulptur, held by the Ludwig
Museum in Cologne in 1990, and in Africa: The Art of a Continent five
years later at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, in which three
large sculptures were featured.
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Bongo Tombs
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In this study, we shall outline the history of this art as it relates
to the Western world and explore its function and meaning in the world
of the Bongo and Belanda.
Geographic Distribution
The Bongo live in the southern part of the province of Bahr-el-Ghazal
in the south of Sudan, a region that is predominantly grassland. They
live in familial farming communities, spread at some distance from
one another, usually near water sources or rivers. During the rainy
season, the grass is so high-sometimes over two meters-that orientation
becomes almost impossible.
The population has now deserted these vast regions,
leaving only a few thousand Bongo divided into various groups and
relatively isolated from each other. One large group with which this
author has interacted lives in the Tonj region, another is in the
Wau region and south of the Wau, and a third is in the Bussere river
region. Smaller groups inhabit the Tembura district, the Rumbek region,
and the Maridi and Yambio districts. The Belanda are found in the
Wau region, mainly in the south and west, as well as in the Tembura
region. A small group lives in Yambio. Thanks to this fragmentation,
regional artistic styles can be confidently identified.
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A Bongo man
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History
The Bongo are probably of Sudanese origin. They
emigrated from an area in present-day Chad and around 1600 settled
in the province they still occupy today. Their migration took them
across territories far south of the Mbomu river, which may explain
certain stylistic influences from the northern region of the Congo.
In all likelihood, they brought the tradition of adorning tombs with
wooden sculptures with them from the Chari region of Chad. It is documented
that some Sara groups,1
with whom they have kinship ties, also have funerary sculptures, but
not all Bongo and Belanda groups create sculpture of this type.
The Belanda probably took the tradition of placing sculptures on their
tombs from their Bongo neighbors.2
This group emerged in the early seventeenth century from steady intermarriage
between the Dho Luo (a Nilotic group from the northeast) and autochthonous
Sudanese groups. The term Belanda actually covers two different tribes,
the Bviri, who are primarily Sudanese mixed with Nilotic blood, and
the Boor, who are primarily Nilotic mixed with Sudanese blood. The
Bviri are related to the Ndogo and speak a Sudanese language. The
Mbegumba are part of the Bviri.
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fig.1
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The Boor, on the other hand, are of Nilotic origin,
are related to the Luo, and speak the Luo language. The Mberidi are
part of the Boor. The Bviri and the Boor have drawn culturally closer
to one another through constant intermarriage.
The Azande occupation of the region for almost the entire nineteenth
century also left its mark. Towards the end of that century, the sultan
of the Azande in Tembura drove many Belanda from their lands and they
resettled much further to the north. Not all fled, however, and some,
under the domination of the Azande conquerors, continued to practice
their culture in a superficial manner. Known as Abare-Azande, their
funerary sculpture can be classified among that of the Azande.(fig.1)
Bongo territory was one of the regions of African most fully described
by European explorers at the end of the nineteenth century. At the
time when Georg Schweinfurth, Theodor von Heuglin, Romolo Gessi, John
Petherick, and Wilhelm Junker were in Bahr-el-Ghazal province, the
region was in the throes of cultural upheaval and wracked by periods
of war and conquest. The Bongo in particular were victims of these
disturbances, and were almost totally exterminated by Arab slave traders.
They were either sold as slaves or taken to zeribahs (fortified camps)
as laborers to produce food or serve as porters (see Schweinfurth,
Junker, Petherick, et al.). The social organization of the zeribah
relied on the exploitation of human resources such as slaves, as well
as on the ivory trade. The intensity of cultural relations with the
Muslim conquerors doubtlessly influenced Bongo traditional culture
and almost completely annihilated the Bongo as a people. The unstratified
Bongo system of social organization, which had no central political
leadership, could not stand up to the Arab's highly organized military
conquests, and the Bongo were decimated. The same happened to the
Belanda, some of whom escaped from the conflict only by putting themselves
under the protection of the Azande (one colony even lived at the court
of the Azande lord Gbudwe in Yambio) or by emigrating towards the
south. Others fled northward with the Azande warriors close behind,
and were forced to endure the latter's raids. The Bongo also suffered
at the hands of the Azande. The former were armed only with bows and
arrows, whereas the latter used spears, shields and swords. Disorganized
and inferior in number, the Bongo nonetheless proved tough adversaries
because of their guerrilla tactics.
The western part of the south Sudan was largely depopulated
when the English took charge of the political administration of the
region at the start of the twentieth century. It remains so today.
The low population density kept game fairly plentiful, and cultures
which had traditionally relied on hunting managed to survive. Until
the 1970s the Bongo continued to subsist by hunting, using spears,
bows and arrows, snares, and nets. Hunting also lay behind their traditional
funerary monuments, which are decorated with large figural sculptures.
Such sculptures portrayed the deceased, but the tombs themselves were
also intended to show the rank he had attained in society through
prowess in hunting and subsequent feast giving, and thus the influence
he could exert on the living from the thereafter.
Bongo Sculptures in the Western World
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fig.2
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Although the early explorers were
interested in Bongo sculpture, we owe most of the illustrations and
detailed descriptions of them to Schweinfurth and Junker. Petherick
was the first to bring a Bongo sculpture3
back to Europe, and it is now in the British Museum in London (see
fig. 2, left).
It has little in common with
the other pieces that have come out since. Similarly, the sculpture
illustrated by Schweinfurth in Artes Africanae shows a style that
has now disappeared (fig. 4).
The works recorded by Georg Schweinfurth and Petherick
were not tomb sculptures. They probably belonged to the type of figural
sculpture placed in the house in memory of the deceased that was described
by Georg Schweinfurth, or are similar to those erected on either side
of the road leading to the village noted by J. Petherick.
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fig.5
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The first photo of a Bongo sculpture
dates from 1906 and is by the missionary Fritz Geyer.4
It is representative of a particular style still seen today,
and the artistic region associated with it is centered around Tembura,
near the Jubu river (see fig. 5b, left).
The sculpture in the photograph is
one of a pair of figures that stood in the garden next to what were
then the government buildings. They were therefore easily accessible,
and they were described and photographed several times in the course
of the twentieth century. Geyer's image was accompanied by a description
of the sculpture and was made during a visit to the province of Bahr-el-Ghazal.
When the English traveler Richard Wyndham went to Tembura sometime
before 1936, he too photographed these sculptures, still standing
in what had become the hospital garden, and his photos were later
reprinted by Joseph Maes.5Since
Tembura was the seat of an important Azande chief, Marc Leo Felix,6
referring to a photo taken by Wyndham, wrongly described these sculptures
as Azande tomb sculptures (which are rare but nonetheless documented).
Wyndham, in a letter to Maes, himself noted that these wooden sculptures
were made by an Azande on the request of the missionaries who wanted
to decorate their garden. Geyer, on the other hand, mentioned works
made by a Belanda carver for a European. Neither
Geyer nor Wyndham records the traditional context appropriate for
the Tembura pieces.7
Their inclusion in the corpus of traditional sculptures can therefore
be challenged. They testify more to the influence of early cultural
contacts and a transformation of the initial use of sculpture.
Charles Seligman, in 1917, was the
first to reproduce a traditional ancient work taken from a tomb, probably
the first funerary sculpture to arrive in a museum.8
Edward Evans-Pritchard, in 1929,9
was the first to write a detailed account of the tombs of the Tonj
region, and he reproduced them in his work. In a 1932 volume, Seligman
reprinted a photo of a pair of sculptures which had been taken by
one Dr. Tucker. This same pair, photographed again in 1974 by the
author, provides unusual pictorial evidence of the aging process of
African sculpture (see fig. 11 below).
Ultimately it was Andreas and Waltraud
Kronenberg and their research that made the Bongo and their traditional
culture known in the world of ethnography. In the 1950s they lived
among the Bongo for a relatively long period of time and collected
works that ultimately found a home in the Khartoum museum. They managed
to acquire ancient tomb statues along with a few other examples that
had never been used, and they arranged for some of the Tembura sculptures
to be taken to Khartoum, where they were displayed in the museum gardens.
They were still there when art professionals from Lower Saxony worked
to restore them in 1987. Twenty years after being illustrated by Wyndham,
one of these pieces was observed in almost the same condition as in
his photograph. When it was restored in 1987, it showed signs of age
(fig. 5).10
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fig.8
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The history of Bongo sculptures in
the West started in 1973, when some sixteen items were put on the
art market through the intermediary of the Belgian art scholar and
traveler Christian Duponcheel. Duponcheel11
had read newspaper reports of cease-fire negotiations between the
central Sudanese government and the rebels in the south. He took the
first plane for the Sudan and managed to meet the leader of the rebels
who, because of the talks, was then living in the capital. With his
help, Duponcheel managed to collect sculptures in the Bahr-el-Ghazal
province and bring them to Europe. These pieces ended up in museums
(in Paris, London, New York), in the hands of antique dealers (Henri
Kamer), or in private collections (Frum, de Grunne, de Menil).
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fig.9
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A year after Duponcheel, I went to the southern Sudan
with my wife, where we photographed and collected the sculptures illustrated
in figures 6 and 7. We traveled on foot, and spent a great deal of
time questioning chiefs, healers, and, particularly, hunters.
Other sculptures reached Europe later, firstly by a Belgian carrier
(fig. 8, above) and then through the efforts of a German UN official
(figs. 9, left and 10, below), but these were just souvenirs
brought back by people working in the region. It was not until 1998
that these works appeared in greater numbers on the art market.
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fig.10
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The Origin and Age of the Sculptures
The antique sculptures that do not come from tombs probably reflect
localized phenomena (figs. 2 and 4). The Bongo sculptures associated
with funerary practices are carved out of a tree trunk, the base of
which is buried sixty to eighty cm in the ground. They were placed
either in front of or in the center of a grave-mound and surrounded
by stones, the whole measuring as much as three meters in diameter.
These tombs were set up near villages, and the figures on them were
fully exposed to the weather. Since villages in this region moved
when the ground was no longer suitable for cultivation, the older
tombs are now mostly lost in the savannah, with no paths leading to
them. The low density of the Bongo population makes it impossible
to locate many of these tombs unless the local people are actively
involved. This fact explains why the post at the base of the sculpture
is sometimes chopped off with a machete: the Bongo, who respect their
ancestors and their ancient tombs, do not want to disturb the ground
by removing the buried part of the sculpture.
We must wonder what factors have affected these funerary sculptures
over the years and what their life span might be. Carved from mahogany,
the hardness and natural resistance of the wood has lent great durability
to these sculptures. Termites, a primary enemy of African sculpture,
cannot harm this dense wood, and it rarely splits. The sun fades the
wood, which was originally red, but does not really attack it. The
main damage the carvings suffer, then, is caused by moisture, especially
during the rainy season. Erosion usually starts in the heartwood,
and many of the sculptures become more or less hollow. Brush fires
every year are another cause of destruction, as traces on some pieces
show, but since the hard wood is difficult to burn, the sculpture
are often only superficially charred. There is no way we can calculate
the age of Bongo sculpture by using C-14, which is now commonly applied
to other African sculptures, because we do not believe that these
poles can be more than 100 to 120 years old. Thus the primary evidence
we have for dating them lies in historical sources and photographic
documents, which have enabled us to identify five sculptures that
each appear in more than one photograph taken decades apart. Considering
the extent of erosion that has occurred between the two dates, we
can gain some insight into the aging process:
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fig. 11
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I - (fig. 11, left)
o Sculptures from the town of Tonj, photographed by
Tucker before 1932, then again in 1974. They were
still standing in 1974, even if the face of the child
is no longer recognizable, a fact more likely due
to vandalism than erosion. These sculptures were in
good overall condition more than forty-two years after
they were first photographed, despite several obvious
signs of wear. Interestingly, little remains of the
actual tombs in the later photos. The photograph taken
by Tucker shows freshly painted sculptures. We can
therefore suppose that the figures were made not long
before the first photograph was taken.
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II - (see fig. 5a &b, above) o Sculpture
from Tembura photographed before 1936 by Wyndham (The Gentle
Savage, pl. 38) that was then taken to the Khartoum museum
by the Kronenbergs in 1958. Some signs of erosion are visible
between these two dates. The figure was displayed in the museum
courtyard in 1958 and restored in 1987 because it was badly
eroded. The face was in good condition in 1936, but after
more than fifty-one years in the open air, it required restoration
because of weather damage.
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fig.12a
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III - (fig. 12 a, left) o This tomb, near Tonj,
was photographed before 1936 by Wyndham and attributed
by him to the Azande who lived in the region.
It is obviously a Bongo tomb that was old at the
time of the picture.
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(fig. 12 b, right) o Collected in 1999, in poor
condition, this sculpture (visible bottom right,
in profile, in the photo taken by Wyndham, The
Gentle Savage, pl. 17) can be estimated to be
more than seventy years old.
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fig.12b
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fig.13
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IV - (fig. 13, left) o Photographed before 1958
by the Kronenbergs, then again in 1974, this tomb
does not show any visible changes. Although the
Kronenbergs described it as ancient, the 1974
photo conveys the impression that the sculpture
is relatively recent.
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V - (fig. 14, right) o This pole, topped by
a bird (a shoebill) dates from the 1940s, when
the government commissioned animal sculptures
at Tonj. People then started adorning tombs with
animal figures too. This badly damaged sculpture
was collected recently and is about sixty years
old.
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fig.14
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These few examples show that while the sculptures do
not always weather consistently, generally speaking major changes
can be seen to take place over a period of forty years. We can also
conclude that once the process of wear has begun, it develops rapidly,
while as long as the wood is intact, changes are hardly noticeable.
We can therefore assert that the older sculptures must have been between
fifty and one hundred years old at the most at the time of collection.
Religion
Thanks to the Kronenberg's research into the religious significance
of the tombs, we have more information for these sculptures than for
many other types of tribal artwork, and we are able to sketch in the
religious context in which they were made.
Here, Loma created the world and all human beings. Loma, God the Creator,
is present in all creation, the spiritual aspect present in every
human being, and every animate or inanimate thing. Living beings do
not have direct relations with Loma, but after death they arrive in
Loma's village, where they will live forever. They now belong to the
world of the ancestors, and wield certain influence that they can
use for the well-being of their descendants.
Loma-Gubu is the antithesis of Loma. He is the master of the forest
and created the mountains, rivers, trees and the animals in the bush.
Bongo hunters are a constant spiritual threat to Loma-Gubu, because
when they hunt they enter his domain and disturb his creation. Although
the Bongo live in permanent conflict with Loma-Gubu, they have no
contact with him after death. Every Bongo hunter erects an altar to
this god of the forest during a hunting ritual, in an attempt to appease
him and win his favor. This altar, which is the dwelling of the master
of the forest, is called ru loma gubu and the trophy tree, or föri,
is erected in front of it. The hunter and his wife must obey strict
rules of behavior during the hunt. From the attitude of the animals
in the forest, the hunter can discern whether or not his wife has
obeyed these rules, and her failure to do so may endanger her husband's
life. Obedient behavior and the proper rites contribute to a successful
hunt and protect the hunter from accidents.
Hunting and Feasts of Merit
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fig.7
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When a Bongo hunter has killed big
game, such as a buffalo, an elephant, a leopard-or even a man-he has
committed a serious offense in the domain of the master of the forest,
who will not fail to punish him. The offender must therefore perform
a hunting rite to appease Loma-Gubu. The utensils used to concoct
this pacifying "hunting medicine" will later be represented by the
various rings carved on the poles erected on the tombs. Skulls and
hunting trophies are also represented symbolically on the tombs. In
ancient times, killing an enemy was a dangerous and particularly deserving
deed, which was honored by funerary monuments. Thus in figure 7,
on the mound behind the figure, two poles surmounted by heads representing
slain enemies, are visible.
Petherick observed föri hung with human skulls in honor of the master
of the forest: "In the center of the village is a large Circus, where,
on a tree, their war trophies-the skulls of the slain-are suspended."
The significance of killing an enemy in the Bongo world is underlined
by a comment by a Father Magagnotto, quoted by Stefano Santandrea:
"It was customary among the Bongo youth to eat with the left hand,
until their right hand had had the honor to kill a Djur man." These
days, buffalo are considered the most difficult quarry to kill, so
it is hardly surprising when horns or even buffalo skulls are incorporated
into funerary decoration.
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fig.15
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When the spoils of the hunt are
important, the hunter's prestige rises in the eyes of his companions.
A few days after the hunting ritual, he has the right to celebrate,
and during the ensuing feast of merit, for which he is responsible,
he receives a title corresponding to the number of animals killed.
For the several days of the feast's duration, the hunter must provide
a crowd of guests with beer and various foods. They dance with the
hunting trophy and give testimony in honor of the hunter. This feast
requires large amounts of millet. As the cereal is not always available,
the feast is sometimes postponed until it can be obtained. The more
feasts of merit the hunter organizes, the higher his social status
rises. His hunting feats and feasts will later be marked on his funerary
monuments, where bowl-shaped rings on the poles indicate the preparation
of a hunting medicine and the spheres represent the heads of game
killed (fig. 15). The heads on the top of the poles may, as noted
above, refer to the people slain by the hunter. Poles ending in a
fork are erected around the mound to evoke lesser animals he has killed.
Funerary Ceremonies
The ceremony in which the funerary monuments are raised,
are in a sense the last feast organized in honor of a Bongo hunter.
So the monument and the feast both confirm the rank the deceased attained
during his lifetime, and ensure that he maintains that rank in the
next world. The deceased now stands before Loma to claim his place
in the god's village. The tombs are erected and painted with ochre;
the mound is surrounded by stones. The number and shape of the funerary
monuments depend on the acts performed by the deceased as well as
the number of feasts of merit he has given. During the festivities,
relatives and guests recite the deceased's hunting feats and his genealogy.
Loma can thus evaluate the deceased; the higher his status, the more
grandiose and elaborate the feast must be. If the ceremony were to
prove inadequate, or inappropriate for the social rank of the deceased,
or if the funerary monuments were unworthy of his merit and titles,
the deceased would be unable to use his influence with Loma to protect
his descendants sufficiently. Moreover, the latter would bring the
vengeance (sini) of the deceased down on themselves.
Tombs
Although they are very diverse in some respects, Bongo tombs invariably
correspond to the rank achieved during the person's lifetime, and
are thus constructed according to certain rules.
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fig. 30
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Large anthropomorphic sculptures
are erected in front of the tombs of very great hunters. They often
represent the deceased and even, in some cases, the men he has slain.
They face Loma's village in the east. On the mound, carved poles often
show the number of the hunter's trophies as well as the utensils used
to prepare the hunting medicine. They may be surmounted by a head,
especially in the Tonj region. Often, the poles around the mound end
in a fork, which is a stylization of horns. They too testify to the
hunter's prowess. Sometimes the tombs are covered with broken furniture
that once belonged to the deceased, or animal skulls, or flags. The
sculptures are often embedded with iron arrowheads used during the
funerary ceremony, in the course of which the sculptures were painted
with ochre or laterite (another red earth). Traces of pigment sometimes
remain.
The deceased is sometimes represented by only a bust, as Schweinfurth
reports, probably due, at least in part, to the characteristic style
of the individual sculptor. The tombs of hunters of inferior rank
are often distinguished only by simple ringed poles.
Some graves are marked with large anthropomorphic sculptures
but have neither mound nor poles around them. These too represent
a dead person, but are erected only if the deceased was killed by
sorcery. These representations, known as mangir, are intended to keep
away witches. They are erected on the grave immediately after death
with no special ceremony.
Women are not usually entitled to a sculpture representing
them, because they do not hunt. When there is a pole on a woman's
tomb, it is there because a feast of merit has been given in her honor
by hunters. The sculpture shown in figure 13 is one such example,
and represents a famous female magician. When hunters wish to heighten
the influence of an eminent female personality in the hereafter, they
can transfer their feasts to her, and this may account for the presence
of carved poles on certain women's tombs.
Belanda tombs are similar to those of the Bongo and
serve the same purpose. The Belanda, however, are more inclined than
the Bongo to honor women's tombs with poles. Such tombs probably belong
to the mothers of great hunters.
The funerary monuments of neighboring groups, such
as the Moru, Avukaya, Morokodo, Lori, Sofi, Beli, which will be addressed
in the second part of this article, differ from Belanda and Bongo
tombs in style and function as well as meaning. In some tribes, almost
every deceased has a sculpture, whereas in others this honor is reserved
for only a few special people, such as rainmakers. So few people remain
and so little is known of their past that the classification of these
tombs is quite vague. The early travelers made several errors, such
as the "Zande" tomb discovered by Wyndham that proved to be a Bongo
tomb, although very probably the closest neighbors were Azande (fig.
12).
Centers of Artistic Activity
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fig.16
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fig.6
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The map in this article shows that a large number of
regional styles exist. This is hardly surprising, given the isolation
of the different Bongo and Belanda groups. Three Bongo Tonj styles
(figs. 3, 6, 7, 12, 16, 17, 18, and 19) can be distinguished, as can
the Bussere style (fig. 9), the southern Wau style (figs. 20 and 21)
and at least three Belanda styles-Mbegumba (figs. 23 and 24), Mberidi
(fig. 10), and the Abare-Azande style in Yambio (fig. 1)-as well as
the Tembura (fig. 5) and Baka styles (fig. 25).
Theoretically, any Bongo who wishes to do so is free to become a sculptor
and make funerary statues. Most of the time, he works for his group
in his own style. Specific sculptors often specialize in ringed poles,
or forked poles, or large statues.
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fig.19
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fig. 20
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fig. 21
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fig. 23
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The isolation of the various Bongo tribes within a
vast territory, exacerbated by their armed struggles, accounts for
the lack of exchange between them and the development of distinctive
regional styles. Moreover, the size and weight of the funerary statues
made it difficult if not impossible to carry them over long distances.
These factors enable us to identify the style of a number of sculptors
specializing in anthropomorphic funerary representations. Even the
makers of ringed poles seem to have developed individual styles. This
article concludes with a summary of the main styles of Bongo and Belanda
poles and their geographic origins.
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fig.3
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o Tonj I style
(figs. 3 left, 6 and 7, above)
The "Master of Tonj" has been quite rightly observed through
his works. This remarkable style is characterized by the
depiction of male figures which have a sense of motion.
The head is oval, and the sculptor has sometimes suggested
a beard. They all wear loincloths, and the eyes, originally
set with snail shells, seem to gaze into eternity. Often
one arm is raised and one leg is slightly forward. Reinforced
by the slight bend of the knees, this gives the impression
of movement. The sculptures all seem to have been made by
the same hand, and the name of this sculptor has been handed
down to us: Kwanja Gete, or Bandja Geti, according to the
Kronenbergs. He was still alive in the 1950s when the Kronenbergs
lived among the Bongo, and they managed to acquire his last
works for the Khartoum museum. In 1974, he and his sons,
also sculptors, were dead and we were introduced to a young
sculptor who made modern funerary sculptures. Very recently,
contemporary pieces in the same style have appeared. They
are generally smaller and are often colonial representations.
Although some of them have undeniable merits, many look
particularly stiff. Perhaps these works can be attributed
to pupils of the Master of Tonj.
o Tonj II style
(see fig. 12, above)
This ancient style is composed of the work of a sculptor
specializing in busts. The same sculpture can be seen in
situ in the photo taken by Wyndham in the 1930s. The tradition
of representing the deceased not in his entirety but as
a bust was certainly more widespread in earlier times; old
documentation reveals many more busts than can be seen today.
This relatively abstract style is nonetheless very different
from the other Tonj styles, and the sculptor very probably
belonged to another group. Wyndham photographed this tomb
and attributed it to the Azande, but he was mistaken. This
funerary monument is characteristic of other works in the
Bongo Tonj II style.
o Tonj ringed pole
style I
(figs. 16 a and b, above and 17, right)
The range of this very prolific sculptor covers the
same area as the Tonj I. He worked specifically on
ringed funerary poles, often surmounted by a head.
Only one of his many known works shows a complete
figure.
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fig.17
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fig. 18
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o Tonj ringed pole style II
(fig. 18, left)
In the same region, a second style is attributable to a sculptor
specializing in ringed poles surmounted by a head. His style
is more realistic and the head is always adorned with a very
elaborate headdress. The diversity of these two styles in
the same geographic area shows the great stylistic freedom
enjoyed by neighboring sculptors.
o Eastern Tonj style
(see fig. 19, above)
A more abstract style prevails in the region between Rumbek
and Tonj. The heart-shaped, concave faces evoke sculptures
from the eastern Congo and are related to the bust statues
of Tonj II. This sculptor, too, portrays movement and emotion.
The figure's arm seems to be making a gesture of mourning.
o Bussere style
(see fig. 9, above)
The Bussere group, according to the Kronenbergs, has preserved
the most authentic traditions. In their book, the Kronenbergs
show several pieces carved by the same sculptor. The figures
are always unclothed, the body slightly curved along the
line of the trunk. The mouth and eyes are wide open, the
face is concave and heart-shaped. The arms are carved very
close to the body. The strong stylization is quite the opposite
of the representation of movement typical of the Tonj region.
o Wau I style (southern region)
(see fig. 20, above)
This statue, like the one in the British Museum (see Phillips,
p. 138 [BM. AF. 35.1]) is the work of a master who lived
south of Wau, a region characterized by figures lacking
any sense of movement.
o Wau II style
(see fig. 21, above)
This figure shows typical scarification on the stomach,
face, and forehead. The stylized face is heart-shaped. The
eyes are inlaid with metal, a technique that is also found
among the neighboring Belanda subtribe, the Mbegumba.
|
fig.22a
|
o Bongo, Tembura style
(fig. 22 a, left and b, right)
This sculptor made particularly large, impressive
carved poles, veritable sculptures in their own right.
The face is always very expressive, the head thrust
slightly forward, the ears and eyes deeply hollowed
out, the oval mouth always open. The base of the head
and the upper part of a medicine utensil supporting
it make two matching parallel surfaces (fig. 22 a).
Another piece by the same artist is shown in figure
22 b.
|
fig.22b
|
o Belanda, Mbegumba I style
(see fig. 23, above)
This sculpture is probably the only example known
in this style. There have been Western influences
in this region since the 1930s. Evans-Pritchard
wrote about this sculptural style: "Those erected
by the Mbegumba are the finest he has seen in Bahr-el-Ghazal.
They are draped with bark-cloth or a woven waistband,
and are adorned with hats, ear-ornaments, and nose
pins; they are made for both sexes, the bodies well
carved and in parts colored with red and blue dyes.
Sometimes there are three short diagonal cuts on
each cheek, which may constitute a tribal mark."
Time has worn away the colors on these ancient sculptures.
Some were given a colonial helmet, which seems to
have been a symbol of high social status among other
Belanda very early on, and is therefore naturally
found on the sculptures. But under no circumstances
was a headdress attached to this statue's forehead
by means of metal nails as was noted by Jeremy Coote
in his comments on the three Bongo figures in the
catalogue for Africa: The Art of a Continent, Phillips,
ed. (1995, p. 137).
|
|
fig.24
|
o Mbegumba II style
(fig. 24, left)
This figure, more realistic and with no metal insertions,
illustrates a second Mbegumba style. It is the work
of a famous artist from the Rafili region, Usta Ukun.
His figures are generally tall, with gentle, sturdy
forms. Another of his sculptures is in the Khartoum
museum.
|
o Belanda, Mberidi style
(see fig. 10, above)
Other works by this sculptor are known,12
identified with a region further south. The artist also
made very tall figures, always unclothed, with surprisingly
broad, square shoulders and powerful thighs. The mouth is
open in an aggressive expression, the head is covered by
a helmet-like coiffure or sometimes a European hat. Unlike
the sculptures of the Master of Rafili (fig. 24), brute
strength emanates from these figures. The Belanda live as
far south as Tembura, and a few small groups have even settled
in the Yambio district. All the southern Belanda tribes
sculpt in a similar style.
o Belanda, Abare-Azande style from Yambio
(see fig. 1, above)
Yambio was once the seat of the Azande lords, so the whole
region is entirely Azande. Yet, tomb sculptures are found
here that are markedly different from those seen elsewhere.13
The face is a sort of mask placed in front of a simple headdress
and has a meditative expression, and the geometric stylization
of the arms is an innovation in the corpus of funerary sculptures.
These are more akin to the large statues of the northern
Congo region than the more rustic styles of East Africa.
The stylized diamond-shaped headdress is found on some of
the Zande sculptures from Yambio, as is the use of a mask
to portray the face. This style is close to the traditions
specific to the Azande sculptures from Yambio, such as Azande
bells and heads adorning harps. This figure comes from the
Abare-Azande, a Belanda tribe which in earlier times was
under the cultural influence of the Azande.
This style and the artists whose work exemplified it will
be addressed again in the second part of this article which
will run in a future issue.
o Tembura style
(see fig. 5, above)
The sculptures that embody this style adorned the courtyard
of the former Source Jubu hospital. They are not made in
a traditional style and are thought to represent the military
doctors posted to the hospital. The style is gentle and
decorative and somewhat naturalistic. There are claims that
there were once similar statues in the Lirangu hospital
near Yambio.
|
fig. 25
|
o Baka style
(fig. 25, left)
The Baka, a subtribe very close to the Bongo, live
in the region of Maridi and Yei. Only two carved
poles by them have been identified. These are highly
stylized and only surmounted by a head.
|
|
Acknowledgements:
I would like to express my particular thanks to my wife,
Gabi, who accompanied me in several travels, and to Max Itzikovitz,
for his support. |
Notes
1. Chevalier, quoted by Baumann. [back]
2. Santandrea. [back]
3. British Museum N°. Af. 7392, illustrated
in Wood's Natural History of Man, Africa, 1874, and Afrikanische Plastik,
Eckart von Sydow, Berlin, 1924.[back]
4. Geyer, p. 288, reproduced a sculpture (a
part of a couple) from Tembura which was at the entrance of the garden
next to the government building along the Jubu river.[back]
5. Maes, J., Kabila - En Grafbeelden uit Kongo,
Brussels, 1938, fig. 23, p. 99.[back]
6. Felix, Marc Leo, 100 Peoples of Zaire and
Their Sculpture, 1987, 203.[back]
7. Reproduced in 1936 by Wyndham, figs.
36, 37 and 38; Kronenberg, 1960, figs. L, LI, LII; Fendel, Fischer
and Maas, 1989, p. 63.[back]
8. In "Gordon College de Khartoum," reproduced
in Man, June 1917.[back]
9. The Bongo, Sudan Notes and Records, Vol.
XII, part 1.[back]
10. Fendel, Fischer and Maas, "Grabstelen,"
at the Khartoum National Museum.[back]
11. Personal communication.[back]
12. Illustrated in Kramer/Streck, Sudanesische
Marginalien, München, 1991, p. 90.[back]
13. Gero, F., Death among the Azande of
the Sudan, Museum Combonianum, 1968.[back]
14. See Schildkrout/Keim, figs. 2.9 and
11.1, and also Fagg, N° 111.[back]
15. Reproduced by Wyndham, pl. 17, then by
Maes, fig. 24, p. 100.[back]
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