Baoulé mask. Piece over 50 years old. Delivered on base.
In African art, the art of the Baoulé occupies a special place. The finesse of the execution of Baoulé masks and Baoulé statues makes them particularly accessible to Western tastes.
The Baoulé sculpture on wood has the finesse of goldsmithing: the sculpture is very refined, the surfaces are very polished, the representation of the scarifications, the jewelry, the hairstyle, the face is done in a careful and meticulous manner.
Among the African Baoulé statues we can see two main types:
* the Baoulé statues of husbands from beyond (blolo bla) or wives from beyond (blolo bian).
* The Baoulé statues representing a spirit or genius of nature with the objective of appeasing them. The Asiè usu ("genius of nature") statues are less common than the (blo bla). The difference for the differentiators from each other and the following. The genius of nature is still seated while the bridegroom from beyond is still standing.
We distinguish in the Baoulé statues the evocations of spirits of nature (with a sacrificial patina) and those of spirits conducive to romantic relationships (with a polished patina). The first type of statue represents bush spirits with ambivalent power, as often in Africa, who are feared for their malevolence: The statues of these bush spirits are honored to appease them and acquire their good grace and protection.
There are Baoulé ancestral masks. Baoulé masks have the same characteristics as statues: elegant, finely carved and polished.
Otherwise there are zoomorphic Baoulé masks, reminiscent of the buffalo and the antelope. These masks are always worn by men. They have a different realization from the Baoulé masks portraits of ancestors, they are more conceptual and schematic because they represent spirits.
The Baoulé occupy a part of central Ivory Coast that is both savannah and forest.
The Baoulé statues
The Baoulé statues correspond to 2 different types of worship:
One corresponds to the husband (wife) of the afterlife who, in order to be appeased, requires the creation of a Baoulé statue bearing the image of the husband (wife) of the afterlife and an altar in the hut of the individual concerned. The need to possess a husband or wife from the afterlife is indicated by misfortunes and through a dream. This is, for example, following sexual disorders in men and sterility in women. A man will have his wife blolo bian as a statue and a woman will have her husband from the beyond blolo bla. This Baoulé statue must be taken with you whenever you travel. Its owner washes it, wipes it, feeds it, caresses it: hence the beautiful patina of this type of work. After the death of its owner, the blolo bian or blolo bla statuette is thrown away or abandoned.
The other type of Baoulé sculpture will represent a spirit and will have the role of appeasing it. The Baoulé statues of spirit or genius of nature are always seated while the spouses from beyond are always standing. We distinguish the spirits of nature asi asu with a sacrificial patina and the spirits conducive to romantic relationships with a polished patina. The spirits of the forest and the bush are imagined as being hideous: hunchbacked, feet turned backwards, dirty skin, red hair, with huge eyes and only one arm... Very dangerous, they can have a harmful effect on agriculture, hunting, health. Coaxed by sacrifices, they can become auspicious to humans. This begins with a consultation with the soothsayer who identifies the cause of the misfortunes and prescribes remedies, consisting of having Baoulé statuettes sculpted for which he indicates the sex, attitude, hairstyle and wood to be used. The sculptor made the Baoulé statuette by taking inspiration from the physical appearance of his client possessed and in a trance. After the death of its owner, the Baoulé statuette is carefully preserved and the cult is continued by the descendants. The harmonious appearance of the statuettes of these nature spirits comes from the fact that the latter would not inhabit them if they were given the hideous forms that are theirs. These Baoulé statues have an idealized human appearance, with beautiful hairstyles and ethnic tattoos, which give them a civilized air making them favorable to those who practice their cult. On these asi asu we notice the traces of sacrifices: food, raw eggs, blood of the victims, hence the crusty patina.
Baoulé masks
The Baoulé have masks, undoubtedly, under the influence of their Gouro or Sénoufo neighbors. There are Baoulé masks of ancestors but which now have a secular role and appear during entertainment dances. These portraits have the same characteristics as statuary: elegant, finely carved and polished. They show great regional diversity in hairstyles and tattoos. . The double Baoulé mask represents the marriage of the sun and the moon or twins whose birth is always a good sign.
Otherwise there are zoomorphic Baoulé masks, reminiscent of the buffalo and the antelope. They are always worn by men. They have a different realization from the Baoulé masks portraits of ancestors, they are more conceptual and schematic because they represent spirits. In the past they were worn during funeral ceremonies to attract graces from the afterlife, cure illnesses and ward off sorcerers. These Baoulé masks correspond to 3 types of dances: gba gba, bonus amuen and goli:
The gba gba, of Gouro origin, is used for women's funerals during the harvest period. It celebrates beauty and age, hence the finesse of its features.
The bonus amuen protects the village from external threats. It forces women to have strong discipline and it appears during commemorations of the deaths of notables. The bush spirits have their own sanctuary in which they receive sacrifices. When the spirits intervene in community life, their masks have the shape of a wooden helmet representing a buffalo or an antelope and are worn with raffia costumes and metal ankle bracelets. The snout has teeth symbolizing the strength of the animal which must defend them.
The Goli can be danced both for entertainment and for funerals of important people. It was borrowed from the Wan after 1900. The kple kple mask has a round shape, topped with two horns. The male mask is red, the female mask black (sometimes vice versa in certain villages). It often appears in pairs in the Goli dance and are followed by a pair of zoomorphic helmet masks (Goli Glen), then a pair of masks with horned faces (Kpan Pre) and finally two masks with human heads with braided crest hairstyles (Kpan). Although each mask pair includes both masculine and feminine elements, the first two pairs are considered to have a predominantly masculine personality. Goli masks are larger and heavier than other Baoulé masks.
There is also a divination instrument called a mouse oracle, made up of pottery placed on a wooden base. The oracle is made up of two communicating stages. On the upper floor, the diviner places food next to a turtle shell containing small bones or a piece of iron to which small sticks decorated with pearls are attached. We put the lid on the box and wait for the mouse to come up and eat the food. we then open the box and the diviner deciphers the message by analyzing the arrangement of the sticks or bones moved by the mouse.
The Baoulé also created figures of monkeys, with a prognathic jaw with pointed teeth, a grainy patina due to sacrifices, the monkey holds a cup or pestle in its hands. Sometimes the monkey would intervene in divination rituals, sometimes he would be a protection against sorcerers, sometimes a protective deity of agrarian rites, sometimes a genius of the bush. This cult would be relatively recent.
The sculptor Baoulé and his characteristics
The profession of sculptor is non-hereditary and results from a personal choice or a desire which manifests itself during a dream or a crisis of possession.
Among the Baoulé there is a great mobility of people and works of art. These trips are an opportunity to order a new type of sculpture or to adopt a new type of dance from another village. Artists may have learned in a workshop and perform works very different from that workshop. Artists travel and may sometimes work for clients living far from home.
The Baoulé have a wood sculpture which has the qualities of goldsmithing: extremely refined sculptures, highly polished surfaces, representation of scarifications, hairstyle, jewelry made in a careful and meticulous manner.
Baoulé statuary is characterized by a certain realism, with the Baoulé canons of beauty: round calves for women, long hands with slender fingers, small buttocks. The harmonious hairstyle is made of numerous finely braided braids. The beard is neat and sometimes braided. The patina is smooth.
The religion of the Baoulé and the rituals
The Baoulé believe in a creator god called Nyamien, intangible and inaccessible. The earth god named Asia who controls men and animals. The spirits or Amuen are endowed with supernatural powers. The real world is the opposite of the spiritual world, called blolo, where souls come from at birth and where they return at death. Religion has as its main precept the recognition of death and the immortality of the soul. The ancestors are the object of worship but are not represented. In the past, a death was never considered natural. We were therefore looking for the person responsible. The heir was the brother or sister born to the same mother as the deceased, as it was considered that there is no certainty of being the real son of one's father.
Rituals can evolve. The creation of a new cult can be decided following a dream or a crisis of possession during which the spirit reveals itself to the dreamer or the possessed and explains the ritual, the rules and the objects that it must acquire or make.
Wooden sculptures and masks help create closer contact with the supernatural world.
The Baoulé believe that an individual includes a body, a double and a soul. Each being would have a respondent in the other world: blolo. Statues are dedicated to this celestial character to which offerings are made.