Africa, Mother of Us All

Mother Africa, from which hundreds of thousands of our ancestors came, is also home to intriguing works of art that have changed art history forever. Masks, for example, are the African contributions to a very ancient lineage of persue for human identity: Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians,Greeks, Romans, Mayans, Aztecs, Incas,practically all the great civilizations of the past had in their masks a striking point of their culture. This importance comes fromthe representation of the human face, from what it is, what we would like it to be, from what we fear it to be. African masks present these thoughts to their fullest.The influence of African art in European modernism, particularly at the inaugural moment of Cubism (Picasso as its best known painter), and in its later developments, is well documented. It was also thanks to Braque, Alexander Archipenko, Brancussi, Modigliani, Vlaminck, German expressionists and so many other modernists that the so-called “African art” became known worldwide from the beginning of the twentieth century. Picasso referred specifically to African masks as having impressed him greatly, at an exhibition in 1907, in Paris.

The African masks and sculptures thatattracted the attention of the world,including artists of the stature of a Picasso,for their aesthetic beauty, are much morethan that. In the African cultures maskswere part of an elaborate relationshipbetween the community of the living, themagical and spiritual powers of the deities,and the mysteries of nature. In the greateastern and classical civilizations, the masksthat intermediated the actions of the livingwith the world of the dead and that, in thetheatre performances, defined the actors, inAfrica they have more varied role.The African works selected for the firstmodule show different interconnections.There are masks elaborated by associationswho care for the initiation of adolescentsin male and female rites of passage, masksof agrarian and funerary use, propitiatorymasks of luck and fertility, and so on. Themain aspect that gives cohesion betweenthem would be the use of masks to honor theancestors, masks that would connect theworld of the living with the dead and menwith the gods.

Defined as “power figures,” how the piecesare published are a set of objects thatparticipate in the balance between socialforces. Be it a political or a spiritual force,both would reflect some level of capabilityand virtue. On the one hand, the conductionof the social organization, and the politicalleadership of a people are managed bypersons considerated exclusives as theydemonstrate through their “prestigeobjects”. On the other hand, spiritual consid-erated powers, such as the gift of fertilityand the ability to control natural forces andspirits, through techniques acquired fromgeneration to generation would be powersthat, intermediated by “community objects”,would be within reach even of children. Inthis module, therefore, busts and statu-ettes of notorious elements in the africanculture are counteracted and combined atthe same time with dolls of fertility, alsoused as children’s toys.