Art of the Lega: Meaning and Metaphor in Central Africa - exhibition preview

African Arts, Summer, 2002 by Elisabeth L. Cameron

"Art of the Lega: Meaning and Metaphor in Central Africa" is a collaborative effort between the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. Drawing from the collection of Jay T. Last, the exhibition's curator, Elisabeth L. Cameron, selected approximately 240 animal and human figures, masks, and other objects for inclusion in the opening installation at the Fowler Museum (October 28, 2001-March 10, 2002). "Art of the Lega" will travel to the following institutions: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (October 6, 2002-May 4, 2003), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (winter-spring 2004), the University of Michigan Museum of Art (fall 2004), and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (fall 2005). Additional venues are under discussion.

Cameron wrote the companion publication, published in 2001 by the UCLA Fowler Museum and distributed by the University of Washington Press (236 pp., 396 color & 14 b/w illustrations; $65 hardcover, $40 softcover).

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Lega sculpture appeals to both the eye and the mind. Pure, simple shapes and elegant lines brilliantly demonstrate the virtuosity of this artistic tradition. Each miniature masterpiece is, at the same time, part of a complex visual vocabulary used by members of the Bwami society to teach their moral code. "Art of the Lega: Meaning and Metaphor in Central Africa" explores both the Lega aesthetic and the place it holds in society. The exhibition is drawn from the collection of Jay T. Last, who began acquiring these sculptures in 1962. (1)

The genius of the Lega artist lies in his ability to produce a work that fulfills the requirements of the Bwami patron, fits carefully within the canon, and yet is artistically unique. If one assembled a group of masks, for example, each would be seen as unmistakably Lega but individually different (Fig. 30). Thus, attempts to describe the style can be singularly frustrating. The face is heart shaped, except when it is not. The figures are extremely simplified, except when they are not. As aptly expressed by Ralph Altman, "Balega art ... consists mainly of an infinite number of variations of a few motifs and forms of sculpture" (1963: n.p.).

Although only a few scholars have conducted field research among the Lega, the simplicity, strength, and abstract nature of their forms have long attracted the attention of the Western art world. Scholars and connoisseurs have always rendered judgments on the quality of Lega (and African) artwork based on their own art historical framework. As a result, the published commentary documents the change in European taste rather than any change in the art. Commander Delhaise, the Belgian administrator assigned to the Lega area in 1906 and 1907, reflects a Victorian aesthetic in his characterization of Lega figures as "crude" and "coarsely executed" (1909:210, 275). Once African sculptures became models and inspiration for Cubism and the styles that followed, Lega art was favorably reevaluated. Frans M. Olbrechts stated that Lega sculpture "shows more virtuosity in the rejection of all realism" (1982:91). Ladislas Segy described ivory figures as "executed with great simplicity in angular form" (1952:227). Joseph Cornet called these works "extraordinarily expressive despite their simple, almost classical lines" (1971:261).

Lega art was first documented as appearing in Arab markets in the nineteenth century and has been known to Westerners since the beginning of the twentieth. Early explorers, however, avoided the Lega area because of the defenses the peoples there had developed to fend off Arab incursions. Only after the Belgians took control of the Congo in the late 1800s do we begin to see an interest in the Lega and their culture, politics, and arts. This interest was problematic: colonial officials documented the Lega in order to control and exploit them.

Belgians in other capacities published what they had observed. Most published work is based on the writings of Daniel Biebuyck, who conducted field research among the Lega during the 1950s. Several Lega scholars, including Itongwa Mulyumba wa Mamba (1968), Muyololo Lutala Amuri (1974), and Yogolelo Tambwe ya Kasimba (1975), have provided insiders' perspectives that differ from the accounts of their European colleagues. The combination of all these sources makes possible a vivid reconstruction of the Lega world.

The Bwami Society

All Lega art in Western collections was once owned and used within the structure of the Bwami society, a voluntary association for men and women. The Lega peoples are unified not by chiefs but by Bwami, which cuts across clans and territories. The society safeguards the moral and social code necessary for the Lega to live together in harmony. For example, it teaches filial respect, marital fidelity, nonviolence, and cooperation. Bwami is also the political power that allows the Lega to live at peace with their neighbors (Biebuyck 1973:68; Vansina 1990:183).

The society is composed of levels or grades. Throughout a lifetime, an individual may choose to climb to the highest levels of knowledge and leadership. Entry into any grade takes place through an intensive initiation (mpala) that lasts several days and incorporates seven or eight performances. It is during this time that the owners or guardians of Bwami artworks bring them out, displaying and manipulating them in combination with music, drama, dance, and sayings. Through these layered performances, which can be viewed as visual metaphors, initiates learn the moral code of their society. They are forced to consider the juxtapositions of manufactured objects, artworks (including animal figures, human figures, and masks), sayings, dance, drama, and more, and discern their meanings. An object rarely carries a unique message by itself. The best-known and most sought-after teachers are able to create new metaphorical combinations that transform the individual elements into startling, memorable, and specific messages.