Bamana: the art of existence in Mali - exhibition preview - various artists, African art, Museum for African Art, New York and Museum Rietberg, Zurich

African Arts, Winter, 2001 by Jean-Paul Colleyn, Laurie Ann Farrell

(8.) Boliw, with their strange forms, attracted the attention of Western modern artists in the 1930s; a photo of a boli was included in the important avant-garde journal Minotaure. The aesthetic value of these objects, currently so fascinating to artists, psychologists and anthropologists, has long been denied. Boliw have rarely been exhibited, as their ritual power is deemed too secret to allow their public display.

References cited

Arnoldi, Mary Jo. 2001. "The Sogow: Imagining a Moral Universe Through Sogo bo Masquerades," in Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, ed. Jean-Paul Colleyn, pp. 77-93. New York, Zurich, and Ghent: Museum for African Art, Museum Rietberg, and Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon.

Arnoldi, Mary Jo. 1995. Playing with Time: Art and Performance in Central Mali Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Bazin, Jean. 1985. "A chacun son Bambara," in Au cour l'ethnie: Ethnies, tribalisme et etat en Afrique, eds. J.-L. Amselle and E. M'Bokolo. Paris: Decouverte.

Bravmann, Rene A. 1983. African Islam. Washington, DC, and London: Smithsonian Institution Press and Ethnographica.

Bravmann, Rene A. 1995. "Islamic Spirits and African Artistry in Trans-Saharan Perspective," in Islamic Art and Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa, eds. Karin Adahl and Berit Sahlstrom. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell International.

Bravmann, Rene A. 2001. "Islamic Ritual and Practice in Bamana Segou--The 19th Century `Citadel of Paganism,'" in Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, edited by Jean-Paul Colleyn, pp. 35-43. New York, Zurich, and Ghent: Museum for African Art, Museum Rietberg, and Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon.

Brink, James T. 1981. "Antelope Headdress (Chi Wara)," in For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, ed. Susan Vogel, pp. 24-25. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Conrad, David C. 2001. "Pilgrim Fajigi and Basiw from Mecca: Islam and Traditional Religion in the Former French Sudan," in Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, ed. Jean-Paul Colleyn, pp. 25-33. New York, Zurich, and Ghent: Museum for African Art, Museum Rietberg, and Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon.

Dieterlen, Germaine. 1957. "The Mande Creation Myth," Africa 27, 2:124-39.

Ezra, Kate. 1983. "Figure Sculpture of the Bamana of Mall," Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.

Ezra, Kate. 1986. A Human Ideal in African Art: Bamana Figurative Sculpture. Washington, DC: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution Press.

Frank, Barbara E. 1994. "More Than Wives and Mothers: The Artistry of Mande Potters," African Arts 27, 4:26-37, 93-94.

Frank, Barbara E. 2001. "More Than Objects: Bamana Artistry in Iron, Wood, Clay, Leather and Cloth," in Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, ed. Jean-Paul Colleyn, pp. 45-51. New York, Zurich, and Ghent: Museum for African Art, Museum Rietberg, and Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon.

Goldwater, Robert J. 1960. Bambara Sculpture from the Western Sudan. New York: Museum of Primitive Art.

Imperato, Pascal J. 1977. African Folk Medicine Practices and Beliefs of the Bambara and Other Peoples. Baltimore: York Press.


 

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Please add your comment:

  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  2.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

advertisement
advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement
Click Here

Content provided in partnership with Thompson Gale