African Arts Volume 19 issue 2 1986 [doi 10.2307_3336327] Deborah Stokes Hammer and Jeffrey S. Hammer -- The Master of the Owu Shango Shrine.pdf

8/10/2019 African Arts Volume 19 issue 2 1986 [doi 10.2307_3336327] Deborah Stokes Hammer and Jeffrey S. Hammer -- T

1/6

The Master of the Owu Shango ShrineAuthor(s): Deborah Stokes Hammer and Jeffrey S. HammerSource: African Arts, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Feb., 1986), pp. 70-73+92Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center

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2/6

T H

M S T E R

O T H

O W U

S H N G O

S H R I N E

DEBORAH

STOKES HAMMER

JEFFREYS. HAMMER

Until

recently

little has been

published

concerning

the

identification of tra-

ditional African

artists.1 It would

be

almost

impossible

to

define

the

style

of

each

carver,

metal

caster,

beadworker,

potter,

or

blacksmith from

the vast

array

of

objects

available for

study.

However,

as African

art

study

has become

increas-

ingly

specialized,

scholars

and

collectors

have been

able to

define and

catalogue

many

more

individual

sculptural styles,

enabling

us to

identify

carving

centers,

discern

generational

carving

compounds,

and distinguish between master and

ap-

prentice

carvers. This

process

has

already

increased our

understanding

of art

his-

tory.

It will

certainly

play

a

greater

role

in

future

surveys

of the

great

art-produc-

ing peoples.

Since 1979 we have been

collaborating

with William

Fagg

and

other

scholars of

Yoruba art2and

compiling

a

computer

in-

dex of

carving styles

based on

photo-

graphs

of

pieces

found in

hundreds of

towns

all

over Yorubaland.

The

result is

a

stylistic

syntax

for

this area. Distin-

guishing styles

and

making

attributions

are to a certain extent

subjective.

How-

ever,

our

judgments

are

informed

by

comparison

of hundreds of

carvers

and

the

study

of

more

than

8,000

Yoruba

ob-

jects.

These include

150

ibeji

n

the British

Museum,

over

4,500

examples

from the

National

Museum

in

Lagos,

and

approx-

imately

2,000

photographs

in the

Kenneth

C.

Murray

Archives of the

National

Museum.

Among

these

objects

we

have identified

the

style

of an artist who in

our

opinion

ranks with the finest

master carvers.3 We

refer to him as the

"Master of

the

Owu

Shango

Shrine,"

after an

important piece

documented in the small Igbomina town

1

OSHE SHANGO. 29cm. KENNETH

MURRAY

ARCHIVES. NATIONAL

MUSEUM. LAGOS

2

BACK

VIEW

OF FIGURE1,

of Owu. In

one sense "master carver"

simply designates

a

person

who is

no

longer apprenticed

or

subservient to a

master in a

compound.

Or he

may

be

one

who

goes

out on his own and is commis-

sioned

directly.

In another

sense,

a

mas-

ter

carver is one

who,

in

the

opinion

of

the

viewer,

does

masterly

work.4 It is

this

second

meaning

that

applies

to the Mas-

ter of the Owu

Shango

Shrine.

William

Fagg

has

speculated

that this artist

lived

sometime in the

1850s to circa 19255 n the

Igbomina

Yoruba

region, possibly

be-

tween

Ila-Orangun

and Oro.

The

unique style

of this carver

first

caught

our attention in an illustration

of

a

remarkably

inventive

Shango

staff

that

appeared

in a

1979 Paris auction

cata-

logue

(Loudmer-Poulain,

Nov.

22, 1979,

cat. no.

70,

p.

43).

In

August

1980 we

located

a

photograph

in the

Murray

Ar-

chives of the same

staff;

it had been

taken

at a

Shango

shrine in Owu

by

John

Pic-

ton

in

1964

(Figs.

1,2).

This

superb piece

is

the

largest

extant

example by

the Owu

master,

standing

79 centimeters

high.

Conceptually complex,

it is

composed

of

six

figural

elements.

The shaft bears

the

image of a kneeling female devotee car-

rying

a

child

on her back. At

the

top

of her

elongated

head the emblem

of

Shango,

the

double

axe,

is

described in

an

unusual crescent form

terminating

at

each end with a face. Each has a labret

punctuating

the

curving

line,

though

on

the

right

side

the labret is

worn down.

Two

additional

kneeling figures,

one

male,

one

female,

perch

on

top

of the

double-axe.

The

piece

is

elegantly

bal-

anced. The

kneeling figures

are one-half

the

height

of the staff from its base to the

top

of the

crescent,

as is the

distance

between the

outward-facing

heads.

The

main

figure's extremely exaggerat-

ed

cone-shaped

head echoes

the

shape

of the double-axe and intersects it at

the

center. Her

bulging eyes

have a

serrated

upper

lid and a

lower

lid

indicated

by

a

line.

The

fingers

of the

female

figures

are

splayed,

resting

on the

stomach,

while

the male

figure

holds ritual

implements

against

a

torso carved like

an

inverted

triangle.

Using

a

tool that creates

triangu-

lar-shaped

markings,

the artist incised

details on the

hair,

cap,

and cloth

wrap-

per.

The form of the child is

angular,

created

by

a

rigid

posture

and

jutting

but-

70

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3/6

hairstyles

and adornments.

All

of those

ascribed to

the

Owu

master bear

a

strik-

ing

resemblance

to the

two

kneeling

fig-

ures

atop

the

staff,

though

the latter are

more

elongated

because

of the

object's

function.

Picton

photographed

one of

these

ibeji Fig.

4,

left)

in the town of

Oro,

approximately

25 kilometers

southwest

of

Owu.7

It defines his essential

approach

to the

carving

of

ibeji,

which

is distinct

from another known

style

of the

Igbo-

mina

region

(Fig.

4,

right).

Several

char-

acteristics of his

ibeji

style

are

unique

in

the

genre.

In all the

examples

we know

to

be

extant,

an

egg-shaped

cranium

joins

a

conical

shape

extending

below

the

eyes.

This

elongated

head

with swollen crani-

um

appears

throughout

the artist's

work,

including

the

Shango

thunderaxe.

The

large elongated

ear follows the

angle

of

the

triangle,

emphasizing

the

protruding

jaw.

In

less

worn

ibeji,

one can

see the

characteristic

decorative

serration

deli-

neating

the

upper

lid of

the

bulging

eyes,

and the

single

line

emphasizing

the

lower. The neck joins the head at a slight

angle,

creating

an

elegant

line,

and

tapers

slightly

at the base. Shoulders

are round-

ed and bent arms

are

cut free of the

torso,

which

suggests

an inverted

tri-

angle.

Also

characteristically

the

widely

splayed fingers

rest

gently

on the stom-

ach rather than

on the

hips,

as is

more

common.

Where

the buttocks

jut

out

sharply

from the

legs,

the surface

flattens

out

distinctly

and continues

down

to the

heels.

All the male

figures

(Figs.

3b-d,

4)

that we have seen

are carved

with

pan-

taloons

that

fall

just

below

the

calf,

ex-

posing

the

ankle,

and are fastened

with

3a b. c. d IBEJI TALLESTFIGURE

29cm, a. b.

d

AUTHORS COLLECTION.

:

R.A. ALEXANDRACOLLECTION.

tocks.

Throughout

the

piece-for

in-

stance, under the buttocks, the soles of

the

feet,

and on

the

upper

back

of the

child-flattened

planes

contrast

with

the

predominantly

rounded surfaces.

This staff

incorporates

sculptural

solu-

tions

found

in other

pieces

by

the artist.

Carved

from one

piece

of

wood,

the

thunderaxe is

elegantly

elongated.

While

neither the

elongation

nor the double-

headed

thunderaxe

motif is

peculiar

to

this

carver,

the treatment

of the heads as

a

single

sculptural entity

rather than as

attachments

to a

separate

form is uni-

que.6

This effect

is

partially

achieved

by

the

placement

of the ears

one-third of the

way up the crescent, leading the eye in-

to

the

arc and

up

to

the

apex.

The smooth-

ness of the curve

also

enhances the ef-

fect of one continuous form. In

addition,

the

flattening

that

appears

underneath

each side of the crescent

and

elsewhere

on the

object

is a distinct

sign

of this mas-

ter's hand.

By

analyzing

the

style

of the staff

in

this

way,

we have

been able to attribute seve-

ral

other

carvings

to this artist. We have

catalogued eight examples

of his ere ibe-

ji.

Figure

3 shows a

representative

selec-

tion,

displaying

a

range

of traditional

4

IBEJI

KENNETH

MURRAY

ARCHIVES.

NATIONAL

MUSEUM.

LAGOS.

71



4/6

a tie

at

the waist. This

probably repre-

sents

a

Muslim

style

of

dress characteris-

tic of the more northern areas.8

Slightly

bow-legged,

the

ibeji

stand

upon simple

circular bases

approximately

two centi-

meters

high.

The most

impressive

embodiment of

the master's

style

is

an

arugba

Figs.

5,6).

Referring

to

a

similar

piece

from

Oke

Onigbin,

Picton

says:

"This

form,

known

in Yoruba as 'arugba' ('she who carries

the

calabash'),

represents

a

significant

element

in

the rites

and

cults of Yoruba

gods.

Beier

(1957a),

for

example,

des-

cribes

the role

played by

the

young girl,

also called

'arugba'

at

the

annual

festival

of

Oshun,

the river

goddess

of

Oshogbo:

an

unmarried

girl, possessed by

Oshun,

bears

sacred

objects

in a

bowl on her

head.

Sculptured representations

of

'arugba,'

such

as

this

one,

serve as

stands

for sacred

objects

in a

shrine.

My

experi-

ence

suggests

that

these

sculptures

are

particularly

common in

the

Igbomina

and

Ekiti

kingdoms

of northeastern Yoruba-

land. 'Arugba' do not seem to be specific

to

any

one

cult,

although

in

the

Igbomina

and

Ekiti areas

they

are

invariably part

of the

furnishings

in

shrines for

Shango,

the

thunder

god.

Bowls

(usually

cala-

bashes)

containing

'edun

ara,'

neolithic

stone ax

heads or

'thunderbolts,'

visible

signs

of

the

power

of

Shango,

are

placed

on

top

of

the

'arugba'

sculpture..."

An

elegant

fusion of function and

form,

this

arugba

is

composed

of a

kneeling

female

figure

carved on

a

circular

base,

holding

a

calabash on her

head. The ver-

tical

exaggeration

of the head in

the oshe

shango's

central

female

is

in

this

example

obstructed

by

the

calabash;

therefore the

elongation

has become horizontal, a trun-

cated

version of

the

crescent form

on

the

staff. It

almost

duplicates

the

heads at

the

ends of

the

Shango

axe

blade. Here

again

5

SIDE VIEW

OF FIGURE 6.

we

see the

typical

angular

forms

and

jut-

ting

volumes,

as well as

the

deep

under-

cutting

and

flattening

under the chin

that

extends down the front of the neck to the

front

of the

upper

arms. As

in

the other

examples,

the contour

of

the neck

bulges

outward

slightly, preventing

the illusion

of

concavity

that would be

produced

if

it

were rendered

perfectly straight.

This

entasis

indicates

a

masterfully

intuitive

carving sensibility.

The

figure

itself is a statement of bold

form.

Arms define the outside bound-

aries and create two

large open

areas

around

the head.

Following

the formula

used in

the

staff,

the

Owu

master

located

the elbows

exactly halfway

between the

calabash and the base.

The

raised

arms

exaggerate

the

upper portion

of the carv-

ing.

From the

side,

a lower

leg

is

merely

suggested by

a

simple triangle

cut

deeply

into the wood with a

parallel diagonal

to

separate

calf from

thigh;

the

triangular

area

is not

pierced through.

This device

can be observed on all three kneeling

figures

on the oshe

shango.

The

facial

features are

like those seen

on

the ends

of

the double-axe head on the

Shango

staff.

Particularly

noticeable are the ser-

rated

eye

and

delineated lower

lid.

The

prominent

labret

draws attention

to the

projection

of the

elongated

head.

The

total effect is a

powerful expression

of

Yoruba art.

All

the

examples display

the same ele-

ments:

elongated, egg-shaped

head;

sub-

tle

angularity

in

the

neck;

splayed

fin-

gers;

inverted

triangular

torso

(males);

pantaloons

(males);

flattened

planes

un-

der

chin, arms, feet,

buttocks,

legs;

and

unique

representation

of

eyes

and ears.

This

brief

outline can

in no

way

scientifi-

cally

answer the

complex questions

of

chronology

or

development

of

style,

since

documentation

is

fragmentary

at best.

The

challenge

is to

interpret

the affinities

among

the

varying

forms.

One

could

argue

that

these

examples represent

not

a

single

hand

but rather a

workshop,

for

the Yoruba have a

tendency

to

copy

styles, especially

distinctive details.

In

that

case,

however,

we would

expect

to

find

many

more

examples

than have

survived,

even if it

were

suggested

that

this

style represents

a

nineteenth-century

workshop.9 The small number of stylisti-

cally

related

ibeji-eight

among

thou-

sands-suggests

one

hand.

When considered in a

general

survey

of

stylistic

conventions

specific

to the

Igbomina

area,

many

motifs that

appear

in

the

Owu

master's

carvings

are,

of

course,

often found in

those

from

neigh-

boring

towns. For

example,

the hands-

on-stomach

pose

has also been

attri-

buted

to the

workshops

of

Ogunkayode

of

Oke

Onigbin,

over

thirty

kilometers

south

of Oke

Odde,

where

examples

were

photographed by

William

Fagg

in

1959

(Fagg

1968) (see

also

Fig.

4,

right).

The serrated

lid is found in both Omu

Aran and Oke

Onigbin.'1 Many

of the ibe-

ji

in the

Igbomina

region

wear some

type

of

garment,1

though

the

depiction

of

pantaloons

seems

unique

to this

carver.

The

elongated

ear bears

a

striking

resem-

blance to that found in

Ila-Orangun.

Generally

speaking,

then,

the

style

of

the

Master of the Owu Shrine

is in

close

ac-

cord with that of other sculptors in his

region.

Yet his

carvings

are

astonishingly

fresh and

vigorous.

Used

by

others,

these motifs are schematic

and

display

none of the

elegant planes

and

dyna-

mic

compositions

of

space

and volume

seen in works

by

this

artist,

Did he in-

corporate

the

inventions of

neighboring

carvers,

or

did the

authority

of his

style

influence

other carvers

in the

region?

Were

there

reciprocal

lines of

develop-

ment?

The visual evidence

suggests

that

the

Owu

master extended

apparently

regional

characteristics

to create a new

style.

Rather than relying on a rigid alphabet

of

motifs,

he

adapted

his

designs

to the

overall intent

of the

form;

for

instance,

the crescent

shape

in the horizontal

Shango

staff is different

in the vertical

arugba.

It is not

just

the

inventiveness

of

style

that

distinguishes

this carver as

a

master,

but its

synthesis

with the canons

of

traditional

Yoruba

carving.

This virtuo-

sity

is

unequaled

in the

region.

It has been said

that "the

greatest styles

are the easiest

to

recognize"

(Pope-Hen-

nessy

1980).

William Rubin

noted:

"My

own

experience

with

[tribal]

art...has

confirmed

for me the

assumption

that

good

art is made

only by gifted

individ-

uals. I

am,

in

fact,

struck

by

the differ-

ences rather

than the similarities

between

tribal

pieces

of

the same

style...and

espe-

cially

by

the

uniqueness

of

those works

I

would call

masterpieces"

(Rubin

1984).

William

Fagg

has said:

"The

criteria

by

which

such

attributions are

made are es-

sentially

the same

as those

employed

by

experts

and connoisseurs

of

European

art...As

in

European

art

criticism,

one

often

apprehends

the

distinctive marks

of an artist's

style

intuitively

in

practice,

although

such

intuitions

may

be followed

up

and

confirmed

by

systematic

analysis.

The artist's

personal

mode

of

expression

communicates itself instantaneously"

(Fagg

1982).

These

fine

examples

of

his work

sustain

our

labeling

of this

artist

as a "master

carver." His intuitive

rules of

sculpture

corroborate our

own

aesthetic

ideals.

Al-

though

the

study

of

individual artists is

still

in an

early

stage,

we

hope

that

by

continuing

to

catalogue

styles

we

will

provide

a

research

tool for

those

studying

the

art of

the Yoruba.

O

Notes,

page

92

6.

ARUGBA.

46cm. PRIVATECOLLECTION.

72



5/6

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Documents

African Arts Volume 19 issue 2 1986 [doi 10.2307_3336327] Deborah Stokes Hammer and Jeffrey S. Hammer -- The Master of the Owu Shango Shrine.pdf