Words about Words about Icons:IconoJogoJogy and the Study ofAfrican Art

By Suzanne Preston Btier

I f we understand "iconology" to mean"the study of icons" ("words about

icons") then "iconologology" may besaid to refer to "the study of iconology"("words about words about icons"):Discourse on iconology, as Jan Bialos­tocki explains in a historically focusedessay on the subject.' goes back to thesixteenth century with its manuals ofsymbols, allegories, and personifica­tions. One of the better known of theseworks is Cesare Ripa's lconologia,which was first published in Rome in/593. In the course of time, much hasbeen written both about iconology andabout iconography, the two terms' hav­ing been used interchangeably duringmuch of the nineteenth century. Schol­ars concerned with iconological andiconographical issues during earlier cen­turies focused their attention primarilyon motif typologies and subject-matterclassifications. Not surprisingly, manydirected their studies towards Christiansubject matter and the systematicgrouping and identification of particularimages and motifs.' Early iconographi­cal analysis in non-Western art tendedto concentrate on Buddhist traditions invarious contexts in India, China, andJapan." Thus, studies of iconographyand iconology have been concerned withart forms that are characterized not onlyby relatively standard subjects andforms of representation but often also byconsistency over time and across geo­graphical and political boundaries. It isnot without significance that both Chris­tianity and Buddhism are also associatedwith important forms of textual docu­mentation and that both emphasize veri­similitude in representation.

Much of the world's art (includingmany periods of European art), how-

ever, has been left out of systematiciconographic study as it has been histor­ically defined because the associated artdoes not conform to the above criteria.And, as Svetlana Alpers observedrecently,' iconological analyses, particu­larly when patterned on Erwin Panof­sky's classic study," have been formu­lated largely from the perspective ofItalian Renaissance art. What Alpersfound especially problematic in the Ital­ian iconological models is the emphasison disguised symbolism, particularlywhen such models have been used as abasis for examining seventeenth-centuryDutch art. It is Alpers's view that"northern images do not disguise mean­ing or hide it beneath the surface butrather show that meaning by its verynature is lodged in what the eye can takein-however deceptive that might be.,,1

Surface versus hidden meaning in art,however, represents but one facet of thelarger question of the applicability forother areas of art-historical analysis oficonographic and iconologic methodsdeveloped originally in the context ofItalian art. This essay focuses on fourrelated questions raised with respect tothis method in African art-historicalstudies: I) the problem of "pure form"identification and the question of itsprimacy in documentation; 2) the role ofcontext in conveying meaning; 3) thenature of art in Africa and the sources ofits meaning; and 4) the question-of­meaning hierarchy. Works of Africanart, it is suggested here, both poseunique problems with respect to subject­matter classification and meaning anal­ysis and raise new and important ques­tions having potential ramifications forthe wider field of art history. Althoughiconological studies have long been with

us, the study of iconology as a methodand focus of analysis (or what I havecalled "iconologology") is stiII verymuch in its infancy.!

The Problem of "Pure Form" Identifi­cation and the Question of Its Primacyas Documentation GroundingThe lifting of the hat in greeting,according to Panofsky, is a conventionpeculiar to the Western world. Its ori­gins lie in the medieval world of chival­ry, where "armed men used to removetheir helmets to make clear their peace­ful intentions and their confidence in thepeaceful intentions of others."? Asunderstood today, Panofsky continues,this action "is conditioned by [the wear­er's] being a man of the twentieth cen­tury, by his national, social and edu­cational background, by the previoushistory of his life and by his presentsurroundings." Panofsky suggests thatthe principles that underlie this form ofgreeting behavior also underlie repre­sentations of actions and gestures in awork of art. To understand these princi­ples, he goes on, one must also knowboth the history of a particular actionand its contemporaneous use. Theseprinciples ultimately come into play inPanofsky's distinct strata of meaningconceptualization, which he defines as:1) pre-iconographic; 2) iconographic;and 3) iconologic.

Art historians having various theoret­ical and methodological orientationstoday may find fault with Panofsky'sreading of his own hat-lifting scene.Some will underscore the fact thatPanofsky is describing here a custom ofmen and that, indeed, customs relatingto the wearing of hats by women followan entirely different set of rules. Others

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Fig. 1 Dogon Kanaga mask, Mali,twentieth century, wood, hide, fiber,pigment, 97.2 cm. New York, TheMetropolitan Museum of Art(1987.74i), Gift of Lester Wunderman,1987.

will point out that the very fact of aman's wearing a hat and removing it ingreeting, whether in this century or ear­lier, is preconditioned by the circum­stances of class and that Panofsky'sreading of this scene takes into accountonly the background of the wearer. Stillothers will note that Panofsky's discus­sion of the fundamental relationshipbetween signifier and signified is unde­veloped in his treatment of the role ofthe hat itself and the gesture of itslifting. One could go on and discuss anumber of theoretical perspectives andtheir distinctive approaches to the sub­ject of hat lifting, but what is importantto emphasize here is that every "fac­tual" description is in many respects arelative one. In any description, observ­ers present and in the process reaffirmtheir particular point of view on thesubject. Even in such a comparativelyclear-cut description as one man greet­ing another by lifting his hat, the actiontaking place win be described differ­ently according to the perspective of theviewer. II

In African art, similar questions ofthe viewer's perspective on subject andmeaning also emerge. In some art con-

texts-the Dogon, for one-a singleform may be associated with variantidentities and meanings depending onthe individuals in the society who areviewing it. The Dogon kanaga mask(Fig. 1), for example, is seen-depend­ing on one's position of eldership withinthe society'<e-to represent variously abird and a highly complex symbol ofcreation and regeneration. Problems inidentifying the primary subject are alsocompounded by the stylization andabstraction that predominate in manyAfrican works of art. In addition, Afri­can art images do not always have basisin life. Even in the context of a relativelynaturalist African art tradition such asthat of the Benin kingship, where docu­mentation seems to have been an im­portant artistic concern, it is often im­possible to determine the identity of aparticular motif or form without the aidof sources outside the work itself.Although Panofsky asserted that "Ev­erybody can recognize the shape andbehavior of human beings, animals andplants, and everybody can tell an angryface from a jovial one,"!' many plantsand animals (as well as fish and birds)are, in fact, often difficult to identify inAfrican art. Paula Ben-Amos's identifi­cation of the large bronze birds sur­mounting the ancient palace of Benin(Fig. 2) as kingfishers 14 was certainlynot made on the basis of the formalqualities of the birds themselves. Indeedthe tall, curved-beaked, and relativelylong-legged features of the Benin palace

Fig. 2 Benin plaque showing the palacefacade, Nigeria, sixteenth-seventeenthcentury, bronze. Berlin-Dahlem,Museum fur Volkerkunde, no. IIIc8377.

Fig. 3 Kongo seated figure (ntadi),Zaire, nineteenth-twentieth century,steatite, h. 41.3 em. New York, TheMetropolitan Museum of Art(1978.412.573), The Michael C.Rockefeller Memorial Collection,Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift,1960.

birds are in sharp contrast to the appear­ance of kingfishers in life. Clearly, thenondocumentary aspects of these birdswere more important to Benin artiststhan were their particular physicalfeatures. IS

The issue of creative interpretationand cultural difference in expressiveform is also important in the portrayalof mood in art; emotions such as angerand joviality are not expressed in thesame way in every society. As I. Eibl­Eibesfeldt pointed out, laughter in onesociety may mean happiness and well­being; in another, it may represent won­der, embarrassment, and even discomfi­ture." Mourning responses similarlyvary from one culture to another.Panofsky's assertion that "such expres­sional qualities as the mournful charac­ter of a pose or gesture, or the homelikeand peaceful atmosphere of an interior"can be apprehended even on a pre-icono­graphic level" thus is problematic. Thetype and degree of expressive mourningin China, for example, traditionally wascarefully variated in a code of etiquettethat differed according to the closenessof one's relationship to the deceased. IS

In African societies also, mourning is

76 Art Journal

Fig. 4 Batammaliba house, architect: Ibenekwaku Tintinku; House Owner:Ibenekwaku Tintonku, Village of Koufitoukou. Photographed January 15, 1978.

displayed in a number of distinct ways.In many African sculptures, facialexpressions remain relatively constant(in other words, emotion is rarelyshown through facial variations), butgestures and body positions assumegreat importance.

In Kongo mourning figures, the rangeof gestures associated with mourning isconsiderable: the gesture of both armsdrawn upwards towards the mouth con­notes grief; touching the chin or cuppingif with one's hand suggests the state ofsadness (Fig. 3); arms held aloft indi­cate crying or lamentation; wrappingone's arm about the body portrays lone­liness; crossing one's arms in front of thechest communicates coldness and si­lence." Some of these gestures haveparallels with mourning gestures foundin European art; others clearly do not. Itwould be a mistake therefore to read aparticular meaning into a gesture in apre-iconographic description withoutany confirmation from outside the workitself. In art, as in life, form and mean­ing, signifier and signified, are not uni­versally correlated. When we areremoved in time and place from thework's artist and intended audience-orfocus on periods or cultures that aregenerally concerned less with verisimili­tude than with other aesthetic, expres­sive, or iconic means-there is a realdanger of misreading even the most ele­mentary feature of a work. Becausenumerous problems exist in identifying"pure form" in African art, art histori­ans in this field have often found itnecessary to use other means forgrounding symbolic analyses. One ofthe most important of these has beencontext.

The Role of Context in ConveyingMeaningTo return for a moment to Panofsky'shat-lifting scene, his focus in this actionis almost wholly on the narrative of thelifting of the hat." One needs to ask,however, if this same greeting wouldoccur in another context-in a workenvironment, say, or in a court of law orhospital, on the field of battle or sport, ina foreign land, in a place of worship, atone's home. Is the greeting the same inboth country and city, between strang­ers and friends, workers and managers?The context of hat lifting clearly isessential to grasping the significance ofthe scene. The anthropologists ArnoldVan Gennep and Erving Goffman haveeach written about the role that contextand setting play in the meaning that isaccorded a particular action in life."Both scholars emphasize the need tofocus on the context or frame of action.Context in art is also important. Our

knowledge of the meaning of Michelan­gelo's David. for example, is much thericher for our awareness of the circum­stances of its Florentine setting." Ourinformation on Greek Kouros and Korefigures, is, by contrast, much less deepbecause the specific circumstances andcontexts of their use is, in most cases,unknown. In African art and architec­ture, context is equally significant formeaning."

Architectural decoration of the Ba­tammaliba (Tamberrna), for example(Fig. 4), uses a variety of abstract signs,which are incorporated into buildingfacades as a means of identifying thesestructures as temples to particular dei­ties and spiritual powers." In someinstances, the forms that these signstake are peculiar to a particular deity; inothers, however, several deities share thesame sign. Only be discerning the posi­tion or context of the sign-whether it isplaced to the left or right of the door orto the left or right of another sign-canits underlying meaning be ascertained.For example, a raised-line sign whenpositioned on the south joining wall ofthe facade (on the right as one faces thehouse) identifies the structure as a tem­ple for Fayenfe, the deity of war anddeath. If this same sign is positionedabove the door between the raised linearelements that lead up to the house"horns" (Fig. 5), it identifies the house

as a temple to Fawafa, the deity of men'sinitiation. Positioning, rather than form,is also important in differentiating thegenders of associated deities. Thus if theraised-line sign identified with the war­and-death god, Fayenfe, is placed hori­zontally on the south joining wall (seeFig. 4), it identifies the structure with afemale Fayenfe god. If, on the otherhand, this same line is positioned verti­cally, it indicates that the associateddeity is male. Indexical positioning thusis of central importance in determininga sign's meaning. Indeed, the placementof a particular form or motif often ismore important with respect to meaningthan is its shape or other features of itsappearance."

Similarly, in African sculptural tradi­tions, context is often more important toa work's meaning than either subjectmatter or related features. Fon vosa­bocio figures (Fig. 6) are a good exam­ple. Many of these sculptures, my recentresearch suggests," are aimed at dis­tancing or distracting harm or difficultyfrom a particular member of the com­munity. They are set up in and aroundthe house, the community, and the land­scape in accordance with particular Fageomancy (divination) signs. One suchgeomancy sign will suggest that a sculp­ture be placed at the house entry, otherswill specify a crossroads, river bank,forest, and so forth. In addition to deter-

Summer 1988 77

A quite different but equally perti­nent example of the primacy of contextin determining meaning in African Artcan be seen in masking traditions of theDan (Fig. 9) and related cultures. Herethe problem is less one of blurring thevisual distinctions between particularsculptural forms than of the changingidentity and significance of an artworkover time. In the course of the life ofDan masks, the contexts in which theyare worn, the roles that they play, andthe significance that they have in thesociety vary tremendously. Dan masksoften begin as entertainment masks, butthrough the years, as their reputationsgrow, they may become associated withincreasingly more powerful and impor­tant roles and identities, juridical amongothers. Thus the meaning of these worksagain is not primarily determined bytheir formal qualities, but by eachmask's history and context of use at aparticular time." With Senufo kpeliemasks (Fig. 10) the problem of contextand meaning figures in still anotherway. Here the role of the mask (and itsunderlying symbolism) is defined pri­marily on the basis of the associatedcostume, instrument accompaniment,and song text." When the costume isdiscarded (and other aspects of the per-

Fig. 5 Batammaliba house, architect: Kufanku Loka. House Owner: YapitaTapoke, Village of Koufitoukou. Photographed November 19, 1977.

mining placement, the geomancy signalso is associated with an elaborateexplanatory account often drawing onthe lives and actions of deities, mytho­logical kings, folk heroes, and animals,which gives significance to the sculp­ture's placement and to the identity ofthe work with one of the protagonists ofthe associated geomancy sign. In formalterms, these vosa-bocio works show thesame basic features; yet their symbolismvaries. Their iconographies, in otherwords, are identical, but their iconolo­gies are distinct. 27 In order to grasp thefull meaning and rich religious, social,and psychological groundings of theseworks within the geomancy system, onehas to know exactly where the sculpturewas placed, for whom and why it wascarved, and with respect to which geo­mancy sign. A Fon vosa-bocio figure outof its original context is devoid of its fullsymbolic content and meaning.

A similar problem presents itself withrespect to mother-and-child figures ofthe Asante (Fig. 7). In this culture,mother-and-child images are identifiedwith a variety of different temple con­texts. But without knowing the specificshrine from which such a sculpture wastaken, it is generally impossible to ascer-

tain the work's underlying religiousidentity and significance." In Baulesculptures (Fig. 8), knowledge of thecontext of a work is also paramount.Figures displaying the same formal fea­tures and attributes generally representone of two very different types of spiritpersonae: the first, spirit mates (blolobla or blolo bian), aid a person particu­larly in marital matters if correctly wor­shiped; the second, nature spirits (asieusu), who are unattractive and poten­tially dangerous, are identified withspirits of the forest and geomancy."Although in reality each type of spirit issaid to look very different from theother, both are carved with the samebasic features. Forest spirits would beoffended, it is explained, if one were toportray them as they actually are; thusthese spirit sculptures are not visuallydistinguishable from those portrayingspirit mates. Without knowing the spe­cific setting in which a work was placed,it is impossible to know its underlyingidentity. Here again, context contrib­utes far more to the meaning and sig­nificance of a work than do the asso­ciated visual features. Here also there isa clear-cut discrepancy between the ico­nography of a work and its iconology.

Fig. 6 Fon vosa-bocio figure, Republicof Benin, twentieth century, wood,cloth, fiber, encrustrations, h. 101 cm.The Saint Louis Art Museum.(1865: 1981), Gift of Mr. and Mrs.Stuart Hollander.

78 Art Journal

Fig, 7 Asante mother and child figure,Ghana. 1879-1930, wood, beads. paint.h. 20 in. (50.8 cm). Collection PaulTishman.

formance are lost). as generally happensat the time of collection. the most impor­tant elements of documentation withrespect to the meaning of the work arelost as well.

Tire Nature of Art in Africa and tireSources of Its MeaningMichael Baxandall began his book onfifteenth-century Italian Painting byobserving that

A fifteenth-century painting is thedeposit of a social relationship. Onone side there was a painter whomade the picture, or at least super­vised its making. On the other sidethere was somebody else whoasked him to make it. providedfunds for him to make it and, afterhe had made it. reckoned on usingit in some way or other. 32

To examine the applicability of Baxan­dall's statement for African icono­graphy and the related question of itsmeaning, it would be well to return onceagain to Panofsky's hat-lifting scene. Ifit is assumed for a moment that the hatthat is discussed in this passage is itselfthe work of art and the subject of art­historical inquiry (rather than just thesubject of the narrative, as Panofsky

Fig, 8 Baule female figure. IvoryCoast. nineteenth-twentieth century.wood, beads, paint, iron. h. 32.5 ern.New York, The Metropolitan Museumof Art (1978.412.303), The Michael C.Rockefeller Memorial Collection. Giftof Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1969.

intends). then other perspectives on themeaning of the scene also come intoplay. In this light, it may be important toobserve what type of hat it is. And to askhow important its maker (the artist) iswith respect to its meaning. And again.to know more about what the shop­keeper (the dealer) and the client (thewearer) have to say about its meaning.The maker-artist certainly would beknowledgeable about the various techni­cal features of hat manufacturing. He orshe would also have considerable insightinto hat styles and the accepted stan­dards of creativity with respect to par­ticular hat types. The shopkeeper wouldalso know about taste. as well as theseother matters. Each of these peopleobviously is central to the creative pro­cess of hat design and manufacture. buthow important are these people to theunderlying meaning of the work? Howmuch do they know (or for that mattercare) about the symbolism of hats?

Some readers will object that hatscannot be considered in the same light asworks of fine art. Yet documents con­cerning fifteenth-century Italian art

cited by Baxandall suggest that the con­cerns of patrons and artists at this timewere often just as prosaic. Ghirlandaio's1485 contract to paint the frescoes in thechoir of S. Maria Novella noted accord­ingly that he agreed to include "figures,buildings. castles. cities. mountains.hills. plains, rocks, costumes, animals.birds. and beasts of every kind."33 Whatabout the symbolism? How importantwas meaning? Baxandal1's study sug­gests that during this period religiousspokesmen were in many respects farmore concerned with symbolism thanwere either the artists or the patrons."

My experience in Africa in severalvery different cultures (Yoruba, Batarn­maliba, and Fon)-interviewing artists.consultants. priests, and others. andobserving art in the contexts of its use­suggests that artists and architects.although extraordinarily knowledgeablein technique. style, aesthetics, and whatis appropriate or acceptable for a partic­ular type of object or structure. are farless knowledgeable when it comes to theunderlying meaning of a work or itssymbolic grounding than are others inthe society, such as priests and geo­mancers. The artists and architects Iinterviewed generally knew about themultiplicity of factors that affected themaking of the work, they knew abouttheir own visual sources. about what waswell done. what was beautiful (and diffi­cult to achieve), and what was "correct"in formal features and symbolic attri­butes. Generally, however. they cared

Fig. 9 Dan mask. Liberia or IvoryCoast, nineteenth-twentieth century.wood, h. 2 \.9 cm. New York. TheMetropolitan Museum of Art(1978.412.303), The Michael C.Rockefeller Memorial Collection. Giftof Nelson A. Rockefeller. 1964.

Summer 1988 79

Fig. 10 Senufo Kpelie mask, IvoryCoast, nineteenth-twentieth century,wood. horn, fiber, cloth, feathers,aluminum, h. 35.5 em. New York, TheMetropolitan Museum of Art(1978.412.489). The Michael C.Rockefeller Memorial Collection,Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift,1964.

Fig. 11 Fon warrior figure, Republic ofBenin, artist: Akati Akpele Kendo,1858-68, iron, h. 165 em. Paris, Museede l'Homrne, Captain GonssagrivesGift 1894.

little about the larger meanings accor­ded their creations, and many respondedto related questions about symbolismwith either discomfort or outrightamusement.

The patrons I interviewed-i.e., thoseresponsible for commissioning the art-

on the other hand, generally knew whenand for what purpose a work was com­missioned. They also were informedabout the context of the work withregard both to the significance of itssetting and the identities and roles ofvarious other objects that were posi­tioned near the work. In general, thepatrons also had information on the par­ticular ceremonial contexts of the art.Contextual information of this type, assuggested above, is often critical for theidentification of works and the under­standing of their underlying signifi­cance. The larger questions of the sym­bolic grounding, however, often wereunknown to those who commissioned anobject. How is one to determine thesymbolism of a work if neither the artistnor the patron is forthcoming on thismatter? And conversely, if the work hasno larger symbolic meaning to the artistor patron, can it have any larger sym­bolic meaning in and of itself? Thesymbolic groundings of many Africanarts, I have found, are often less theconcern of the artist and patron than ofother individuals of the society; mostimportant of these, the society's culturalspokespersons and shapers and the art"users" and viewers.

Because so much within a work isboth the expression and the result of theWeltanschauung of a particular period,place. and culture, the persons mostknowledgeable about the society at thetime when the work was produced-thephilosophers, religious thinkers, seers,consultants, moral guardians, as well asthe custodians. explicators, and dissemi­nators of knowledge-also affect itsinterpretation. These various spokesper­sons for the culture, in contrast to thepatron or artist, whose view of the form,context, and history of an object is oftengrounded in personal experience, fre­quently have knowledge about the placeand significance of the work within thelarger system of ideas that the cultureholds. And since they are usuallyactively involved in the explanation anddissemination of societal values (whichmayor may not overtly involve art) theyalso often influence the actual formsthat the works of art take."

In Africa, besides these religiousfunctionaries and the guardians of fam­ily or court histories, by far the mostimportant group of cultural spokesper­sons who influence the shaping and theexplication of art are the geomancers,who, in their many-sided roles as seers,consultants, therapists. medical practi­tioners, religious interpreters, and phi­losophers, act as conduits and interme­diaries between the sacred and socialrealms, revealing the wishes of deitiesand spirits to members of the society.

~Fig. 12 Fon Gubasa sword from palacewar shrine, Republic of Benin, artist:Akati Akpele Kendo? 1858-68. iron, h.153.67 em. National Museum atAbomey, (45-8-170).

Geomancers accordingly are often ac­tively involved in the process of art cre­ation. Frequently, it is they who indicatewhen a work should be commissioned,what formal qualities it should have,and where it should be placed. SusanVogel suggests that the features ofBaule figures (such details as scarifica­tion. age. posture, and coiffure, amongothers) are often specified by the geo­rnancer." In some cases these geoman­cers even indicate which tree in theforest should be cut for the carving.

In the case of the Batammaliba, thegeomancer plays a critical role in bothshrine and architectural decoration.Thus nearly everyone of the varioussigns that arc incorporated into thebuilding facades as a means of identify­ing the structure with a particular deityor spirit (see Fig. 4) is placed there as aresult of a geomancy decision. If', forexample, a geomancer determines thatthe problem facing a family is due to theintervention of a certain deity or spirit,the sign of that power will be added tothe facade, and its shrine will be housedwithin. The Batammaliba geomancysystem in turn provides an importantcheck on central aspects of artistic crea­tivity with respect to architectural andshrine form and decoration.

Among the Fon, the impact of geo­mancy on art is equally important. Inaddition to the critical role geomancyplays in regard to the placement andsymbolism of the vosa-bocio ligures dis-

80 Art Journal

cussed above, geomancy also influencesthe formal features, symbolism, andplacement of many other forms of art.These range from deity representationssuch as the earthen portrayals of themessenger-trickster god, Legba, whichare constructed in front of every housedoor, to various sculptures commis­sioned by the king. Since each of the Fonkings is identified with a specific Fageomancy sign, his associated sign oftenplayed a critical role in the arts thatwere commissioned during his reign.

One of the best known of the Fonroyal sculptures is the lifesize iron figureof a warrior now in the Musee del'Homrne (Fig. 11). This work originallyformed part of a military shrine con­structed inside the palace of King Glcle(1858-89). It was encircled by larger­than-life iron gubasa swords (Fig. 12)and machetes set upright in the floor.The knives and the warrior figure wereboth commissioned by King Glcle forthe memorial ceremonies of his fatherKing Guezo (1818-58) to commemo­rate the latter's victories over the Mahito the north. This sculpture is the workof a talented artist of Mahi origins,Akati Akpele Kendo, who was broughtto the capital by King Guezo during thecourse of the Mahi conquest. In thissculpture, Akati shows Guezo in theguise of Gu, the Fon deity of war, smith­ing, and iron. The figure strides deter­minedly forward. its arms (which onceheld a large gubasa sword and a gong)are raised in anticipation of a battle,ready to slice through the air as it movesforward, trampling and destroying alladversity and enemies in its path.

Although it is dedicated to the mem­ory of King Guczo, the work incorpo­rates important references to his son,King Glele, who commissioned thework. The iron-and-war god, Gu, is thepatron deity of King Glclc's Fa geo­mancy sign, Abla-Lete, and this sculp­ture refers to one of Glelc's names,which was derived from this sign: Basagla ji Gu honlon ma don. "the greatgubasa sword gave birth to Gu and hewill carry out the vengeance.":" This isgenerally interpreted to mean that thegreat King Glele is himself the son of apowerful individual (Guezo) and willcontinue his father's military vengeance.The gubasa sword, which the figureonce carried, was one of Glelc's mostimportant symbols; the form is specifi­cally referred to in the geomancy signAbla Lete. Other features of the figureare drawn from this geomancy sign aswell. Most refer to Gu, the patron deityof this sign. The figure not only isdepicted striding off to battle in wardress (in reference to Gu's importantrole as the deity of war) but is made of

iron (the material both sacred to andempowered by Gu). Every work of ironessentially serves as an altar to this god.Black, the color most closely associatedwith Gu, is also meaningful in this work:the iron from which it is made is of thiscolor. Black pigments were spread onthe faces and bodies of Fon warriorsbefore battle both to reaffirm their iden­tity with Gu and to frighten enemies. Onthe figure's head is a spiky crown of warweapons and tools-knives, hooks,swords, hammers, machetes, pokers,lances, hoes, arrow heads and thunderaxes-that are all closely associatedwith this deity. Hats with miniaturetools and weapons of this type are wornby important priestesses of Gu, and min­iature implements form an importantpart of Gu shrines. Essential features ofthis work thus derive from the Fon geo­mancy system, in this case from Abla­Lete, one of its 256 signs. Fon geoman­cers, in turn, played a critical part inboth the creation and explication of thissculpture.

Native viewers, "users," and experi­encers of art, because they actively andpersonally participate in the experienc­ing of a work, also contribute to theinterpretation of the meaning of anobject or structure. Their opinions arefrequently crucial to understanding theart and its significance in the context ofthe broader society. Although many ofthese people are reluctant to discuss themore personal aspects of a work's reli­gious or psychological meanings forthem, I have found that often theirreactions to the work of art are asrevealing as any utterance.

During my first extended stay in Afri­ca, living in the Yoruba royal city ofSave, an itinerant art trader came to myhouse to show me various Yoruba works,which he hoped I would purchase. Oneof my Yoruba assistants happened to bethere at the time and looked on withbarely veiled amusement as various tra­ditional masks and religious objects ofwood, stone, and ivory were taken out.When, towards the end, the trader tookout a pair of brass Edan Ogboni similarto the pair illustrated (Fig. 13), myassistant became quite serious, his bodystiffened, and his face turned ashen. Heobviously knew these works in a waydifferent from the other arts. When Ilater asked him about his reaction, itbecame evident that he was cognizant ofthe political meaning of the Edan andtheir association with the powerfulgroup of community elders who consti­tuted the local judiciary and whosepower extended even to removing kingsfrom office." The formal qualities of theworks and the beauty of their featuresmeant little to him; in reality he saw

Fig. 13 Yoruba Ogboni staff, Nigeria,nineteenth-twentieth century, bronze,h. 373/ 10" . New York, The MetropolitanMuseum of Art (1978.412.464), TheMichael C. Rockefeller MemorialCollection, Purchase, Nelson A.Rockefeller Gift, 1962.

neither. Rather, it was what the worksrepresented, what they signified to himas a member of Yoruba society, thatconstituted their most vital meaning.The experiential is thus in manyrespects a work's most profound anddeeply felt dimension of meaning. Yetthis is an aspect of symbolism that canbe neither grasped fully nor understoodcompletely by an individual outside theculture. It is also a dimension of symbol­ism that is generally overlooked in art­historical analyses that give primaryemphasis to the formal features ofthe work.

Fon royal staffs of office tmakpo, or"recades." as they are usually referredto in the literature) (Fig. 14) otTeranother example of the importance thatthe personal perspective of the viewer­expericncer has for the meaning of awork. Adjaxo Hurnase, one of the mostpowerful of the traditional ministers ofthe Fon court, described the role of thesestaffs to me:

If the king wants to see me in ahurry, he will take his makpo andgive it to the person who serves ashis messenger, saying, "Give it to

Summer 1988 81

Fig. 14 Fon makpo staff. Republic of Benin. artist: Vincent Lamadosedu? (b.1886). early twentieth century? wood. silver. Collection Frederick and ClaireMebel.

Adjaxo." When the person arrives,he kneels and I too will kneel.Migan [the prime minister],everyone. when the makpo arrives.one must kneel. The one whobrought this to me will bless theearth as one does in front of theking. I also will do this. He thengives the makpo to me. When I getup. I will not even go to get my hat.I will continue directly with him.It is with this that the king callsone. and one should not even takethe time to look behind one beforecontinuing. When you take it. youhold it with both hands and carryit to the king. When someone seesyou with the makpo in your hands.this person will kneel and let youhave the path."

J. A. Skertchly, a nineteenth-centurytraveler to the Fon capital. provides anequally incisive view of the role andmeaning of the makpo:

While discussing breakfast thenext morning. a messenger arrivedbearing a kinikinikpo, or royallion stick, from His Majesty. whodesired me to proceed to Abomeyat my earliest convenience. Ofcourse all my people were for set­ting off on the instant. as the cus­tom [requires] performing alloffices for the king with ostenta­tious haste; but as I much pre­ferred finishing my breakfast tobeing jolted in a hammock. I sentword to the king that I would startbefore panigan or mid-day. Bee­cham was horrified as usualbut ... I thought best to let hisfears take their own course....

The young Prince Ghugalah hadbeen provided with a royal stick... which would ensure our speedypassage through all gates. andbesides it possessed the all-impor­tant power of "passing" usthrough the bands of [female war­riors] who frequent the roadbetween Kana and the capital, andwho would be obliged to give waybefore the bearer of so powerful atoken .... Just beyond the gate wemet a gang of [female warriors]who. with their usual braggadocioair. commenced to tinkle theirbells at us. Ghugalah, however.took them "nat aback." (by]advancing with the magic stickraised above his head, and cryingout "A-h-go" [attention!] ... hequickly brought them to a sense oftheir position.... [T] hey stoodstock still. and when they hadgathered together their wits ...made way for us by rushing pell­mell into the bushes.... I couldnot but laugh at the chagrin ...evident upon the faces ... but itwas no use grumbling.v-out ofthe way they had to go, much tothe delight of my hammockrnen,who were overjoyed to have anopportunity of paying out thesoldieresses in their own coin."

These descriptions, of course, tell usnothing at all of the history of themakpo form. a tradition that, accordingto Adjaxo, began with King Guezo andreplaced an earlier tradition of usingcanes ikpoge, "thin stick") for this pur­pose. which had been introduced byKing Tegbesu (1728-75).41 Nor do they

explain anything about the importanceof the various motifs that are carved intoor added onto these works (in the case ofKing Glele, whom Skertchly visited. alion). Moreover, these views are clearlylimited in that they represent the experi­ences of but a few of the many differentviewers and users of these sculptures."Yet it is obvious that, as with theYoruba edan ogboni, an importantaspect of the meaning of art lies outsidethe work itself and in the personal exper­iental associations of its viewers andusers.

Another example of the importanceof the meaning that the users and view­ers bring to a work also comes from theFon. Among the various art forms that Iresearched there were figures carved torepresent deceased twins. hoxo (Fig./5). I had seen a number of womencarrying figures of this type secured intheir wrappers in the same way that theywould carry a living child. I had alsoseen several of these figures in othercontexts: in the houses of various indi­viduals, where they were positioned ontables or dressers; as part of the "equip­ment" of certain geornancers: and assilent "witnesses" during various reli­gious feasts. Although much has beenwritten about twin figures of the nearbyYoruba." I knew little about the mean­ing of these works for the Fon exceptthat twins, whose original home isthought to be the forest (and who arebelieved to return there after death). areconsidered to be very powerful. Indeed.twins are said to be living gods, and it isfor this reason that when one twin dies, acommemorative sculpture is carved andthen cared for by the family members asif the twin were still alive. In the wordsof the geomancer Ayido Gnanwissi, "thefigure does not represent a vodun [mys­tical power]: it is a vodun. Althoughoriginally one purchased the sculpture.after one brings it to the forest anddoes all the ceremonies. it becomes avodun.l'"

Since all Fon twin figures have thesame basic features. it soon becameclear to me that key aspects of theirmeanings necessarily derive from thepersonal experiences and views of theirvarious viewers and users. Ayido Gnan­wissi, who has twins within his family,explained the meaning of these figures:

When a twin dies [Iit., "when oneescorts him back to the forest"],the mother goes to see the priestessof twins." The mother then mar­ries [purchases] a twin [i.e., twinfigure] in the market. All the sta­tues are set out by their sellersthere in the market. You stand infront of them and if there is a

82 Art Journal

statue that pleases you, you willmarry it. However, if your childwas a boy and if the statue thatyou found is a girl, you will notmarry that day. Instead, you willreturn home empty handed, andafterwards you will go back to themarket. If you do this enoughtimes, eventually you will find onethat you will want to marry. Aftermarrying the twin you will againgo to the priestess of twins andthen buy the things that sherequires of you and prepare thedishes of food that she hasrequested. When everything isready, the priestesses arrive to dothe ceremonies. In this way yourchild who was lost will be found.Once it has been found, the twinwho is still living will no longerwant to go to the forest, or if he orshe is always sick or jumpy, thiswill cease. If one does all the cere­monies, everything will be inorder.

The ceremonies take all day.During the night one goes to theforest to continue the ceremoniesand to find the twin; one remainsthere until day break....46 At thistime the priestess leaves the forestholding the figure secured to herchest wrapped in the cloth whichshe is wearing. When she and theother priestesses arrive at thehouse, she calls the mother of thechild saying "we have found yourchild and have brought it back' toyour house." The mother willkneel in front of her. The priestessextends the figure three times say­ing "here is your child." Finallythe figure is placed in the mother'shands as she wishes the child"good arrival." The figure is thenpresented to the father, and ifthere are other children or rela­tives at the house, the figure willbe presented to them as well,saying this is your brother orsister.

When the mother [or theremaining twin when old enough)wants to eat, she will place thetwin figure beside the plate andgive it a bit; when one drinks onedoes the same. A seat also is madeso that the twin can sit. When onegoes to bed one will lay it down tosleep. And, whenever one goes tothe tailor with cloth one will tellhim to make something from thecloth for the twin as well; the tailorwill understand and will do this.One could never sell such a figure.If you sell it, it is your own child,brother, or sister, that you have

Fig. 15 Fon twin figure, Republic ofBenin, twentieth century, wood, h. 17.5cm. DUsseldorf, Galerie Simonis,Afrikanische Kunst.

sold. You have sold your ownperson.

Here, too, in many respects the meaningof the work is imposed on it by users andviewers after its manufacture. For thepriestesses, whose role is both to trans­form a simple statue into a deity in thecourse of day- and night-long ceremon­ies and to present the "found child" tothe mourning parents and siblings, thesculpture helps to reaffirm their func­tion as intercessors between the divineand the human. For the parents andsiblings of the deceased twin, the work'smeanings become interwoven with thereal-life memories of the person it bothrepresents and in a sense is. Through thedaily act of nourishing, clothing, carry­ing, and bedding the statue, the ontolog­ical grounding of the work's meaning isreinforced in a continuing way.

In time, owing to the care that is givento the figure its features change; thework becomes smoother, softer, and thewhole surface assumes a beautifulsheen." This change within the work isparticularly striking when a figure thathas had extensive use is contrasted withone that has been recently carved; thelatter's features are much rougher andharder and its surfaces are dull. The factthat a significant aspect of the beauty ofa twin figure is based as much on thesoftening and smoothing of the featuresthrough the user's daily feeding andattention as on the way in which it wascarved originally makes it clear howimportant the user is both in givingmeaning to the work and, at least insome cases, in modifying its form. SinceFon artists frequently emphasize

smoothness as one of the most importantof the aesthetic criteria of the worksthey make, it is obvious that users playcritical roles in the process of defining awork's beauty.

For African art then, Baxandall'sdescription of Italian fifteenth-centurypainting as a two-sided social interac­tion between artist and patron wouldhave to be amplified to be relevant. Iwould suggest that the art of Africa isthe product of both a social and a cul­tural interaction. On one side are thecreators, those who make or supervisethe creation of a work of art and in sodoing express their own individualityand, consciously or not, the concerns ofthe particular age and place in whichthey are working;" on another side arethose who commission (and usuallyrecompense) the creators for the works,who often stipulate the essential shapethat these should take, and who, to agreater or lesser extent, determine thecontext of their utilization:" on a thirdside are the culture's spokespersons, whoin their multivalent roles offer insightinto the place of art within society andoften directly influence the form thatthe arts will take; and on the fourth sideare the individuals of the culture andperiod who directly view, use, and expe­rience the work and endow it with theirpersonal meanings. In the center of thisfour-part frame is the artwork itself,which both derives shape and meaningfrom and gives shape and meaning to theideas, actions, and expessions of thepersons who in one way or another haveto do with it.

lconology and the Question of MeaningHierarchy in African ArtSO

Scholars of Western and non-Westernculture and art have long been con­cerned with symbol multiplicity-theability of symbols to carry multiplemeanings simultaneously. In most art­historical symbolic analyses the pre­dominating frame of reference is hierar­chical: one searches to find an image's"deeper" and "deepest" meaning. ErwinPanofsky distinguished three levels ofincreasing complexity and specializa­tion: I) pre-iconographic, or primary; 2)iconographic, or conventional subjectmatter determined through secondaryknowledge (in his case, literary sources);and 3) iconological or intrinsic meaning

. ascertained through synthetic analyses.In approaching this third level of analy­sis, Panofsky noted that the scholar isresponsible for "the discovery and inter­pretation of ... 'symbolical' values(which are often unknown to the artisthimself and may even emphatically dif­fer from what he consciously intended toexpress). "SI Differences or contradic-

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Fig. 16 Batammaliba portal shrine mound, Togo, Village of Koufitoukou. Houseof Yapita Tapoke. Photographed January 31, 1977.

tions in the associated data, Panofskysuggested, must be corrected by thescholar."

In his study of African symbolism,Victor Turner, like Panofsky, assignedhierarchical levels to the multiplicity ofmeanings carried by a symbol." He, too,would organize symbolic data into threeprimary strata based on: I) observablecharacteristics; 2) responses of local spe­cialists and laymen; and 3) interpreta­tion by a trained scholar with extensiveknowledge of the culture." Of his ownthird level, Turner has noted in thecontext of Ndembu ritual that themeanings

are not made explicit by infor­mants, but must be inferred by theinvestigator from the symbolicpatterns and from behavior. He isable to make these inferences onlyif he has previously examined thesymbolic configurations and themeanings attributed to their com­ponent symbols by skilled infor­mants, of many other kinds ofritual in the same total system."

In other words, the investigator mustanalyze symbols in the context not onlyof each specific kind of ritual but also ofthe system as a whole. Such an analysis,like that proposed by Panofsky, is char­acteristically synthetic. Resolving con­tradictions is a necessary part of theanalytic process. As Turner has noted,"It will become clear that considerablediscrepancy exists between the inter­pretation [s] ... offered by informantsand [their ritual] behavior.':" Insightcomes, he explains, from reconciling theinherent differences in indigenousexplanation, action, and symbols.

Another African scholar concernedwith hierarchical meaning levels in sym­bolic contexts is Marcel Griaule.Griaule however, has recorded that theDogon, whom he studied, emphasizedtwo levels rather than three. Thesestrata, too, agree more or less with theidea of explicit (i. e., primary or natural)data and secondary knowledge, which, ifnot necessarily synthetic, is at least moreabstract. As Germaine Dieterlen,Griaule's research colleague amongthe Dogon, has noted in her introductionto Griaule's Conversations withOgotemmeli. in the early part of theresearch,

The Dogon had answered ques­tions and commented on observa­tions made during previous fieldtrips on the basis of the interpreta­tion of facts which they call "laparole de face"; this is the "simpleknowledge" which they give in thefirst instance to all enquirers....But the Dogon came to recognize

that it was becoming increasinglydifficult to answer the multiplicityof questions without moving on toa different level."

Important here is the idea that theDogon maintained, in their dealingswith outsiders, a double entendre. inwhich central aspects of meaning wereidentified with clearly distinct explana­tions. By means of a carefully orches­trated revelation of surface knowledge,deep knowledge was kept hidden by atight-knit group of elders and priests. Inorder to learn these deeper meanings,Griaule (or presumably any researcher)had to undergo a lengthy trial period (inGriaule's case eight years) after whichhe was trusted enough to be told the"real" (i.e., "deeper") significance of agiven form or idea. Thus, in Griaule'sview, the primary need for the scholar isto become well enough accepted by thecommunity and sensitive enough inone's questioning so that the deepermeaning is divulged.

A fourth scholar who has concernedhimself with the question of multiplemeaning contexts is Clifford Geertz."But, rather than discussing multiplicityfrom the perspective of hierarchicalmeaning levels, Geertz views these

diverse meanings as differential yetessentially equal "facts." The diversityof such facts within a given context(most important in his case, the Balinesecock fight) reinforces key features of theculture:

The culture of a people is anensemble of texts, themselves en­sembles, which the anthropologiststrains to read over the shouldersof those to whom they properlybelong. . .. Societies, like lives,contain their own interpretations.One has only to learn how to gainaccess to them."

Despite the essential equivalence ofthese diverse facts, each is seen byGeertz to add in its own way to the"deepness" of the context as a whole.Each of these meanings is known to andexpressed by the Balinese: "The Bali­nese peasants are quite aware of allthis and can and, at least to the eth­nographer, do state most of it inapproximately the same terms as Ihave.,,60

Panofsky, Turner, and Griaule em­phasize the importance of distinctmeaning levels in symbolic analysis.Geertz stresses the equivalency of multi-

84 Art Journal

tudinous meanings. With respect totheir view of the relative role of theinvestigator in determining the basis ofthese different meanings, these scholarsalso ditTer. To Panofsky and Turner,interpretation rests squarely with theinvestigator. Both cite inherent contra­dictions in the data (and its sources) andthe need for the investigator to serveas final arbiter. In contrast, Griauleand Geertz, although they differ inapproach, see the culture itself asproviding the meaning base.

How are these issues of multiplexityand level meanings understood in thecontext of Batammaliba architecture,and what is the relative role of theresearcher and indigenous culturalspokespersons in determining the deepersignificance of these forms? To someextent, the Batammaliba, like theDogon, conceptualize meaning in termsof levels. The comparison that theBatammaliba most frequently use is to ariver: some knowledge is identified withgreat depth; other knowledge is moreshallow. As one person explained,"When you are talking, you may beasked to go down and find the bottom ofyour words. When you begin speaking,you may leave out a part and put it tothe side, and one will tell you to go downand get that part."?' This concept ofmeaning depth is also used in the con­text of comprehension. "I could not findthe bottom of the words" (i.e., I couldnot determine the source of these prob­lems), it was explained in a prayer.""Stop the talking; that which remains isdeep," a priest admonished men's initia­tion participants in the course of thesociety's sacred Night Walk.63 Amongthe Batammaliba, depth is seen tocomplement knowledge profundity.

Yet, the Batammaliba do not see theirmeaning levels as hard and fast. Indeedthe very premise of a hierarchy of mean­ings as proposed by Panofsky, Griaule,and Turner would be untrue in this case.For the Batammaliba, meanings aremuch closer in concept to the differen­tial but essentially equivalent "facts"identified by Geertz with the Balinesecock fight. This is evident with most ofthe more important metaphors and sym­bols associated with the house. Thelarge, central earthen Iisenpo mound infront of the house door is a good example(Fig. 16). It serves as an altar for thesolar deity, Kuiye, and his Earthlycomplement, Butan. At the same timethis mound symbolizes the soul or lifeforce of the house and its inhabitants. Itis recognized, in turn, as a reference topast family members and to lineageunity and division. Furthermore, theIisenpo mound is an essential symbol ofhouse political autonomy and power. In

this way, it carries, like a telegraph wire,a diversity of messages simultaneously.Rather than contradicting one another,the meanings that are associated with itreflect the multivalent character ofBatammaliba symbolic and metaphoricforms.

The earthen horns above the houseentry (see Fig. 4) offer a similar exam­ple of the multiplex, nonhierarchicalnature of meaning." In cosmologicalcontexts, the horns are associated withthe ordered movement of the sun backand forth across the sky each day. Onother occasions, the horns are identifiedas altars to Kuiye, the solar deity whosedaily and yearly passage they mark.From the perspective of human anato­my, they are said to represent testicles,the source of the fertilizing sperm that,like Kuiye, is necessary for new life. Inthe context of the family, the horns serveas metaphors for the husband and wifeand for the succession of generations. Asa major designator of gender differencesin game animals, the horns reinforce thedivision between house men and women.In the context of house security, thehorns recall the protection and powerassociated with the hunted game. Theyare accordingly an important referent tohouse autonomy. In funerary contexts,the horns serve as important metaphorsof death and the associated transition ofthe deceased elder's soul. Thus themeanings identified with the horns arediverse.

Like the Fon war-god sculpture dis­cussed above and many other works ofAfrican art, the symbolic grounding ofthese entry horns is multiplex. Can oneplace the variant and divergent mean­ings within a hierarchical frame ofdeeper and deepest symbolic dimen­sions? I think not. Each of the meaningsfound in the work is equally important.

W hat I have suggested here con­trasts in many respects with what

has often been emphasized in iconologi­cal and iconographic studies in art his­tory with their concern with subject­matter identification, artist and patronperspectives on meaning, and hierarchi­cal structuring of the various symbolicdimensions of the work. In many Afri­can art traditions, context rather thansubject matter, cultural spokespersonsand viewers-users rather than artistsand patrons, and multiplexity ratherthan hierarchy are far more significantfor the way that meaning is perceivedand expressed within an artwork. IsAfrican art unique in this respect, or dothese ditTerences point up distinctions inthe orientation of African art histori­ans? This is a question of considerablemethodological and theoretical interest.

Art history in recent years has seen agrowing division between positivists,committed to affirming art history as anexacting discipline, and a growing bodyof interpretationists, questioningwhether art history is every completelyobjective and knowable and advocatinga more hermeneutic approach. Out ofthese discussions undoubtedly willemerge new and vital theoretical andmethodological orientations that willbenefit the discipline as a whole. In thesame way, a closer look at the contextsof art in living cultures outside Europewill help in the formulation, grounding,and testing of new theoretical and meth­odological perspectives in art. In manyAfrican art-producing societies, the art­ists, patrons, cultural spokespersons,and users can still be interviewed andquestioned about the nature of art andits meaning. And, by studying culturesin which art is still a vital part of boththe religious belief system and the pro­cesses of political expression, additionalissues will be raised and questionsaddressed, which through their explora­tion in other, non-African art contextsmay provide insight into the role of artin these other periods and cultures aswell.

Notes1 Both Kenneth Burke's discussion of logology in

his Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology,Berkeley, 1970, and Murray Krieger's recentessay, "Words about Words about Words: The­ory, Criticism, and the Literary Text," Acad­eme (March-April 1984), pp. 17ff., offer inter­esting insight into related issues of literarycriticism.

2 Jan Bialostocki "Iconography and lconology,'Encyclopedia of World Art. New York, 1963,VII, pp. 769-85.

3 When the field of iconographic study wasbroadened to include popular imagery, theseworks often were viewed from the perspectiveof how close a fit they had with more "stan­dard" representations. Often, Bialostocki(cited n.2), p. 771, suggests, such forms wereseen to be "characterized by an exaggerationand simplification of the traits and attributes ofmore traditional imagery."

4 See especially: A. K. Coomaraswamy, Ele­ments of Buddhist Iconography, Cambridge,MA., 1935. The iconographical method hasalso been used by some anthropologists; see:Bernadette Bucher, Icon and Conquest: AStructuralist Analysis of the I/Iustrations ofde Bry's Great Voyages. Chicago, 1981.

5 Svetlana Alpers. The Art of Describing: DutchArt in the Seventeenth Century, Chicago, 1983,p. xlx,

6 Erwin Panofsky, "Iconography and lconology:An Introduction to the Study of RenaissanceArt," Meaning in the Visual Arts. GardenCity, NY, 1955. This is a somewhat revised

Summer 1988 85

version of Panofsky's earlier Studies inIconology, 1939, and "Zurn Problem derBerschreibung und Inhaltsdeutung vonWerken der bildenden Kunst," Logos, 21(1932), pp. 102-19. Important issues withrespect to Panofsky's view of iconography andiconology have been discussed by Michael AnnHolly, Panofsky and the Foundations of ArtHistory, Ithaca, NY, 1984. See also: E. H.Gombrich, "The Aims and Limits ofIconology," Symbolic Images, London, 1972,pp. 1-22; Keith Moxey, "Panofsky's Conceptof 'Iconology' and the Problem of Interpreta­tion in the History of Art," New LiteraryHistory, 17 (1985-86), pp. 265-74; and LarrySilver, "The State of Research in NorthernEuropean Art of the Renaissance Era," ArtBulletin, 68:4 (1986), pp. 518-35.

7 Alpers (cited n. 5), p. xxiv, See also: CreightonGilbert, "On Subject and Not-Subject in Ital­ian Renaissance Pictures, Art Bulletin, 34:3(1952), pp. 202-16. For a discussion of surfaceversus hidden dimensions of meaning inBatammaliba architecture, see: Suzanne Pres­ton Blier, The Anatomy of Architecture:Ontology and Metaphor in BatammalibaArchitectural Expression, New York, 1987,pp.2261f.

8 The history of the term "iconology" in thiscentury is of some interest in this regard; see:Bialostocki (cited n. 2), p. 774.

9 Panofsky, 1955 (cited n. 6), p. 27.

10 Ibid.

II Anthropologists and others Writing aboutanthropology in recent years also have come torealize the problems in iconography's sisterdiscipline, ethnography, with respect to thequestion of the relativity of a given point ofview and description. See especially: WritingCulture: The Poetics and Politics ofEthnogra­phy, ed. James Clilford and George E. Marcus,Berkeley, 1986; and Allen Johnson, "TheDeath of Ethnography," The Sciences(March-April 1987), pp. 25-30.

12 Marcel Griaule, Masques Dogon: Travaux etMemoires de I'Institut d'Ethnologie, 33(1938), pp. 4701f; Marcel Griaule and Ger­maine Dieterlen, Le Renard Pale, Paris, 1965,pp. 170-73.

13 Panofsky, 1955 (cited n. 6), p. 33.

14 Paula Ben-Amos "Men and Animals in BeninArt," Man, 11:2 (June 1976), p. 252, n. 20.

15 Panofsky's point (cited n. 6), p. 33, that prob­lems with identifying subject matter are dueeither to the artist's incompetence or to maliceis problematic in many respects. In a number ofcases, generic animals (raptorial bird, carnivo­rous animal, fish) rather than specific ones areportrayed; in other cases, specific animals areportrayed, but their features are distortedthrough various forms of abstraction. From myperiodic consultations with scientists at naturalhistory musems about the identity of a particu­lar bird, fish, or tree, I have come to realize thedifficulties inherent in precisely identifyingsubjects without additional documentationextraneous to the works of art themselves.

16 I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, "Similarities and Dilfer­ences between Cultures in Expressive Move­ments," Non- Verbal Communication, ed.Robert A. Hinde, London. 1972, p. 311.

17 Panofsky, 1955 (cited n. 6), p. 28.

18 Marcel Granet, La Pensee Chinoise, Paris,1934,p.338

19 Karl Laman, The Kongo. Studia Ethnogra­phica Upsaliensia. Stockholm. Vol I, 1953, pp.43-44; Robert F. Thompson, African Art inMotion: Icon and Art, Los Angeles, 1974, p.73; idem, The Four Moments of the Sun:Kongo Art in Two Worlds, 1981, pp. 87-89,121. For further discussion of the gesturalcomponents of African Art, see: Suzanne Pres­ton Blier, Gestures in African Art, New York,1982.

20 Interestingly, it is this issue of narrative inItalian art for which Svetlana Alpers (cited n.5) takes Panofsky to task in her study of Dutchpainting.

21 Arnold Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage,Chicago, 1960; Erving Goffman, The Presen­tation of Self in Everyday Life, Garden City,NY, 1959.

22 See: Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo. NewYork, 1974, p. 58

23 Daniel Biebuyck has been one of the mostimportant proponents of contextual analysis inAfrican Art. See: Symbolism of the LegaStool, Working Papers in the Traditional Arts,2, Institute for the Study of Human Issues,Philadelphia. 1977.

24 See: Blier (cited n. 7), esp. Ch. 3.

25 See also: Meyer Schapiro, Words and Pictures:On the Literal and the Symbolic in the J//us­tration of a Text. The Hague. 1973. Also ofinterest: Cecilia F. Klein, The Face of theEarth: Frontality in Two-Dimensional Meso­american Art, Garland Publishing Co., NewYork,1976.

26 I am grateful to a Fulbright Senior ResearchFellowship and a grant from the Social ScienceResearch Council for making this researchpossible.

27 See: Gilbert (cited n. 7), for additional discus­sion of the discrepancy between iconographyand iconology in Italian painting.

28 Herbert M. Cole and Doran H. Ross, The Artsof Ghana, Los Angeles. 1977, pp. 111-13. Foradditional examples in Yoruba art, see: HenryJ. Drewal, "Art, History, and the Individual: ANew Perspective for the Study of AfricanVisual Traditions," Iowa Studies in AfricanArt, I (1984), pp. 87-1 14.

29 According to Susan Vogel, "People of Wood:Baule Figure Sculpture," Art Journal, 32: I(1973), p. 23.

30 Eberhard Fischer and Hans Himmelheber, TheArts of the Dan in West Africa, Zurich, 1984,p.9.

31 Anita Glaze, Art and Death in a SenufoVii/age, Bloomington, 1981, pp. 79, 1301f.

32 Michael Baxandall Painting and Experience inFifteenth-Century Italy, Oxford, 1972, p. I

33 Ibid., pp. 17-18

34 Ibid., p. 57.

35 For a discussion of artist and patron relation­ships in Yoruba art, see: Henry John Drewaland Margaret Thompson Drewal, Gelede: Artand Female Power among the Yoruba.Bloomington, 1983, pp. 2581f.

36 Susan Vogel "[Baule] Female Figure," ForSpirits and Kings: African Art from the Tish­man Collection, New York, 1981, p. 73. Henryand Margaret Drewal (cited n. 35) p. 253, alsonote the importance of geomancy in the contextof Yoruba art.

37 Bernard Maupoil, La Geomancie a l'AncienneCote des Esc/aves, Trauvaux et Memoires del'lnstitut d'Ethnologie, 42 (1981), p. 421. Thiswas also reaffirmed by Fon geomancers withwhom I spoke in 1985-86.

38 See: Robert Farris Thompson, Black Gods andKings, Bloomington, 1976; Henry JohnDrewal, African Artistry: Technique and Aes­thetics in Yoruba Sculpture, Atlanta, 1980;Th. A. H. M. Dobbelmann, Der Ogboni­Geheimbund, Berg en Dal, 1976. See also:Henry J. Drewal "Art and the Perception ofWomen in Yoruba Culture," Cahiers d'EtudesAfricaines, 1968, 17:4, pp. 545-67. Drewalexplains that Yoruba Iyanla masks evoke fearand awe primarily as a result of the hidden andsecret preparations associated with them.

39 Interview with Adjaxo Humase of Abomey(Republic of Benin) on August 6, 1986. Foradditional information on Fon makpo staffs,see: Alexandre Adande, Les Recades des Roisdu Dahomey, Institut Francais d'AfriqueNoire, Dakar, 1962.

40 J. A. Skertchly, Dahomey as It Is: Being aNarrative of Eight Months Residence in ThatCountry ... , London. 1874, pp. 147-48.

41 Interview with Adjaxo Humase (cited n. 39).

42 The perspective of the king who commissionedthe makpo and whose person and office itrepresents also would be important to know. Inmany respects, however, the makpo, as anemblem of power may be equally significantand meaning-rich to people who do not actuallyhold the office associated with it.

43 See: Thompson (cited n. 38); and Drewal (citedn.38).

44 Interviews with Ayido Gnanwassi of Sodohome(Republic of Benin), July 20, and 27,1986.

45 Priestesses of twins are called Hoxonon, "themother of twins," in part because they come totheir positions after having themselves givenbirth to twins.

46 Ayido Gnanwassi (cited n. 44), discussed theseceremonies in detail.

47 Often the area of the mouth is particularly"worn" as a result of the daily nourishing of thefigure.

86 Art Journal

48 In the context of many works of African art,the definition of artist needs to be expanded toinclude a wide variety of people who contributeto the work's creation. In the context of certainfigural traditions, such as some Fon bociosculptures, the artist should include both theperson who originally carved the work and thebokonon (geomancer) or botonon (power con­sultant) who applied to its surface the diverseobjects of power that give to the work both itsreal meaning and its distinct visual appeal.Together these individuals provide the sculp­ture both with its form and with its underlyingmeaning. In the context of masking in Africa,the definition of creator likewise needs to beexpanded to include not only the maker of themask but also the creators of its costume and itschoreography. Here too the form and themeaning of the work are contingent on aninterweave of persons. This broadening out ofthe definition of artist and creator appears to beimportant for other art contexts as well. AsHoward Becker has shown in his book, ArtWorlds (1982), art in the West is often a farmore collaborative effort than many have givenit credit for.

49 As with artists-creators, the concept of patronalso is broadened in the context of African art.See: Paula Ben-Amos, "Patron-Artist Interac­tions in Africa," African Arts, 13:3 (1980), pp.56-57; Philip M. Peek, "Isoko Artists andTheir Audiences," African Arts. ibid., pp. 58­60; Lisa Aronson, "Patronage and AkweteWeaving," ibid., pp. 62-66; Sidney LittlefieldKasfir, "Patronage and Maconde Carvers,"ibid., pp. 67-70; Judith Perani, "Patronage and

Nupe Craft Industries," ibid., pp. 71-75.

50 Parts of this section are taken from myAnatomy ofArchitecture (cited n. 7).

51 Panofsky 1955 (cited n. 6), p. 31.

52 Ibid., p. 39.

53 Victor Turner, The Forest ofSymbols: Aspectsof Ndembu Ritual, Ithaca, NY, 1967, p. 44.

54 Ibid., pp. 50-51.

55 Ibid., p. 43.

56 Ibid., p. 25.

57 Germaine Dieterlen, in Marcel Griaule, Con­versations with Ogotemmeli: An Introductionto Dogon Religious Ideas. London, 1965,pp. xv-xvi,

58 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation ofCultures: Selected Essays. New York, 1971.

59 Ibid., p. 452.

60 Ibid., p. 21.

61 Interview with N'tcha Banfoata of Lissani,Togo, December 24, 1977.

62 Quoted from a ceremony in Koufitoukou, June12,1977.

63 Quoted from a men's initiation ceremony, May21, 1977.

64 How can one know which of an object's (ormotif's) diverse meanings is operative orwhen? If the symbols are not hierarchical but

rather multiplex, how does one ascertain whichmessage is being sent? The answer lies in thecontext. In Batammaliba architecture and Fonsculpture often the breadth and appropriate­ness of a given meaning is determined by theceremony, circumstance, or larger context inwhich it is being defined.

Suzanne Preston Blier is AssociateProfessor of Art History at ColumbiaUniversity. Her book, The Anatomy ofArchitecture: Ontology and Metaphorin Batammaliba Expression. wasrecently published by CambridgeUniversity Press as the lead-oJJvolumeof their RES Monograph series onAnthropology and Aesthetics. She is a1988-89 recipient ofa John SimonGuggenheim Memorial Fellowship anda fellowship at the Institute forAdvanced Studies. PrincetonUniversity.

Photographic Credits: pp. 77, 78(FiR. 5), 80 (FiR. 12),84, SuzannePreston Blier; pp. 79 (FiR. 7), 1/5(FiR, 5), 142 (FiR. 5), Jerry L.Thompson; pp, 89-93, Philip. L.Ravenhill; pp . 96. 98, 99 (FiRS. 6 and7),100, Monni Adams; p, 99 (FiR. 8),Mme Marie-Noel Yerger-Fevre, 1983;pp, 104 (FiR. /), 105 (FiRS. 4 and 5),106 (FiR, 6), 107, 108, 109, ChristraudM. Geary; pp. 1/4, 1/7 (FiRS. 10 and1/), Richard Todd; n. 1/5 (FiR. 2),Susan Einstein; p, 1/5 (FiR. 3), MarkSexton; p . 1/5 (FiR. 4), Johan Elbers;p. 1/6 (FiR. 6), Ken Cohen; p. 121,Sothehy's: p, 128, Ingrid Hunse; p.129 (FiR, 2), Duckworth, Pitt RiversMuseum, Oxford, U.K.; pp. 130(FiR. 6), 134(FiR. 1/),135 (FiR. 14),Barbara Blackmun,

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