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Lot Essay
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The royal kingdoms of Cameroon have produced some of the most compelling and iconic works of African art. From the celebrated, architectonics of the Bangwa Queen formerly in the collection of Helena Rubinstein (Dapper Museum inv. no. 3343) to the present voluptuous sculpture from the Bamileke, also of the Grassfields chiefdoms. Noteworthy is that each share a prestigious history of once living in the Berlin Museum, then with Arthur Speyer in Germany and then, by 1929, to Charles Ratton in Paris.
The commemorative portraits of Kings and Queens played a key role in each royal court within the Grassfields region. They signaled the transfer of power from one King, or Fon, to his successor. As Alisa LaGamma notes in the catalogue to her exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heroic Africans: 'Because the sculptures were accorded such an important role and informed the identity of a given court, artists channeled their greatest talent into their creation. Their successful execution of especially striking and innovative works earned them great esteem as well as parallel commissions from the leaders of neighboring principalities' (2011, p. 123).
Historically, and in the context of this presentation, the formal connections to Cameroonian art to Cubism and German Expressionism are evident. A celebration of volume, gesture and painterly surfaces. In Cameroonian art history, we recognize the artists as highly skilled with the best of class sought after vigorously by the various chiefdoms. They were also nimble. As the power of the various courts grew in the 19th century, the Kings relied upon these artists to reinforce the existing traditions of sculpting to visually define and solidify their ambitions and growing strength reaching an apogee of royal art in this epoch.
In this portrait of this leader, all of the qualities of nobility are displayed. The most notable is the left hand raised to the chin, a motif seen throughout the royal art of the Grasslands, including one of the most famous figures of a Bangwa king, lefem (Private Collection, see Harter, op. cit, number 349). At the same time, this gesture can be recognized for the universality of its symbolism, demonstrating thoughtfulness, reflection and prudence. His large eyes suggest alertness and intelligence. Qualities embodied by a leader. He sits on a stool with a reptilian creature carved in deep relief, probably a lizard, alluding to fecundity and propagation. His body is a red-ochre symbolizing the camwood powder with which he was anointed upon succeeding to the throne (Harter, ibid.; Geary in Cameroon, The Rietberg Museum, 2008, pp 32-33).
This rare figure synthesizes an ideal concept of the great portrait art of the Cameroon Grasslands Kingdoms as well as the celebrated expressionistic qualities of early Modernism, it is not surprise that the celebrated art historian of Cameroon art, Pierre Harter, chose to place it on the cover of his seminal book.
The royal kingdoms of Cameroon have produced some of the most compelling and iconic works of African art. From the celebrated, architectonics of the Bangwa Queen formerly in the collection of Helena Rubinstein (Dapper Museum inv. no. 3343) to the present voluptuous sculpture from the Bamileke, also of the Grassfields chiefdoms. Noteworthy is that each share a prestigious history of once living in the Berlin Museum, then with Arthur Speyer in Germany and then, by 1929, to Charles Ratton in Paris.
The commemorative portraits of Kings and Queens played a key role in each royal court within the Grassfields region. They signaled the transfer of power from one King, or Fon, to his successor. As Alisa LaGamma notes in the catalogue to her exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heroic Africans: 'Because the sculptures were accorded such an important role and informed the identity of a given court, artists channeled their greatest talent into their creation. Their successful execution of especially striking and innovative works earned them great esteem as well as parallel commissions from the leaders of neighboring principalities' (2011, p. 123).
Historically, and in the context of this presentation, the formal connections to Cameroonian art to Cubism and German Expressionism are evident. A celebration of volume, gesture and painterly surfaces. In Cameroonian art history, we recognize the artists as highly skilled with the best of class sought after vigorously by the various chiefdoms. They were also nimble. As the power of the various courts grew in the 19th century, the Kings relied upon these artists to reinforce the existing traditions of sculpting to visually define and solidify their ambitions and growing strength reaching an apogee of royal art in this epoch.
In this portrait of this leader, all of the qualities of nobility are displayed. The most notable is the left hand raised to the chin, a motif seen throughout the royal art of the Grasslands, including one of the most famous figures of a Bangwa king, lefem (Private Collection, see Harter, op. cit, number 349). At the same time, this gesture can be recognized for the universality of its symbolism, demonstrating thoughtfulness, reflection and prudence. His large eyes suggest alertness and intelligence. Qualities embodied by a leader. He sits on a stool with a reptilian creature carved in deep relief, probably a lizard, alluding to fecundity and propagation. His body is a red-ochre symbolizing the camwood powder with which he was anointed upon succeeding to the throne (Harter, ibid.; Geary in Cameroon, The Rietberg Museum, 2008, pp 32-33).
This rare figure synthesizes an ideal concept of the great portrait art of the Cameroon Grasslands Kingdoms as well as the celebrated expressionistic qualities of early Modernism, it is not surprise that the celebrated art historian of Cameroon art, Pierre Harter, chose to place it on the cover of his seminal book.