Senufo figure

Senufo Madebele figure
21,5 cm
Prov.: Galerie Toguna - Pierre Brennetot (Toulouse - FR)

Losso figure, Koumea area

Another Losso figure in my collection: it's an old 27 cm high statue from Koumea area (according to Pierre Amrouche in his book on Lamba/Losso sculpture already quoted), formerly in Sylvain Pette collection and, before, in Huguenin gallery in Paris.

Here are some other examples of the same type from Amrouche's book and from Yale archive:

The Lamba and Losso area in North Togo (thanks to Thomas Keller's blog)

Bamileke, Elephant Mask, Kuosi Society

Elephant Mask, Kuosi Society, Bamileke Peoples, Cameroon

cm. 113 x 57

Lamba / Losso figures

In 2008 the world of tribal arts was stunned by a little exposition held in the Parcours de Mondes by Pierre Amrouche: a lot of strong and roughly carved figures, some singles and other in couples, recently collected in Africa in an area less known than the "classic" african art zones. There were figures of ancestors, or bush spirits or twin couples from the north of Togo, from two lesser known populations described also by Frobenius at the beginning of '900, the Lamba and the Losso. Few items from that area were in the international museal collections (Berliner Wolkerkunde Museum) and they were completely unknown to the general public of collectors.
According to Amrouche, in the catalogue of the exposition, it's not possible, due to the too close interactions between the two populations, to attribute to Losso or to Lamba alone the items so he choose to call this corpus of objects "Lamba / Losso". He pointed also the fact the corpus itself is splitted into two main styles: one, more common, extremely geometric and stylized and the other more naturalistic.
I had in my collection five single figures and a couple (from the Amrouche exh.) but I've also had the luck to find recently two other examples, one single figure (26, 5 cm) and a couple male-female (29 and 30,5 cm), both very old, with a very dense patina, heavy and hard wood made.

Bibl.: Corps & Décors. Statuaire Lamba et Losso du Togo, 2008, Pierre Amrouche

Lobi hunter horn

It's always a pleasure when someone finds out that an object from his collection has been published on an important book, even if it's "only" an ethnographic item.
This time I was casually browse again the wonderful book by Wilfied Glar on West-african bronzes when I realized that in the new french edition it has been published a Lobi hunter horn I purchased many years ago just from Glar's private collection and it didn't come out in the first german edition.
It's a very rare specimen and I would like to thank Glar again because he gave it to me.

Iron-chains, antilope-horn and bronze nails.  11 cm.

Ejagham head

20 cm. A little, nice, weird and powerful example from the nigerian area of Cross River.

For comparison a very similar example (the first piece on the left of the photo) taken from a catalogue of the '70 of Helene Kamer (then Leloup) Gallery.

The masks in situ 1918

L'ultima eredità dei Lega - The Lega last heritage (Mostra al Museo d'Arte cinese ed etnografico di Parma

MONOGRAFIE E ARTICOLI MONOGRAFICI SUI LEGA E POPOLAZIONI CORRELATE

Baeke, Viviane – Rousseau, Benoît

            2013, Joyaux Lega d’ivoire, d’os et de bois de la collection Benoît Rousseau, Exposition Bruneaf, Bruxelles

p. Ballarin, Lino

            1979 (manoscritto ancora non pubblicato nell’archivio Museo d’Arte Cinese ed Etnografico di Parma dei Padri Saveriani), I Lega. Signori della foresta

Barrier, Françoise – Boudin, Philippe;

            2004, ‘Tribal people. Michel Boulanger. “Beauty Deserves Itself”’ in Tribal, IX:II, n°35, Summer 2004

Biebuyck, Daniel P.

            1953, ‘La monnaie musanga des Balega’ in Zaïre, revue congolaise, vol. VII – 7, Juillet 1953, pp. 675-686, Editions Universitaires – De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Bruxelles – Antwerpen

            1953, ‘Répartitions et droits du pangolin chez les Balega’ in Zaïre, revue congolaise, vol. VII – 9, Novembre 1953, pp. 899-924, Editions Universitaires – De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Bruxelles - Antwerpen

            1967, ‘Effects on Lega Art of the Outlawing of the Bwami Association’ in Journal of the New African Literature and the Arts, Spring 1967, pp. 87-94, Stanford

            1973, Lega Culture. Art, Initiation and Moral Philosophy among a Central African People, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles

            1976, ‘The Decline of Lega Sculptural Art’ in AA. VV., Ethnic and Tourist Arts. Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World, edited by Nelson H.H. Graburn, pp. 334-349, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London

            1976, ‘Sculpture from the Eastern Zaïre. Forest Regions’ in African Arts, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Jan., 1976), pp. 8-15+79-80, UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, Los Angeles

            1977, ‘Sculpture from the Eastern Zaïre Forest Regions: Metoko, Lengola, and Komo’ in African Arts, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Jan., 1977), pp. 52-58, UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, Los Angeles

            1981, Statuary from the pre-Bembe hunters. Issues in the interpretation of ancestral figurines ascribed to the Basikasingo-Bembe-Boyo, The Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren

            1986, The Arts of Zaire. Volume II – Eastern Zaire. The Ritual and Artistic Context of Voluntary Association, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London

            1993, ‘Masks and Initiation Among the Lega Cluster of Peoples’ in AA. VV. Face of the Spirits. Masks from the Zaire Basin, Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren

            1994, La Sculpture des Lega, Galerie Hélène et Philippe Leloup, Paris

            2002, Lega. Ethics and Beauty in the Heart of Africa, KBC Banking & Insurance – Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, Bruxelles-Gent

            2010, ‘Sculptures do not speak. The Balega made them speak. Art, Text, and Context’ in Cahiers de littérature orale, pp. 69-83; n°67-68 (2010), INALCO

Brown, H. Kellim

            2010, Lega, Exhibition Lega, Congogallery, Bruxelles

            2013, ‘Crossing the Lega Ivory Spectrum. A Contemporary Ride Trough “Heavy Things” in Maniema – part one’ in AA.VV. White Gold, Black Hands. Ivory Sculpture in Congo, vol.5 (edited Felix, Marc Leo), pp. 236-303, The Congo Basin Art History Research Center – Gemini Sun, Bruxelles – China

            2013, ‘Crossing the Lega Ivory Spectrum. A Contemporary Ride Trough “Heavy Things” in Maniema – part two’ in AA.VV. White Gold, Black Hands. Ivory Sculpture in Congo, vol.6 (edited Felix, Marc Leo), pp. 10-159, The Congo Basin Art History Research Center – Gemini Sun, Bruxelles – China

Cameron, Elisabeth L.

            2001, Art of the Lega, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles

            2013, Secrets d’Ivoire. L’art des Lega, (con l’introduzione di Last, Jay. T.), Musée de Quay Branly – Actes Sud, Paris

Chifundera, Kusamba; Malasi, Ngandu

            1989, ‘La conoissance des ophidiens dans le Bulega (Kivu, est du Zaire)’ in African Study Monographs, 10 (1): 39-48, Maggio 1989

de Grunne, Bernard

            2001, Bela Hein. Grand initié des ivoires Lega, Galerie Bernard de Grunne, Bruxelles

            2008, ‘Master Hands of the Lega: the Bibendum and Aviator Styles’ in Tribal Art, n°50, autumn-winter 2008, pp. 132-137, Primedia

            2013, Lega, Galerie Bernard de Grunne, Bruxelles

            2013, ‘On Lega styles’ in AA.VV. White Gold, Black Hands. Ivory Sculpture in Congo, vol.6 (edited Felix, Marc Leo), pp. 160-249, The Congo Basin Art History Research Center – Gemini Sun, Bruxelles – China

de Kun, Nicolas

            1966, ‘L’Art Lega’, in Africa-Tervuren, XII, 1966, 3/4, pp. 69-99, Tervuren

Delhaise, (le Commandant)

            1909, Les Warega, Collection de Monographies ethnographiques publiée par Cyr Van Overbergh, Albert de Wit – Institut International de Bibliographie, Bruxelles

Felix, Marc Leo

            1989, Maniema. An essay on the Distribution of the Symbols and Myths as Depicted in the Masks of Greater Maniema, Fred Jahn, München

Georges, Emile-Alexandre

            2005, Les Lega et leur art. sur les traces d’un rêveur égaré au Congoland, Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren

Gielen, Theo

            2005, Ceci n’est pas un masque… An interpretation of Northeastern Congo Masks. Autism as a way of expression in the Lega complex, The Congo Basin Art History Research Center – Tribal Arts SPRL, Bruxelles

Gossiaux, Pol P.; Baeke, Viviane; Felix, Marc Leo;

            2016, ‘Umaniema Stylistic zone’ in AA. VV. Masks in Congo, editor Felix, Marc Leo, Publisher Ethnic Art & Culture Ldt., Hong Kong

Kilosho Kabale, Sim; Baalamo;

            2010, Lega Proverbs D.R. Congo; 4/1/2010

Lehuard, Raoul;

            1996, ‘Michel Boulanger, peintre – sculpteur et l’Art Nègre’, in Arts d’Afrique noire, 100, Hiver 1996

Maes, Joseph

            1933, ‘La société des Mwami chez les Warega’ in Pro Medico, Revue Périodoque illustrée, n°4, 1933, pp. 109-111, Produits Lambiotte Frères, Paris

Maloani Ibem, Idumbo

            1999, ‘Le statut du Chasseur d’elephants chez les Lega’ in Recherches africaines, n°4, Dicembre 1999

Plisnier, Valentine; Boulanger, Michel

            2016, L’Art Lega, Grandeur et Humilité, dans la collection Vallois. Galerie Vallois, Paris

Quackelbeen, Lavuun

            2016, ‘A life with Lega’ in Lega, gallery exhibition, Bruxelles

Segy, Ladislas

            1951, Warega Ivories, reprint ‘Warega Ivories’ in Zaïre, revue congolaise, vol. V – 10, 1951, Editions Universitaires – De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Bruxelles – Antwerpen

Terashima, Hideaki; Kalala, Seya; Malasi, Ngandu

            1991, ‘Ethnobotany of the Lega in the tropical rain forest of Eastern Zaire: part one, zone de Mwenga’ in African Study Monographs, Suppl. 15: 1-61, Marzo 1991

            1992, ‘Ethnobotany of the Lega in the tropical rain forest of Eastern Zaire: part two, zone de Walikale’ in African Study Monographs, Suppl. 19: 1-60, Novembre 1992

Zavattaro, Monica

            2014, ‘Africa’ in Il Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze. Vol. V – Le collezioni antropologiche ed etnologiche a cura di Moggi Cecchi, Jacopo e Stanyon, Roscoe; Firenze University Press, Firenze