African statut

Ethnicity: Yoruba

REF: YHO01

Importation: Nigéria

Size: H57cm L15cm

Weight : 1000Gr

Yoruba Culture:

The Yoruba gods form a true pantheon; the creator god, Olodumare, reigns over almost four hundred orisha deities and nature spirits who live among the rocks, trees, and rivers. Their figures, more often of Shango (also spelled Sango and Sagoe), deity of thunder and lightning are carved from wood and kept in shrines. Sculptors have studios in which apprentices learn the techniques of the master and his stylistic preferences. Throughout Yorubaland, human figures are represented in a fundamentally naturalistic way, except for bulging eyes; flat, protruding, and usually parallel lips; and stylized ears. Within the basic canon of Yoruba sculpture, many local styles can be distinguished, down to the hand of the individual artist. Today, Nigeria is structured by a number of cults. The Gelede cult pays homage to the power of elderly women. During Gelede festivities, helmet masks carved in the form of a human face are worn. On top of the head there is either an elaborate coiffure or a carved representation of a human activity. The masks of the Epa cult, which is connected with both the ancestors and agriculture, vary enormously according to the town in which they appear. The mask proper, roughly globular, has highly stylized features that vary little; but the superstructure, which may be four feet or more in height, is often of very great complexity. Generally, they are worn during funerals or rites of passage ceremonies and characteristically they are composed of many elements – usually a human-face helmet mask topped by an elaborate standing figure. When not worn, these masks are kept in shrines where they are honored with libations and prayers.