$Unique_ID{bob00310} $Pretitle{} $Title{Cote d'Ivoire Chapter 9. Artistic Expression} $Subtitle{} $Author{T.D. Roberts, Donald M. Bouton, Irving Kaplan, Barbara Lent, Charles Townsend, Neda A. Walpole} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{music ivory african art coast traditional artistic european masks forms} $Date{1973} $Log{} Title: Cote d'Ivoire Book: Area Handbook for Ivory Coast Author: T.D. Roberts, Donald M. Bouton, Irving Kaplan, Barbara Lent, Charles Townsend, Neda A. Walpole Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1973 Chapter 9. Artistic Expression The economic and social changes brought about by Westernization and economic development are having a profound influence on artistic expression. As the mode of life changes, the functional, symbolic and stylized traditional art is losing its purpose, and both artist and audience, confronted with new and often contradictory esthetic values, tend to be confused. The contemporary artist, trained in Europe or in the Ivory Coast by Europeans, struggles to balance the influence of two diverse cultures. In contrast to his traditional counterpart, who was an integral member of the community and whose work was essential to the religious and cultural life of the people, the contemporary artist finds a more ready patronage among Europeans than among his own countrymen The conflict between traditional and Western values has prompted an effort on the part of many African artists and intellectuals to develop an art which will define and express the African personality in the modern world. This search for an African personality or for "negritude" is less pronounced in the Ivory Coast than in some other West African countries, but it is nevertheless present (see ch. 11, Social Values and Patterns of Living). Artistic expression in traditional societies of West Africa was an adjunct to social and religious practices and ceremonies; there was almost no tradition of art for art's sake. The advent of Westernization brought with it new forms of artistic expression-painting, lithography, writing-and established a value of art for its own sake. The two art worlds exist side by side in the Ivory Coast today. Until recently, interest in the artistic wealth of the Ivory Coast was higher among Europeans than among Ivory Coasters themselves. Educated Ivory Coasters, steeped in the traditions of French culture, for the most part regarded traditional artistic expression as primitive and an embarrassing reminder of the country's backwardness. Their preference lay with what they considered to be the more sophisticated European art. However, growing national pride and increasing interest in the history of Africa, fostered by the government in an effort to unify the people, are bringing with them a growing interest in the cultural and artistic traditions of the people themselves. The government has been spending both effort and money to collect the best examples of known Ivory Coast art, many of which have to be recovered from Europe, for preservation in the National Museum in Abidjan. Sculpture, Painting, and Handicrafts Except for a few examples of wall paintings and some Baoule art which is purely decorative, each piece of traditional art was made for a specific use and with a specific meaning prescribed by tradition. Because the artist was limited in his interpretation by the traditionally prescribed forms his work had to take, such work was not so much the expression of an individual as representative of the culture of the group within which he lived. The most common forms of artistic expression throughout the country are sculpture and handicrafts, but decorative wall paintings are found on houses and shrines in the forest and coastal regions. Almost all sculpture is in wood, despite its perishability in the African climate. The use of wood is dedicated primarily by its availability, but also by religious beliefs which connect certain trees with certain deities (see ch. 8, Religion). Ivory, gold and other materials also are used, but mostly for small, decorative items. As other African art, most Ivory Coast sculpture conveys the general idea of an object as interpreted by society, rather than portraying a specific object as seen by the artist. Portraiture is rare. The artist simplifies and accentuates those features which are considered significant and generalizes or entirely eliminates what are considered unimportant details within the framework of his cultural and religious beliefs. Traditional Ivory Coast sculpture has had a profound influence on modern Western art. One of the first examples of African art to be brought to Europe, it was "discovered" around 1907 by such artists as Vlaminck, Picasso, and Modigliana and contributed to a breakaway from the representational style of European art and to an experimenting with free interpretation along the lines of African artists. The majority of known art objects produced by the people of the Ivory Coast are masks and statues used in religious and social ceremonies to portray ancestor spirits and deities and to provide a means for paying reverence to them. In addition, carved wooden doors, loom-head pulleys, receptacles of various forms, jewelry, and many kinds of decorated household utensils and ceremonial regalia are found in all parts of the country. Body painting and cicatrization also offer opportunity for artistic expression. Carving is the exclusive province of men, whereas working in clay is reserved for women. Two ethnic groups-the Baoule from the central forest region and the Senoufo from north-center-dominate with respect to style and artistic and technical competence, and both have exerted strong influence on the artistic expression of their neighbors. The Baoule are considered by most experts on African art to have developed one of the most advanced and refined forms of artistic expression on the continent. They are among the few African peoples who produce art for purely decorative, esthetic reasons, free from any religious connotations. They are also among the few who produce portraits, which are highly valued by the people. Baoule statuary is made of highly polished black, grey or red wood. It is distinguished by its almost true-to-life anatomical proportion, in contrast to most African statuary which has oversized heads, and the great attention paid to the execution of such details as nails, ears, hair and tribal markings. Masks are in the form of stylized human or animal heads, often decorated with horns, birds or small seated figures on top of the forehead. In addition to making masks and statues, the Baoule carve decorations on wooden doors and shutters, drums, spoons, combs, and numerous other articles and decorate the walls of their houses with crude clay reliefs. They also work in ivory and gold, making articles of personal adornment and handles for fly-swatters, canes and swords. Human, animal, and geometric motifs are used in all of Baoule art. Much of it is almost identical to the art of the Ashanti in Ghana, to whom the Baoule are related ethnically. In fact, the Baoule and Ashanti are virtually the only African peoples who make carved wooden ceremonial stools and small bronze castings which were used in the past to weigh gold. The Senoufo, having been exposed for centuries to the influence of Islam from the north, have developed a style of art which combines the rigid inanimate and impersonal art of the Moslems and the strongly animate and personal art of the forest and coastal tribes. It has been classified by experts as a bridge between the Soudanic and Guinea Coast styles in African art. Senoufo statuary and masks are often colored white, red, or both. The statues, combining human and animal features, are characterized by outthrust jaws, prominent stomachs, long arms, and a hair style which resembles a hat. Their grotesque appearance has made them a popular item as curiosities in Europe, and many are mass-produced by commercial craftsmen. Masks are either face masks or helmets covering the whole head, used, as are all African masks, in religious and traditional ceremonies and dances. Face masks are almost always a stylized human face with horns or birds perched on the forehead, a long thin nose, slit eyes, and, sometimes, two small legs extending downward from the jaw. The helmets usually are grotesque animal heads, many of them two-sided, with a small equestrian figure perched on top. Other sculptured articles include urns, loom-head pulleys, spoons, dance batons, chairs and doors. Antelope heads and lizards are common motifs. Among the other peoples of the Ivory Coast, the Dan and Guere are known for the colorful wall paintings portraying historical and mythological scenes and for their great variety of masks. They apparently do not have any statuary. Wall painting as an artistic expression is rapidly declining as Westernization and economic development bring about new types of housing, but the use of masks by the religious Poro society continues. Masks range in style from an almost realistic reproduction of the human face to a nightmarish combination of grotesque human and animal characteristics. The Guere masks tend to be the more grotesque, having snouts or long beaks, bulging eyes and much real or artificial hair. They are often cubistic in appearance, with the features broken down into geometric shapes. Dan masks, on the other hand, tend toward the more realistic styles. The most typical is the face mask whose forehead and chin slant inwards to a line across the eyes, giving the mask a sharp concave profile. The two slanting planes are crossed by a long, thin nose, and the line across the eyes is usually painted white. Delicately carved miniature masks are given to children of high birth in Dan society as a symbol of their status. The only other characteristic forms of painting or sculpture are the clay funerary busts and receptacles of the Agni. Made only by women, they are placed on the graves of distinguished persons. Traditional artists still ply their art with the same degree of artistic and technical competence, motivated only by the traditions of their society, but their number is diminishing. Under the influence of changing economic and social conditions and European ideas. "classical" African art is gradually giving way to new forms which are a blending of European and African motifs and styles. The demand of Europeans and Americans for African art objects, which has been steadily increasing since the turn of the century, has opened up a vast new outlet for the African artist in which his mode of expression is not restricted by tradition, since the demand is based on the esthetic rather than on the functional value of the art. At the same time, the spread of education has exposed prospective artists to the European tradition of art and to European styles and techniques (art is a required subject in both primary and secondary schools). While these influences have brought about some imaginative innovations in artistic expression, they have also resulted in a profusion of cheap, mass-produced imitations of traditional art forms intended to satisfy the world market. Contemporary artists are trained at the Bingerville School of Art or at the Superior School of Fine Arts at Abidjan, and a number of them study and work in Paris. Their work, which includes painting, sculpture, poster art, and illustration, is usually an attempt at adapting European styles and techniques to traditional motifs. The best work is, almost without exception, an adaptation of traditional art forms, but as of the end of 1962 no contemporary artist from Ivory Coast had achieved any degree of prominence. Music Music is a functional part of almost all aspects of Ivory Coast life. It serves as a principal mode of expressing feeling and emotion, and almost everyone sings or participates in some way in musical performances. All public functions incorporate music at some point. The functional aspect of music is characterized by the existence of different types of music for different occasions. There is music for religious practices, for state occasions, and for specific kinds of economic activity such as fishing, hunting, or working in the fields. The distinction, partly based on religious beliefs, is strictly maintained and to sing or play music not appropriate to the occasion at hand is considered profane and may risk the wrath of the gods. Ceremonial music is closely governed by tradition and ritual, whereas social music is open to individual interpretation and improvisation. The different forms of music created to fit the pattern of social life do not enjoy equal prestige, but are differentiated on the basis of content, use or their esthetic appeal in terms of musical quality, verbal content, and dramatic interpretation. As a whole, ceremonial music is on a higher level than social music, though different types of ceremonial music occupy different levels of prestige within that classification. The performance of music is highly organized, even in seemingly spontaneous situations. Although there is a definite place for extemporization, it is confined to the limits set by conventions. Within each group of performers, one or more individuals are designated to lead and to develop patterns. Their leadership may be self-appointive or may stem from their social position or their role within the activity which occasioned the performance. Many families, villages, or clans have a special choir or musicians whose function is to lead and direct the music and dancing performed on various occasions. Much of traditional music is vocal, sung in unison by a group or in a pattern of alternating solo and chorus passages which often overlap, giving the impression of harmony. Harmony, however, usually is present in traditional music only in areas where Western missionaries have introduced it through Christian church music. All of the music is rhythmic, and the use of percussion instruments as accompaniment is important in setting the pace. The rhythm is based on a complex pattern of different meters beat out by several instruments at the same time. Both five-tone and eight-tone scales are used, although some ethnic groups use one or the other exclusively. While similar in basic pattern, ethnic differentiations are apparent in the music, the most striking difference being between that of the coastal and forest region and that of the north, which shows a strong Middle Eastern influence. The most common and most important instruments are percussion, particularly drums. Drum music emphasizes rhythm and tone, either separately or at the same time. Contrasts in tone are achieved by different drumming techniques and by the use of various types of drums at the same time. The art of drumming is highly regarded and is taught to boys at an early age. Except for a few all-wooden drums used by the Dan and Baoule, all the drums used in the Ivory Coast have membrane resonators. Hourglass-shaped armpit drums are common. Xylophones are commonly used among the Senoufo and Lobi of the north. In addition to percussion instruments, a variety of string and wind instruments also are used in all parts of the country. Whistles, fifes, and horns, many made of elephant tusks, are played singly or with other instruments. String instruments are relatively rare and are found mostly along the Liberian and Guinean border and among the Senoufo, who use a two-stringed instrument introduced from North Africa. As part of the West African tradition, Ivory Coast music has had widespread international influence. Through trans-Atlantic slave trade, it was brought to the Western Hemisphere and forms the basis of North American jazz and Caribbean and South American styles, which have attained world popularity. Much of it has come back to the Ivory Coast in its adapted form and has been incorporated into contemporary Ivory Coast music. Contemporary Ivory Coast music is a mixture of African, European and adapted African styles. Strongly influenced by Christian church music and by European and American popular dance music, it is completely intertribal and has the greatest appeal among the Westernized urban dwellers. The most common forms are liturgical and dance music, most of it having been evolved rather than composed by one person. The demand of the evolue for classical European music has produced several compositions of traditional African music in classical European form. The most popular form of contemporary music is the "high life" developed in Ghana, which is a rhythmic dance form similar to the West Indian "calypso." The instruments used to perform contemporary music are usually a combination of traditional instruments with saxophones, guitars, bottles and tin cans. Whereas the lyrics of traditional songs concern nature, history, religion or incidents in daily life, those of contemporary music deal with romance and independence and sing the praises of various political and sports heroes. Church choirs, cantata groups, and small orchestral ensembles offer an opportunity for the performance of Western music by Africans, and the concerts are usually well attended. In May 1961 the Abidjan Orchestral Ensemble made its debut under the auspices of the General Association of Arts and Letters of the Ivory Coast. The Ensemble consists of 28 musicians, both French and African, and is under the direction of one of the professors at the National School of Music in Abidjan. It performs African as well as European music and incorporates a number of African instruments. The National School of Music trains musicians and composers in both the European and African idiom. Entrance is on the basis of auditions, and the curriculum covers all aspects of music. In August 1961 the student body numbered 579. Performing Arts The peoples of the Ivory Coast have a long tradition of performing arts both as part of their religious and state ritual and as a means of entertainment. The principal form is dance, although drama, particularly danced drama, is also important. Dancing, together with music, permeates all aspects of life; in fact whenever there is music, there is also dancing, or at least some movement of the body in time to the music. Also as in music, there is seldom a distinction between performer and audience; everyone participates, but certain individuals lead or dominate the performance while the rest, like a chorus, give periodic support. The performance may be occasioned by a religious rite or a social or political event or may be simply for pleasure. Specific dance forms, rigidly differentiated, are employed for each occasion. The forms are prescribed by tradition, and though improvisation is permitted, it must fall within the prescribed rules. Ceremonial dances often utilize masks and elaborate costumes, giving the dance a theatrical appearance. In fact, although many traditional ceremonial dances have lost their religious significance to the educated and urbanized Ivory Coaster, they are still performed as entertainment and attract large crowds of spectators. Many of the traditional dances are actually dance-dramas, telling a story based on the history or beliefs of the people. Each dancer plays a character, and the story is conveyed by pantomine or by spoken or sung dialogue. In some parts of the country it is customary to present impromptu dance-dramas for the entertainment of the chief and his people on various occasions. At such occasions, the chief picks a cast and outlines a story which is then improvised by the cast. The Dan people in the area of Man in west-central Ivory Coast specialize in a particularly well-known form of performing arts-specially trained men juggle young boys in the air over the point of a knife. The traditional love of theatrical performances by the people of the Ivory Coast was utilized by the French and is still utilized by the government as an educational medium. Amateur acting groups are encouraged throughout the country and are used by local administrators to put across specific ideas in the form of short plays. Dozens of such groups dotted the country in 1962. In addition to educational playlets they also present traditional dance-dramas, scenes from European plays and impromptu performances. Professional theater in the Ivory Coast had its start in the 1930s with the founding of the Theatre Indigene de la Cote d'Ivoire, which has performed traditional dance and drama throughout the Ivory Coast and in France. One of its guiding lights has been Germain Coffi Gadeau, until he was appointed Minister of the Interior. He has written several plays for the company, including a historical play about the Baoule and several comedies, one of which-a satire ridiculing forced labor under the Vichy regime-was banned as subversive in 1942. The two other professional troupes, working mainly in Abidjan and occasionally touring the interior, functioned in 1962 as experimental African theaters attempting to combine African traditions with modern drama techniques and to produce contemporary African as well as European plays. A government-supported repertory theater was planned for the near future. All three professional theater companies recruit their members from the School of Dramatic Art in Abidjan which was created in 1959 to provide the trained manpower for the National Center of Dramatic Art and its repertory company. In late 1962 a Franco-Ivorian color film was being produced in the Ivory Coast by the French film-maker Maurice Cloche. Entitled "Adou," it tells the story of a French-educated Ivory Coast physician who returns to his home after a 6-year absence. The entire cast and technical staff will consist of Ivory Coasters. It has received much publicity in the African press as the first Ivory Coast film, even though the producer and, apparently, the scenarist are French. Literature All Ivory Coast ethnic groups have a rich tradition of oral literature- poetry, myths, folk tales and proverbs. They deal with religious and historic subjects, with nature and with incidents of everyday life, and many have a moral or message and are widely quoted. Symbolism is generously used, and even the prose has a poetic quality about it. As in other societies, this folk literature is the medium used to record important events and to educate the young in the history and traditions of their society. It mirrors the values of the people and is a commentary on human relations. Some of it has been translated or transposed into French by missionaries or ethnographers, but most of it is known only to members of the tribe or ethnic group. In contrast to the richness of oral literature, written literature is sparse even in comparison to other West African countries. With their emphasis on cultural assimilation, the French ignored the teaching of literacy in any language other than French. Thus there is virtually no audience for a written vernacular literature. The number of people literate in French is still too small to create a demand for creative writing. The problem of finding an audience and therefore a publisher has probably stifled many an Ivory Coast writer. Almost all Ivory Coast literature has been published in France, much of it in the periodical Presence Africaine; some of it has appeared in French-language African journals, but very little has been published in the Ivory Coast. Written in French by acculturated Ivory Coasters, it is frankly aimed at an audience of Europeans and Europeanized Africans. In contrast to other West African literature, it puts little emphasis on the concepts of "negritude" or the glorification of Africa and things African. A common theme, however, particularly in novels and short stories, is the conflict of two cultures facing an educated African (see ch. 11, Social Values and Patterns of Living). The best-known Ivory Coast writer is Bernard B. Dadie. A prolific writer, he has published a collection of poems, La Ronde des Jours; a collection of short stories, Le Pagne Noire: Contes Africaines; an autobiographical novel, Climbie; a collection of miscellaneous writing, Un Negre a Paris; and numerous stories and poems in Presence Africaine and other periodicals. His writing includes both purely African and universal themes. Other Ivory Coast writers are F.J. Amon d'Aby, who has published scholarly as well as literary writings; Pierre Dupre, who wrote Le Computeur de Bois: Recits Africaines; and Ake Loba, who received the Prix Litteraire de l'Afrique Noire d'Expression Francaise in 1960 for his novel Kocoumbo, l'Etudiant Noir.