Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0031/00310.txt

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$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.