The Survival and Impact of Igbo Mbari

Author(s): Herbert M. Cole

Source: African Arts , Feb., 1988, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Feb., 1988), pp. 54-65+96
Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3336529

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 The Survival and Impact of Igbo Mbari
HERBERT M. COLE

been built more recently will continue to stand for years to

W hen inthe
saw Owerri studyingofIgbo
deterioration thismbari houseseven
traditional, in the 1960s,
classic,
come, Af- I
long after the complex sacrificial rituals that once gov-
rican institution in a rapidly changing socioeconomic erned
climate.
mbari building processes fade into distant memory (Fig.
The gods for whom these artistic monuments were made 1). I still
hadbelieve the mbari of the 1930s to have been the finest
fewer worshippers. The houses were smaller and less elaborate
artistically, but knowing now that later ones exist and that mbari
in art and process. Most people interviewed were happy continue toto influence the arts and ideas of Nigeria, I feel that a
discuss the old days of the great mbari, the 1930s, and in a account of its history and impact is in order. In post-
revised
detailed study in 19681 I mistakenly established anBiafra-war
"ethno- years, mbari has become somewhat of an art ambas-
graphic present" of those bygone years, noting but somewhat
sador, with the responsibility of representing Igbo art, and
suppressing the changes evident during fieldwork in 1966-67.
sometimes even African art generally, to the larger world. I will
My construct unwittingly helped to perpetuate a now examine
explodedhere the evolving character of mbari from its first
myth: the death of African art. It was as if I did not really sixty-plus
want to years as a local spiritual and social institution of
fully acknowledge the changes in mbari since the 1930s. Well impact, even among the Igbo, to its current stature as
restricted
aware of the historical and even the historicizing nature of
a cultural banner of artistic good will in Nigeria and abroad.
mbari, I also wrote about that (1975). Yet when leaving Igboland
Mbari grew from humble roots into a remarkable complex of
at the beginning of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), I could notritual, sculpture, painting, and architecture, including
festival,
have foretold the changes wrought by it on Igbo society andand verbal arts. Its heyday in Owerri, its birthplace as
musical
mbari. Remarkably, perhaps, the institution did survive,far as we know, was the 1930s. During this period of relative
strongly altered. Many decaying clay mbari survived stability
the warand prosperity in the area, thanks in part to the Pax
Britannica,
also, further slumped. But they had served their purpose. They most local people worshipped traditional deities.
were successful. The several concrete or cement mbari that have Mbari houses, which stood before 1900, were made as sacrifices
to major community gods. Ala, as Earth, and in many places the
strongest deity - font of morality, principal legal sanction, and
beneficent provider of yams, children, and prosperity - was
(and is) the major deity honored (Figs. 2-5). Other mbari were
made for Amadioha, god of thunder, and river gods, as well as
tutelary deities presiding over days of the Igbo week and major
markets held on them. In early times the god of war figured
among the recipients, just as today the spirits of commerce and
modernity are served, however indirectly Mbari has always

tv evolved to take on the preoccupations of time and place.

Until the 1960s, mbari houses were transient structures of
sun-dried clay and local organic and mineral pigments. Their
temporary lives reflected well their builders' spiritual concerns
with regeneration; each time an mbari was built (they were not
to be repaired) it symbolically renewed the world, and mirrored

IA that world as it was that year. And as in human memory,

fragments of the past tumbled together surreally with reflec-
tions of the present and hopes for the future. The dynamics of
changing art and life were thus well documented in the forms,
materials, themes, and community outlooks of mbari for more
than sixty years. It is worthwhile to review that period briefly to
set the stage for the internationalism and intertribalism of mbari
during the 1970s and '80s.

1. A SPIRIT WORKER PAINTING THE WALLS OF AN MBARI NEARING COMPLETION.
NOTE THE DOUBLE MAMI WATA IMAGES AT LEFT. PHOTO 1930s.
TOP LEFT 2. ALA IN CEMENT IN AN MBARI DEDICATED TO HER IN UMUOGBA NTU, CA.
1964. PHOTO 1967. TOP RIGHT 3. ALA IN A CLAY-ANTHILL MBARI DEDICATED TO HER IN
AMIGBO NGURU. ARTIST NNAJI, CA 1963. PHOTO 1966. BOTTOM LEFT 4. ALA AND HER
HUSBAND IN AN MBARI ERECTED FOR HER IN OBEAMA AGWA, CA. 1962. PHOTO 1966.
BOTTOM RIGHT 5. ALA, AND ABOVE HER CHINEKE, THE REMOTE CREATOR GOD, IN THE
MUSEUM OF TRADITIONAL NIGERIAN ARCHITECTURE (MOTNA) MBARI IN JOS, CA.
1977-78. ARTISTS: CHUKUEGGU AND HELPERS.

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 " U41"

.Alif

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 The earliest documented mbari house around an architectural core essentially The old and familiar, the odd and new,
was recorded by A.A. Whitehousedifferent
in from domestic houses and simi- were shown then, as they have been
four photographs (Fig. 6) and a few hun-lar to structures of later mbari. In 1904 since, and in keeping with expanding
dred words in 1904. This version was (and probably before) mbari were clearly horizons, new products and activities,
more limited in size than the elaborate showplaces, displays of artistry captur- changing dress, and progressive at-
ones of the thirties, but was nevertheless titudes, the mbari program expanded
ing graphically the activities and values
reportorial, a record of prevailing ideas, dramatically over the decades and into
of the day In this mbari genre scenes pre-
products, dress, behavior, and even vailed, animals were present, and the the1950s, in content if not in size. If the
then, an outward-looking world view.
white man, certainly then a strange largest
re- mbari were erected in the 1930s
The Whitehouse mbari reveals all the art- cent arrival on the local scene, was and '40s, some with upwards of two
istic and thematic ideas known, thoughshown being carried aloft in a litter, ashundred
if modeled figures, thematic and
in much greater detail, through theto signal the superior position and technicalat- innovations have continued
1960s.2 The 1904 figures were modeled intitude so often assumed by foreigners into
in the 1970s and '80s.
rather life-like if stilted postures, set Nigeria to this day The 1930s were apparently also the
years of greatest ritual elaboration. Some
mbari took as long as two years to erect,
during which time dozens of rituals and
mini-festivals took place for the
sanctified and segregated workers and
the professional artists and diviners re-
sponsible for the building. The mbari of
those years, rooted in earlier values and
ritual practice, looked backward to
myths, folk stories, warfare since ceased,
.04.
and to a host of continuing familiar
themes and village activities that gave
life both meaning and its occasions for
art and festivity. These mbari also
dramatized the strongly entrenched
presence of British colonial power and
other inroads of culturally transforming

Ak. : Western religion, commercialism, educa-

tion, and material culture. Spiritual con-
cerns inspired these works, but most of
the sculptures and paintings were secu-
lar, as if looking outward to an expand-
ing and dynamic world of new ideas and
products, memorable or amusing local
,/4
events, and the vices and virtues of col-
onialism. These artifacts and values are
often said to be evidence of accultura-
tion, as if they corrupted some sort of
6. MBARI PUBLISHED IN 1904 BY A. A. WHITEHOUSE.
pure tradition thatAT LEFT
probably neverIS A
really
ARE TWO UNIFORMED, ARMED NIGERIAN SOLDIERS IN THE COLONIAL SERVICE. PATTERNS AND PLATES IN THE WALLS
ARE IDENTICAL TO THOSE IN LATER MBARI. PHOTO BRITISH MUSEUM
existed in Igboland. Outside influence
and colonial pressures were recorded
faithfully in sculptured figures and
groups - catechists, white men, World
War I scenes from Cameroon (in which
Igbo men took part as British soldiers),
motorcycles, and so forth. About 1935,
corrugated metal panels were intro-
duced to replace short-lived palm-leaf
mats to roof over what had become what
the people call a "storied house," obvi-
ously derived from colonial building
models, with district officers Douglas
and Connell modeled (heads only) in the
"second story" windows. These presti-
'47,
gious roofs of newly available materials
were always erected for the deities be-
fore ordinary mortals had them on their
own houses, and metal roofs have ex-
tended the lives of some 1930s mbari (or
parts of them) into the 1980s.
Important too in these great mbari of
the 1930s are the European plates and
iron rods imbedded in walls and col-
umns, which I have interpreted as cen-
tral symbols of mbari ritual and art
(1982:219). As late as the early '60s, more
7. FIGURE OF MAMI WATA IN AN MBARI TO ALA IN OBEAMA AGWA CA. 1962. PHOTO 1966.
than 400 china plates - given by all

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 7777
zy

Pj,)

pp)

WX 2.
ad

. . . . . .....

................

......... ...

, rot.

8. INCOMPLETE CEMENT MBARI IN OWERRI TOWN, BEGUN IN 1976-77 UNDER GOVERNMENT CONTRACT. NOTE THE ANTHILL AT LEFT
MASTER BUILDER: S. A. CHUKUEGGU OF MBAISE. PHOTO 1982.

families in the community - were in- tions in a few examples of that time re- bility of photographs and magazine illus-
corporated in some mbari along with sev- flected the international outlook then trations. The figures also wear modern
eral iron rods earlier used as money ingaining ground in Nigeria, whereclothing art - modeled in - and are
the area. To these were added the labor courses were being taught in secondary painted with bright imported pigments.
of the initiates, the spiritually charged schools and colleges, often by expatriate At least as important as mirrors of
"yam" (actually anthill clay) used for Europeans or Americans. Enamel paints change are two other small mbari built
modeling figures, and many animal sac- were introduced along with other new about 1964 forty-eight kilometers east of
rifices. Commodities, human lives, andmaterials and sculptural styles of more Obeama Agwa; the architectural cores
food, both symbolic and actual, thus literal naturalism. Two mbari were and columns of these are concrete block,
constituted the sacrificial gift of mbarierected
to in Obeama Agwa (aboutand 1962)
the figures, cement (Fig. 2). Notably
the gods being honored. Completed using both these features; one honors the sculptor/planner had not been an ap-
houses, with their galleries of thought- Ala, seated centrally on the front side in the pre-existing tradition; he
prentice
provoking, didactic, and entertaining with a child in her arms and her husband was an outsider, perhaps even an Ibibio.
scenes, provided refreshment for the beside her (Fig. 4), and the second wasIn keeping with other mbari, he built a
people.3 built for Amadioha, god of thunder and central room around which are disposed
Nigeria became an independent na- lightning. These figures and others about twelve to fifteen figures. Yet his
tion in 1960, a time when worship of around the central core are well modeled sculptures are stiff, ungainly, and rather
Earth and other local deities was declin- and "traditional" in subject matter,crudely made in a style that had never
ing steadily School-based education, which is to say they are themes noted in before been seen. The painting is shoddy
along with Christianity and jobs in mbari of three or more decades earlier: too, adhering not at all to then prevailing
commerce, industry, and government, lions and leopards, a few genre scenes, canons. Figures in Ibibio style appear, in
were all gaining converts and force. An Mami Wata, and an angel. The sculptor both wood and cement, in this Igbo reli-
adaptable institution, mbari then con-had a genuine facility in modeling; ab- gious monument.
tracted to smaller dimensions. About sent are the stiff conventions of the pre-Cement and concrete are inimical to a
1962 a seventy-five figure mbarivious was sixty years of mbari art, and in theirfestival art of sacrifice that depends for
erected, but the eight or ten others of place
the are more fluid naturalism and life- its existence and vitality on the melting
1960s had only twenty to thirty figures. like poses. The image of Mami Wata, for back to earth of the mbari and its figural
Rituals were shortened. Fewer artists example, is a quite literal three- inhabitants, and on periodic subsequent
were available, and most of them were dimensional rendering of the popular renewal: all the sacrifices of mbari were
growing old. print of this intrusive goddess (Fig. 7). "eaten by the gods," as an Owerri per-
Yet mbari was not without vitality be- Such a modern style in these two mbari is son might put it, to earn spiritual favor
tween 1960 and 1967, when the Civil War probably the product of school instruc- that would bring peace, increase, and
broke out. Several significant innova- tion and the greater availability and legi- prosperity At the same time modern ma-

57
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terials reflect well two legacies of British cement ones of 1964 and to the conven- and focus continued. The social fabric
colonial "peace" and presence; the now- tions of most earlier mbari, and they
was being rewoven.
fixed locations of villages and towns, are found on the northern edge of the In 1976 Owerri was declared the capi-
l6cked in by tarred roads and govern- tal of the newly constituted Imo State.
core traditional region. They are small,
ment buildings (also of cement block and For several years it was a boomtown,
one housing six figures, the others hav-
metal roofs), and the greater prestige with constant building, an influx of
ing only two or four figures (Fig. 9).
and permanence of these building mate- Elsewhere I suggest that the mbari insti- people, many more and wider streets to
rials. No matter, perhaps, that the fig- tution began with modest houses of this accommodate the burst of motor traffic
ures in the two mbari were not modeled in size, and it is significant that as patron-that choked roads every day of the week.
clay, for cement ones were expensive, age declines, very small mbari are being The Ministry of Information, Culture,
adding to the sacrifice, and they would made again (Cole 1975). The sculptors for Youth, and Sports exists within the Cul-
also last, as if to foreshadow the war in these postwar versions appear not to tural Division among the flood of gov-
Biafra and the fact, only now evident, have been trained as apprentices to mas- ernmental agencies, commissions,
that no more earth and "yam" mbari ter artists. Their cement modeling recalls councils and ministries. G.M.K. Anoka,
would ever be erected in the Owerri earlier local styles somewhat but lacks in 1976 the Director of the Cultural Divi-
area. By 1970, when the war ended, sion, conceived the idea of building
tooresolution and unity. One of the art-
their
few older worshippers were left; most ists was a woman named Francesca who another mbari under government au-
people were Christians. Religious haspa-
also executed secular, decorative ce- spices with state monies, in a kind of rec-
tronage for this art, strong thirty-five ment sculptures for hotels. While reational park. Land for this mnbari and
years before, had nearly died out, and women so had long been active in mbari for a complex of supporting and com-
had most of the master builders who ritual and construction, customarily they plementing facilities (a swimming pool,
began their careers during the halcyon did not actually model figures. Certainly, craft shops, restaurants, etc., not yet
years of the 1930s. too, building rites for these small mbari begun in 1983) on the same site was pro-
The effects on mbari of nearly three were severely truncated; probably no vided by the Open Spaces Commission
years of war are difficult to assess, "spirit
apart workers" were initiated to help (under the Ministry of Town Planning
with the work. Until the intervention of
from enforced neglect of the already and Environment). Input was sought
waning tradition. When I returned
thetonew Imo State government and its from the Arts Council and the Commis-
Owerri for a single day in 1973, many well-intentioned effort in cultural pre- sion for Museums and Monuments. Ten
still-extant earth mbari were nearlyservation
cov- or revival - the building of athousand naira (roughly $25,000) was al-
ered by invading growth that earliergrand had "new" mbari - these "small located, and according to informed local
been cut back periodically. Hunger,patchesloss of tin" (a phrase used by Ugo ofknowledge entirely spent, on this still
of property, and sometimes death Ihitte had in 1966 to describe the mbari of uncompleted mbari house (Fig. 8). It is a
beset many mbari-related friends inthose the years, in contrast to those of the fairly large structure, comparable to
area. Ezem, Ugo, and Nnaji, three fine 1930s) were all that survived apart from those
a erected for tutelary cults around
"traditional" - and innovative - art- few derelict mbari core buildings erected 1960 for about 200 naira ($500) or less.
ists, were old men when I left in 1967; from allthe 1930s to 1967. As a religiousFive artists were employed under the
three had died by 1973. I was ablemonument,
to lo- a statement reflecting the leadership of S.A.O. Chukueggu of
cate and reminisce with some friends, artistic and spiritual commitment of Mbaise
a (born 1919), a traditionally
but the visits were sad and somehow un- unified local group of devotees, mbaritrained woodcarver recently turned ce-
fulfilling, at least for me. ment sculptor. Around this time (mid-
was effectively a dead institution in 1980.
In the 1970s, however, a few more ce-In the 1970s construction was revived on 1970s) Chukueggu, a Christian, had built
ment mbari were erected to honor Ala a massive Owerri Catholic Cathedral, an "Mbari Cultural Art Centre," contain-
and other once important local gods. planned and partly built before the war ing several cement figures, in his own
began in 1967. Shifts of energy, money, family compound in Mbaise, a few
These were quite unrelated in style to the
kilometers north of and outside the tra-
ditional mbari region (Figs. 10,11).
In the 1970s cement sculpture had be-
come an increasingly employed art form,
with examples visible in many parts of
Igboland, especially in large towns and
cities. Cement was becoming a favored
medium for sculpture instruction in de-
partments of "fine and applied arts," for
example at the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, and at the Awka College of
Education (Fig. 12). College-trained art-
ists, some educated abroad, had begun
to receive commissions from govern-
ment agencies, hotels, and corporations;
the sculpture gardens and studios of
these departments abound with cement
Al*I
figures. Some of them are roughly
analogous to pre-1967 mbari sculptures,
being genre figures, but most are ren-

TOP: 10 & 11. CHUKUEGGU S "MBARI CULTURAL ART

CENTRE" AT HIS HOME IN MBAISE, NORTH OF THE RE-
GION OF TRADITIONAL CLAY MBARI HOUSES. NOTE THE
VERBAL AND VISUAL EMPHASIS ON INDIGENOUS CUL-
TURE. BOTTOM: 12. CEMENT SCULPTURE IN THE
STUDIO/SCULPTURE GARDEN, AWKA COLLEGE OF
9. CEMENT EDUCATION.TO
MBARI PHOTO 1982. ALA IN

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dered in more modern naturalism or several paintings, and explanatory writ- significant departures, along with the
greater abstraction. Nor was the postwar ten identifications of some features. personal and non-spiritual motivations
use of cement for sculpture without Large dots in red, white, and blue recallfor the project.
precedent. A number of commemorative the plates imbedded in earlier mbari Chief Chukueggu's new Owerri
monuments - church sculptureswalls, of steps, and columns, and somegovernment-sponsored
il- mbari was in
crucifixes and saints, as well as lusionisticgrave paintings occur indepen- 1978 certainly the most ambitious com-
markers - have been known in Igboland dently of sculptural groups, as in other plex of cement sculpture ever underta-
since at least the 1950s, and doubtlessmbari. oc- Although it is evident that ken in Igboland. Commissioned in ad-
casionally before. The Anang Ibibio Chukueggu
had could not have composed vance of FESTAC, the major international
much earlier erected quite elaborate and ce-
executed his Mbari Centre without arts festival held in Lagos in 1977, this
ment commemorative funerary monu- the precedent of the cult-based clay mbari was created to dramatize the major
ments, some with several figures houses, on an the artist also departed freely traditional art of the area, to provide an
architectural pedestal. Cement wasfrom in- them, incorporating images and artistic magnet for visitors to the state
creasingly available, and it is a logical themes not recorded in earlier mbari. capital, and to commemorate Igbo (i.e.,
choice for sculptures and buildings Naturally,
in- since the Centre was essen-Biafran) efforts in the Nigerian Civil War.
tended to last; the two small prewar tially
ce- a personal statement, Chukueggu Since no real mbari houses of any sub-
ment mbari were thus prophetic. had every reason to be creative, to erect stantial size were being made for local
Chief Chukueggu's home "mbari" something never seen before. Yet, de- gods, it would also preserve this vener-
(Figs. 10, 11) serves as an artistic and his-
spite ated Owerri tradition for people who
the tradition of innovation in mbari,
torical backdrop to his government- a strongly identifying style in building,had never seen original examples intact,
sponsored urban mbari in Owerri. modeling,
He and painting links the 1904and it would surely advertise the artistic
calls his complex of cement sculptures example recorded by Whitehouse with consciousness of the Igbo in general and
and paintings, architecturally integrated extant ones and the one I observed being of Owerri people in particular. Since the
into the veranda of his concrete block built in 1966-67 (Cole 1969). Chukueggu'sidea of mbari had already been exported
house, the "Mbari Cultural Art Centre additions and changes are under- to Ibadan, Oshogbo, Enugu, and
(of) Ekenguru Aboh Mbaise."4 A standably more radical than preceding elsewhere, it made perfect sense to cele-
signboard on the road announces theones; his materials (cement and concrete brate this important institution in its
Centre, and the approaching visitor soonblock), his limited palette, the painted homeland.
sees dramatic displays on the front side pseudo-plates (along with a few real As intended, the Owerri cement mbari
of a well-built modern residence, which ones), the new compositions integrated marries earlier cult-based ideas and im-
also houses a gallery of artworks for sale. with domestic architecture, the commer- ages with updated, postwar subjects in
Three complexes greet the viewer, each cial gallery inside the house, the less durable materials (Fig. 8). In many ways
incorporating step-like platforms, rela- conventionalized figural style, and the it follows closely the adaptive and in-
tively naturalistic cement sculptures, extensive use of written "labels" are all novative changes, the expanding
worldliness and importing ethic, of ear-
lier mbari in clay On these levels it is a
success, and it is closer to "traditional"
mbari houses than Chukueggu's
hometown "cultural centre" is. The
sculptural program works too. It cele
brates Ala, Amadioha, and the symbols
and practices of earlier local beliefs now
held by only a scattered few. It alludes t
earlier themes and folklore and portray
a giant, an ostrich, a python, and a few
genre scenes. It has a political side show
? ... ing Douglas, the first British distric
commissioner in Owerri (ca. 1902 and
also commemorated in numerous earlier
mbari), and a warrant chief. The main
side, facing the road, deals with tradi-
tional religion much more explicitly than
any previous mbari and includes numer-
ous spiritual symbols and artifacts not
normally visible or found together and
not found in earlier examples. An anthill
is sculptured, for example, apparently to
fo Ik

draw attention to these mysterious

natural structures, called "spirit
houses,"' the original sources of model-
ing "clay" for mbari. Central on the front
is an image of Chineke with long flowing
hair and beard, to my knowledge the
first attempt ever to depict the Igbo high
god and creator. Ala, often honored by
mbari, is also present but not centrally lo-

TOP: 14. MBARI IN THE MUSEUM OF TRADITIONAL NI-

GERIAN ARCHITECTURE, PART OF THE JOS MUSEUM.
BOTTOM: 15. RE-ROOFED MBARI TO ALA IN UMUOVUM
ULAKWO. NOTE ALA'S DETACHED HEAD BEHIND THE
13. ALA IN THE MBARI DEDICATED
SIGN. PHOTO 1982 (SEE FIGURE 13). TO H

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cated, as she invariably was in houses
made for her. This mbari appears not to
have been dedicated to any deity at all,
even though several are represented in
it. Another side is given to Amadioha
and "members of his family," including
a corpse of someone he is said to have
killed as a result of an abomination
against Ala. Indeed the programmatic
concept is elaborate and sophisticated.6 .Y: . '
The images and ideas here are con-
sciously historicizing, and some, like the

? ? 3 .

17. MUSICIANS AND DANCERS IN AN MBARI TO ALA, UMUOFEKE AGWA, 1963. ARTIST: O

detailed symbols of traditionalOwerri (Figs. 5,14). It is one of many

religion,
are openly didactic, brought in buildings
to remind exhibited in the Museum of
Traditional
the now Christian community of its Nigerian Architecture
spiritual roots. Everything here (MOTNA),
is har-built by the Commission of
dened, figuratively and literally, Museums and Monuments as an adjunct
to pro-
vide object lessons, a diorama to the
of Josthe
Museum. The whole MOTNA
past. project is of course reflexive and preser-
Yet, despite 10,000 naira spent for vationist, a noble venture with analogies
wages and materials, it remains un- to Williamsburg and other rebuilt or re-
finished. The core remains the dull gray stored historical sites. It is a laudable and
of concrete; the figures, made with pig- mostly successful effort; over twenty var-
mented cement, at least recall the laterite ied and interesting structures from vari-
colors present in the local landscape, but ous regions of the country have been re-
always carefully painted out in earlier created here by traditional builders.
mbari. It is unfinished apparently be- Most appear to be faithful replicas,
cause of squabbles over payments. With placed in a park-like setting so that vis-
all its power, the state government has itors can easily walk from one to another,
been unwilling or unable to resolve these getting a compressed architectural tour
differences so as to bring the project to a of the vast nation.
successful close. Earlier mbari were sub- The MOTNA mbari again differs in
ject to squabbles and procrastination, styles of architecture, sculpture, and
but it would have been unthinkable for painting from those of earlier times
the sacrificial pledge to remain un- around Owerri. Chukueggu was after all
self-taught as a cement sculptor, and
finished; it was urged to completion by
the community and inspected for quality though he had seen many mbari around
by selected elders. Then it was unveiled Owerri, he was not reared in the tradi-
in a fanfare festival. Today the issues are tion. Stepped buttresses are fewer and
many, complex, and commercial; the higher, few plates adorn the walls,
once-essential spiritual motivation for whose geometric paintings, despite
the project is absent. Mr. Anoka, the large and simple motifs, lack the con-
driving force originally, was transferred trolled finish of their earthen prototypes.
to another ministry. This partially com- Figural sculptures are attenuated, with
plete monument cannot but remind us of less conventionalized features than ear-
the many grand unfinished domestic lier counterparts. Occasionally there is a
houses dotting the Nigerian landscape, hint of realism, as in the Santa Claus-like
the unfulfilled dreams of idealistic, op- head of Chineke, the Igbo creator god,
timistic men. These eroding "palaces" whose bust presides over one side of the
are now being recaptured by verdant house, as in the government mbari in
vegetation that defies the plans and Owerri (Fig. 8). Greater naturalism in
hopes of ordinary mortals. Their decay- figural modeling here is countered by
16. RETRIBUTION BY GEOFFREY I. NWOGU, 1982, IN THE ing substance cannot nourish Earth and
TOP: 18, DIVINATION AND MAMI WATA SHRINES/
COLLECTION OF CHARLES DARKE, SAN FRANCISCO. other gods as mbari "yam" once did.
NOTES BY THE ARTIST INTERPRET THE FIGURES: ALA, WORKPLACES IN THE COMPOUND OF CHRISTOPHER
Chukueggu and his fellow artists re- UNIGWE OF ULAKWO. PHOTO 1983. BOTTOM: 19. OUT-
EARTH GODDESS, THREATENS WITH AN OFO THOSE
ceived another mbari commission in the DOOR CEMENT SCULPTURE ON AND NEAR THE DANCE
WHO HAVE POLLUTED EARTH, CAUSING ABOMINA-
TIONS. THE VIPER AND GIANT RAT ARE ALAS
late
MESSEN-
1970s. This cement monument is in FLOOR OF A RESORT HOTEL OVERLOOKING THE NIGER

GERS. Jos, about 480 kilometers north of RIVER. PHOTO 1982.

62
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less descriptive painting than that of artists have executed traditional and and Mami Wata shrine of a progressive,
cult-based mbari. The MOTNA example government commissions (e.g., the successful
two contemporary ritual spe-
uses two predominant background col- mbari) and modern works in several cialist, Christopher Unigwe (Fig. 18).
ors, white and red-brown, with most styles. They have been known as the Ideas from mbari are transposed here, as
figures in gray detailed in black, in con- "Mbaise School" and, since their 1971 in Chukueggu's Mbari Centre, into ce-
trast to varied palettes typical of the ear- exhibition at the University of Nigeria, ment figures and to the outside of the
lier Owerri monuments. Ironically the Nsukka, as the "Mbari group." Theirbuilding. They serve as magnets draw-
roof for this mbari is thatch, rarely seen in sculptures appear in Igbo shrine com- ing townspeople to the activities within,
Owerri after the 1930s when prestigious pounds - replacements of images lost or as markers of Unigwe's success as a reli-
metal roofs became standard. This at- looted in the war - as well as in public gious practitioner and native doctor. He
tempt at accurate re-creation is thus and private collections in Nigeria and combines traditional afa divination and
again flawed, even as a museum piece. abroad. One of their younger members, herbal medicine with his priesthood of a
From it Nigerians and others will get a
Geoffrey I. Nwogu, now carves in San Mami Wata cult. This "foreign" oracular
rather distorted, simplified view ofFrancisco.the Much of his recent work is not deity is consulted for many reasons, as
monuments created by dedicated artists aligned formally with earlier mbari art, al- other cults are, but she deals especially
and believers in the first six decades of though some of his subjects are related. with problems of modern life. As a sign
this century. In the illustrated sculpture, for example for another Mami Wata shrine suggests,
Both the Owerri and Jos concrete mbari (Fig. 16), Nwogu depicts Ala with two of she provides "good luck soap for traders
houses, commissioned by the govern- her animal messengers. Clearly Nwogu and business men, charms for exams,
ment, are dramatizations of what can and no others are members of an interna- charms for court cases and employment,
longer be, or at least of the abrupt transi- tional generation that sometimes looks charms for women and girls to marry
tions to a new era. The earlier institution back to traditional ideas for inspiration their choice, charms to win pools, lot-
was rural, popular, sacred - a form ofbut mostly beyond and elsewhere for for- tery, e.t.c."8 Her appeal (as Henry Dre-
sacrifice that was repeated a decade ormal solutions - this despite the in- wal documents elsewhere in this issue) is
two after an mbari rejoined and fertilizedvolvement of several with the two ce- contemporary. The three large cement
the Earth for which it was often built. ment mbari and despite the "Mbari" figures stand by the door to Unigwe's
These versions are urban, elitist, secular name given the group. These roots are workplace and in garden shrines con-
- a form of economic commodity - and not very evident, since they are now taining medicinal and decorative plants.
virtually permanent. What once was working in broad and diverse contexts, They are painted with bright enamels,
built of accessible and mostly local mate-sometimes very distant from Igboland. helping to create an alluring, special,
rials is now national, using industrialFor decades the best artists of mbari affluent, updated atmosphere. Ideas
products. What once was deliberately houses were locally known as individu- from mbari are used here productively, to
transient and embraced change, and als. Since the Civil War artistic indepen- serve the needs of today.
simultaneously somewhat ingenuouslydence, personal style, and a wider audi- Mbari ideas have also reverberated
reflexive, is now a permanent statement ence have characterized those associated outward from the Owerri region into
about change itself, a self-conscious and with the institution. other secular complexes such as the
not wholly accurate revivalist effort to Yet another modern mbari develop- figural groupings of sculpture at a resort
idealize and immortalize the past. ment is notable, this one very local. The overlooking the Niger River northwest
As part of the social and spiritual fabricArts Council in Owerri has declared its of Owerri. Here some of the same genre
of Owerri society, earlier mbari stimu- intent to "restore" one of five barely sur- scenes built in 1930s and 1960s mbari (Fig.
lated the community into accumulating viving mbari houses, erected about 1935, 17) are incorporated into the grounds and
and spending resources and labor, which in Ulakwo (Figs. 13,15). A new metal roof other outdoor public spaces (Fig. 19).
the people describe as "killing wealth," has been erected to replace the first de- Such animated groups as musicians,
until, as Hyde puts it (in a different con- crepit one, and plans are apparently dancers, and wrestlers, a mother and
text), the gift "circles into mystery"afoot to model replacement figures for child, a snake-charming boy, and an on-
(1979:20) as the structure and its "yam" those that have decayed, which means looking couple populate the edges of a
inhabitants melt and wash away. Con-nearly all of them. Nnaji, the original cement dance floor. Animals-crocodile,
sumed by the gods - and food master builder-artist, is dead; whether tortoise, snail, frog, bush pig, and others
metaphors are explicit - mbari honors sculptors with the ability or inclination - of
to laterite-colored cement stand in the
and nourishes them. If the offering is model in the old style can be located nearby gardens, often placed so as to
beautiful and correctly done, the gods (some are probably still alive) and surprise and delight the casual visitor.
will respond by bestowing blessings on whether cement will be used are interest- Their informal siting somewhat away
the community. ing questions. Apparently the people of from buildings enlivens the resort's out-
The two cement versions are not re- Ulakwo welcome this project, for after door spaces, dresses them up cleverly
generative gifts in this sense, but they all, a rebuilt and restored large mbari will and with a sense of humor. Surely in-
can nevertheless nourish. They are attract visitors, as others have done for spired by mbari, these lively and carefully
memorials that will serve to hold at least decades. Igbos and tourists will probably modeled sculptures arrest motion more
some mbari ideas in Owerri and national be asked, as they often were, for a small realistically than their prototypes. The
Nigerian consciousness. What was the fee to see and photograph the monu- mbari stimulus seems more direct here
re-creation of a cosmic model may now ment. What does it mean, however, than in the faculty and student pieces at
be largely "recreation," somethingwhen to the once prevailing rule of "no re- the colleges - and the sculptures are
visit for entertainment, but it can be pairs" is no longer observed? Since most called mbari figures by local people.
more - certainly an educational experi- local Igbos are Christians, it may mean to Mbari as an idea survives remarkably
ence and perhaps a catalyst to stimulatethem that another lingering "pagan" well and asserts itself in sometimes un-
future artists' offerings. practice has been rightly abandoned. likely places, adapting to new exigencies
The group of artists under Chukueg- Ironically, this mbari, also once of course as it has since 1900 and probably before.
gu's leadership have worked both to-a "pagan" monument, may be restoredIn part we must ascribe this survival to a
gether and independently since the Ni- to life, or to a life of sorts, perhaps sensitive and influential expatriate, Ulli
gerian Civil War.7 With somewhat fluidsemipermanently. Beier, who wrote the first book, African
membership from two generations of Only several hundred meters from Mud Sculpture (1963), to draw interna-
three prominent Mbaise families, these this restoration project is the divination tional attention to mbari art. Beier and

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those around him in Ibadan, and later ent and the cults Yoruba, but the impulsetive Igbo, a keen observer, and a fine art-
Oshogbo, used the word mbari and some derives in part from mbari roots, in part ist. For Achebe, Beier, and others, mbari
of its underlying principles to promote afrom Wenger's inspiration, in part from has become a metaphor of Igbo creativ-
powerful, far-reaching artistic renas- creativity and richness in Yoruba belief ityas
cence in virtually all the arts. As Beier expressed by artists without much for- The stimulus of mbari has been far
tells it: "The original Mbari club was mal training. We can be quite certain of ranging. Its extensions outward from
founded by an energetic group of youngmbari influence in this instance because Owerri since the Civil War have carried
writers in Ibadan in 1961. Wole Soyinka,the various outdoor and architecturally on some ideas, embraced others, and
John Pepper Clark, Christopher Okigbo,sited sculptures do not have a local evolved; they have been inventive and
and Ezekiel Mphahlele were soon to be Yoruba precedent. They are very differ- often independent - except sometimes
known beyond the frontiers of Nigeria"ent from mbari, to be sure, but neverthe- in name and impulse - as they move
(1968:101). Soyinka, of course, was re-less indebted to it (Fig. 20). away geographically and temporally
cently the first African to be honored So as mbari houses have declined in from earlier roots. Mbari ideas have har-
with a Nobel Prize for literature. Beier size and artistic presence in Owerri, dened, quite literally in some cases, but
and Duro Ladipo, musician and play- mbari ideas continue to spread and,usually as in in concept they have remained
Yoruba country, take on new meanings
wright, founded a still more dynamic insti- true to their flexible heritage. That artists
tution, Mbari Mbayo, the next year in associated with more recent mbari are
that are not at all inconsistent in principle
Oshogbo. It was to provide a home and with the multimedia festival and visu- conscious of their individuality and per-
forum for many artists in many media: ally, symbolically rich ritual processes sonal style is hardly surprising. The
Twins Seven Seven, Jimoh Buraimoh,and monuments known around Owerri motivations for Igbo and other arts are
Adebisi Fabunmi, Asiru Olatunde, for eighty years. With the interna- changing continually.
among other well-known names. Music, tionalization of Nigerian arts, visual and Mbari survives. It reflects and chroni-
poetry, multimedia productions and a
literary, cles, sometimes ingenuously, the values
mbari has become a logical sym-
bewildering variety of visual arts came and memories of its makers and their
bol for Igbo aesthetic activities and prod-
forth, partly inspired by European men- ucts. Chinua Achebe, Nigeria's best- eras, just as it tends to prophesy future
tors Beier, Julian Beinart, Susanne known novelist, an Igbo born and raised events. More reflexive, perhaps, than
Wenger, and Georgina Beier, and partly about 150 kilometers north of Owerri,many is forms of African art, mbari has sur
supported by expatriate funding and pa- an eloquent spokesman for all Nigerian vived in part because change has been
tronage. It is not my purpose to explore arts, especially those of the Igbo.inherent He in it, expected and welcome
Mbari Mbayo or to chronicle its offshoots knows mbari quite well. In a number byof its patrons and builders. Artists wer
in Lagos, Benin, Enugu, and elsewhere. his essays and interviews, Achebecounted has on to incorporate contemporary
Rather, I wish to dramatize the adaptiveused mbari as a kind of object lessonevents for and newly available artifacts. In
nature and impact of mbari, and point toIgbo artistic sensibilities and the inter- this sense it has been outward looking,
but it can also be seen as inward looking,
some of the subtler aspects of its earlierwoven nature of art and life (e.g., Morell
and current role as a cultural stimulus. 1975; Cole & Aniakor 1984: ix). He is accu-
subtly manifesting the feelings, desires
Yet it is instructive to quote Beier againrate in the cited details of traditional and self-definitions of its dynamic con-
on the word and concept mbari as it mbari was processes and forms, and more- stituencies and its specific creators.
adapted to the Yoruba environment in over he is able to filter mbari through Mbari was and remains a showcase of
the wisdom of his experience as a sensi- values. O
the early 1960s: ". ..Mbari... means
'creation' or 'the act of creation.' The in- Notes
tertribal and indeed international
character of the club was emphasized by
this choice. In Oshogbo, however, illiter-
ate market women were puzzled by the
strange [Igbo] word and in typical
Yoruba fashion they reinterpreted it with
Yoruba tones; they called it mbari mbayo
which means, literally: 'when we see it
we shall be happy' "(1968:103). As far as I
know, mbari does not mean "creation" in
Igbo; the exact translation and etymol-
ogy of the word are not agreed upon by
Owerri Igbo peoples or scholars who
have addressed the question (Cole
1982:183). Conceptually, however, Beier
is perfectly correct, for the traditional iif

Igbo institution in the larger sense cer-

tainly means creation, as well as regen-
eration and renewal.
I believe the Mbari Mbayo group in
Oshogbo no longer exists but rather has
split into the Oshogbo Artists Associa-
tion, mostly painters who exhibit and
sell their work, and another group, fol-
lowers of Susanne Wenger and, with her,
creators of what they call the "New Sac-
red Art" of Yoruba shrines and groves.
These integrated sculptures, paintings,
and architecture of varied form surely
owe something to Owerri mbari as well 20. CEMENT SCULPTURES OF YORUBA GODS AND SPIRITS BY SAKA IN THE OSHOGBO AMPHITHEATER CALLED
as to Mbari Mbayo. The styles are differ-"THE MARKET" THIS IS ONE OF MANY COMPLEXES OF SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE SACRED GROVES.

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 Vaughn, James. 1980. "A Reconsideration of Divine King- BOOKS
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP
ship," in Explorations in African Systems of Thought, edited by
Rare, important, and out-of-print books on Af-
Statement of ownership, management and circulation Ivan Karp and Charles Bird, pp. 120-42. Bloomington: In-
(Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) diana University Press. rican, Primitive, and Ancient art purchased
1. Title of Publication: African Arts
COLE, notes, from page 65
and sold. Catalogues available on request.
lB. Publication no.: 00019933
1. The book on mbari (Cole 1982) is a revised version of my Please write for further information. Michael
2. Date of filing: 9/17/87 doctoral dissertation written in 1967-68.
Graves-Johnston, Bookseller, PO. Box 532,
3. Frequency of issue: Quarterly (February, May, Au- I would like to acknowledge with thanks helpful sugges-
gust, November). tions made by Doran Ross after reading a draft of this paper.London SW9 0DR, England. 01-274-2069.
3A. No. of issues published annually: Four. 2. Data are skewed by the varied numbers of mbari recorded
3B. Annual subscription price: $22.00. at different times - not necessarily the numbers then extant.ETHNOGRAPHIC ITEMS
4. Complete mailing address of known office of publi-G.I. Jones and Kenneth Murray recorded 7 or 8 mbari in theFor sale: Antiquities, Old African, Oceanic,
mid-thirties, when many dozens more surely existed. I sur-
cation: African Studies Center, University of Califor-
veyed the area thoroughly in 1966-67, recording about 150 other Primitive and Precolumbian art, artifacts
nia, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1310. structures (some remaining from the 1930s and many quite
5. Complete mailing address of the headquarters ofsmall) in varied states of deterioration. and weapons. Specializing in early pieces with
general business offices of the publisher: African 3. I am indebted to Hyde's important study of gifts (1979) forknown provenance. Free illustrated catalogue.
Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, sharpening my understanding of this aspect of mbari, and toWilliam Fagan, Box 425E, Fraser, MI 48026.
CA 90024-1310. R. Reid for pointing out the relevance of his book.
6. Full names and complete mailing address of pub- 4. I am grateful to Henry and Margaret Drewal for the use ofROWLAND-ABIODUN
their photographs and data from their 1978 visit to Chukueg-
lisher, editor, and managing editor: African Studies
gu's Centre. Professor Rowland Abiodun, head of the Fine
Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 5. Pounded anthill clay is the "yam" or fuft from which pre-
90024-1310. John F Povey, African Studies Center, 1967 mbari figures were modeled. As Henderson documents Arts Department, Obafemi Awolowo University,
University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1310. elsewhere in this issue, anthills are important spiritually inIfe, Nigeria, expects to be in the United States
None. many parts of Igboland, as wellas central tombari symbolism.from February to August 1988 and seeks
7. Owner: Regents of the University of California, 405 6. This was kindly reported to me briefly in 1982 by the artist,
Hilgard, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1310. Geoffrey I. Nwogu, whose father was one of the five artists speaking engagements on African art and
involved in its construction. aesthetics. Contact him care of the Art De-
8. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other secu-
7. The group is composed of Sylvester Agu Chukueggu
rity holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of
(leader), his son Silver 0. Chukueggu, and Chukueggu
partment, Cleveland State University, Cleve-
total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: kinsmen Nwogu Josiah Anyawu and his son Geottrey land, OH 44115. (216) 687-2040.
None.
Iheanyichukwu Nwogu, LongJohn Mbazuigwe II (de-
9. The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this ceased), Albert Anya, and Remegius. All except G.I. Nwogu
organization and the exempt status for Federal in- and Mbazuigwe worked on the cement mbari.
come tax purposes have not changed during preced- 8. This sign, from Abakalike township, is illustrated as figure
132 in Cole and Aniakor 1984. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
ing 12 months. Drewal, H.J. In press. "Mami Wata: African Representations
Bibliography
10. Extent and nature of circulation: Average number of the Other in Art and Action," The Drama Review (T118).
Beier, Ulli. 1963. African Mud Sculpture. London.
of copies each issue during preceding 12 months; ac- Beier, Ulli. 1968. Contemporary African Art. London. Hambly, W.D. 1931. "Serpent Worship in Africa," Field Mu-
tual number of copies of single issue published seum of Natural History, Publication 289, Anthropological Series
Brett, Guy. 1986. Through Their Own Eyes: PopularArtand Mod- 21, 1.
nearest to filing date: A. Total number of copies ern History. London.
Jenkins, D. 1985. "The Art of Mamy Wata: A Popular Water
printed: 5200; 5200. B. Paid and/or requested circula- Cole, Herbert M. 1982. Mbari: Art and Life among the Owerri
Spirit Found among the Igbo of Southeast Nigeria." M.A.
tion: (1) Sales through dealers and carriers, street Igbo. Bloomington.
thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Cole, Herbert M. 1975. "The History of Igbo Mbari Houses:
vendors and counter sales: 354; 363. (2) Mail sub- Jenkins, D. 1984. "Mamy Wata" in lgbo Arts: Comintunity and
Facts and Theories," in African Images: Essays in African
scription: 3691; 3745. C. Total paid and/or requested Cosmos, edited by H.M. Cole and C.C. Aniakor, pp. 75-77.
Iconology, edited by D. McCall and E. Bay. New York.
circulation: 4045; 4108 D. Free distribution by mail, Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, UCLA.
Cole, Herbert M. 1969. "Mbari is a Dance," African Arts 2, 4.
Jones, G.I. 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria. Cambridge: Cam-
carrier or other means; samples, complimentary and Cole, Herbert M. and Chike C. Aniakor. 1984. Igbo Arts: Com-
bridge University Press.
other free copies: 135; 131. E. Total distribution: 4180; munity and Cosmos. Los Angeles.
4239. F Copies not distributed: (1) Office use, left Hyde, Lewis. 1979. The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of
Property. New York. KEBEDE, notes, from page 90
over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing: 1020: 961. 1. I served as Music Expert for the Ministry of Education and
Morell, Karen (ed.). 1975. In Person: Achebe, Awuoonor, and
(2) Return from new agents: 0;0. G. Total: 5200;5200. Fine Arts, as the founder and first Director of the Yared
Soyinka. Seattle.
11. I certify that the statements made by me above Wenger, Susanne, and Gert Chesi. 1983. A Life with the Gods in School of Music, and as the first President of the Ethiopian
National Music Committee.
are correct and complete. (Signed) John E Povey, Their Yoruba Homeland. Worgl (Austria).
Editor. Whitehouse, A.A. 1904. "Note on the 'Mbari' Festival of the 2. See A. Kebede and K. Suttner, Ethiope: Musique de lcEglise
Natives of Ibo Country, Southern Nigeria, Man," 4, Copte (Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Docu-
106:162-63. mentation, Berlin, 1969).
3. See A. Kebede, "The Bowl-lyre of Northeast Africa" in
Thompson, Robert. 1972. "Sign of the Divine King," in Afri- DREWAL, notes, from page 45 Ethnoinusicology, vol. 21, no. 3: pp. 379-95, 1977.
can Art and Leadership, edited by D. Fraser and H.M. Cole, I am pleased to acknowledge generous financial support for 4. The explosive Ethiopian consonants can be easily indi-
pp. 227-60. Mami Wata research among the Igbo in 1978 provided by the cated by a capital K; it is sounded like k but exploded.
Thompson, Robert. 1971. Black Gods and Kings. Occasional National Endowment for the Humanities (Grant no. F77-42) 5. See A. Kebede, "The Azmari, Poet-Musician of Ethiopia,"
papers of the Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and as well as institutional support from the Nigerian Museum The Musical Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 1: pp. 47-57, 1975.
Technology, UCLA, no. 11. and Ibadan University for research affiliations. I especially
Thompson, Robert. 1970. "Sign of the Divine King." African SMITH, bibliography, from page 91
thank the followers of Mami Wata for generously sharing
Arts 3:3:8-17, 74-80. their thoughts with me; Geoffrey Nwogu for exceptional as- Biebuyck, Daniel. 1977. "Sculpture from the Eastern Zaire
Turner, Victor. 1973. "Symbols in African Ritual," Science sistance in introducing us to devotees and artists in Imo Forest Regions: Metoko, Lengola and Komo," African Arts
179:1100-05. 10, 2:52-58.
State, and Margaret Thompson Drewal for her many helpful
Turner, Victor. 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Antistruc- suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. This article is a Biebuyck, Daniel. 1976. "Sculpture from the Eastern Zaire
ture. contribution to the growing literature on Mami Wata among Forest Regions: Mbole, Yela and Pere," African Arts 10,
1:54-61, 99-100.
Turner, Victor. 1967. The Forest of Symbols. Ithaca: Cornell Uni- the Igbo (Cole 1982; Jenkins 1984, 1985; Jones 1984:87-92). A
versity Press. more detailed discussion of Mami Wata art and performance Bravmann, Rene. 1973. Open Frontiers: The Mobility of Art in
across Africa will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Drama Black Africa. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Review, edited by Margaret Thompson Drewal. Celenko, Theodore. 1983. A Treasury of African Art from the
1. The edition illustrated was printed in Bombay, India, by the Harrison Eiteljorg Collection. Bloomington: Indiana Univer-
Shree Ram Calendar Company in 1955 to copy an earlier ver- sity Press.
sion sent to them by a trader in Kumase, Ghana. Between Kjersmeier, Carl. 1935-38. Centres de style de la sculpture niigre
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS africaine. Paris: Albert Moranc&.
1955 and 1956, 12,000 copies (10" x 14") were sent to this trader
Photographs, page: and another in Kumase "without changing a line even from Roy, Christopher. 1987. "The Spread of Mask Styles in the
Black Volta Basin," African Arts 20, 4:40-46.
28-34, 37: Richard N. Henderson the original" (Manager, Shree Ram Calendar Company, letter
Roy, Christopher. 1985. Art and Life in Africa: Selections from the
dated June 17, 1977). The history of the original print will be
27, 35, 55 (top, bottom left), 56 (bottom), 61, 62 Stanley Collection. Iowa City: University of Iowa Museum of
outlined in the forthcoming Drama Review article. While the
(top), 63 (bottom), 65, 66, inventiveness of African artists sometimes makes it difficult
Art.

Roy, Christopher. 1979. African Sculpture: The Stanley Collec-

71 (right): Herbert M. Cole
36: Robert F Thompson
39-45, 59 (top): Margaret and Henry Drewal
46-53: John Picton
54, 60: G.I. Jones
55 (bottom right), 63 (top): R. Reid
67 (left), 69, 78 (left): Richard Todd
67 (right): Catherine Angel
71 (left): Michael Cavanaugh and Kevin
Montague
73-77, 78 (right), 79-81: Raymond Silverman
87: Bo Gabrielsson
to be certain, I discern the print's influence in atleast fourteen
countries and forty-one cultures. tion. Iowa City: University of Iowa Museum of Art.
Sieber, Roy and Arnold Rubin. 1968. Sculpture of Black Africa:
2. Nigerian Museum Photo Archive, neg. no. 106.94.17. I
wish to thank the Nigerian Museum for providing a copy of The Paul Tishman Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles
this photograph. County Museum of Art.
Skougstad, Norman. 1978. Traditional Sculpture from iUpper
3. My discussions with Dr. Candido took place on May 21,
Volta. New York: African-American Institute.
1978, in Ichi, Anambra State.
4. My conversations with Njoku took place on May 22,1978,
in Mbaise, Imo State.
Bibliography
OPPOSITE PAGE: THE DISTINCTIVE REGALIA OF HIGHEST
Alagoa, E.J. 1972. "The Niger Delta States and Their
Neighbours, 1600-1800," in History of West Africa, vol. 1, GRADE EKPE MEMBERS AMONG THE CROSS RIVER
edited by J.EA. Ajayi and M. Crowder, pp. 269-303. New IGBO INCLUDES STITCHED-AND-DYED UKARA CLOTH, IN
York: Columbia University Press. THIS CASE DESIGNED BY ITS WEARER, UGU AGWU
Cole, H.M. 1982. Mbari: Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo. OBIWO OF ABIRIBA. PHOTOGRAPH 1983.

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