Babatunde Lawal
Biographic Data
| ID | 3612059 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Babatunde Lawal |
| GIVEN NAMES | Babatunde |
| FAMILY NAME | Lawal |
| SIGNATURE | LAWAL B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Obafemi Awolowo University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 58 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1973 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Signifying Jars, Resonating Like a Banjar
This chapter glosses the major couplets and inscriptions, connecting formal matters of allusion, symbolism, tone, absence—in short, the poetics of the jars and pots—to their socio-historical, political, and philosophical contexts. Beginning with an investigation of the African roots of Dave the Potter’s practice, Lawal links Dave’s pottery to the tradition of colonoware and his cryptic marks to the cosmogram of the Kongo people. He proceeds to ex…
Eye Du Ke Esit Nyin Ke Nsinsi: Remembering Ekpo Okpo Eyo (1931–2011) Administrator, Archaeologist, Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, and Friend
I first met Ekpo Eyo (Fig. 1) in the 1960s during one of his visits to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I was then an undergraduate and a studio major in the institution's Department of Fine Arts. He soon became a mentor and friend. Our frequent meetings at the National Museum in Lagos contributed significantly to my decision to become an art historian.1 I know of several other colleagues (black and white) who benefitted from his advice. …
In Word and Image: Remembering Anne Eisner's Adventures in Africa
This is an outstanding book. Most of the essays are revised versions of papers first presented in the course of a special workshop held at Harvard Univer sity in 2002 to examine the art and life of Anne Eisner (1911-1967), the white American woman artist who lived in the Ituri rainforest of the former Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) during the 1940s and 1950s. Anne Eisner's African adventures began in 1945. While working …
Èjìwàpò: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture
March 01 2008 Èjìwàpò: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture Babatunde Lawal Babatunde Lawal Babatunde Lawal is Professor of African and African Diaspora Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and, in Spring 2008, the Robert Sterling Clark Visiting Professor of Art History at Williams College, Williamstown, MA. [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Informati…
The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World
Essays that survey the impact of the slave trade dispersal of the Yoruba people
Teaching the Contemporary: Disjunctures and Accommodations
Sidney L. Kasfir, Kate Ezra, Babatunde Lawal, Raymond A. Silverman, Christopher D. Roy, Teaching the Contemporary: Disjunctures and Accommodations, African Arts, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 10+88-90
The Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture
À Yà Gbó, À Yà Tó: New Perspectives on Edan Ògbóni
Les « edan » sont des paires de figurines feminine et masculine en cuivre representant l'appartenance a la societe Ogboni chez les Yoruba. Les interpretations concernant la representation de ces figurines s'opposent : la revision des rituels et du symbolisme par un pretre anglican et la controverse autour d'Oduduwa contribuent a la confusion concernant le sexe de la terre (Ile) alors que la litterature sacree considere la terre comme une deesse. …
Nigerian Artists: A Who's Who and Bibliography
Orí: The Significance of the Head in Yoruba Sculpture
This paper discusses why the head (orí) is the most prominent part of Yoruba sculpture. An analysis of Yoruba ontology of the person reveals that the Yoruba regard the head as the locus of the àse (divine power) of the Supreme Being (Olódùmarè) in the individual, constituting the person's life-source and controlling personality and destiny. Three different modes of representing the head are identified in Yoruba sculpture: the naturalistic, which …
A arte pela vida: A Vida Pela Arte
.
New Light on Gelede
Nouvelle approche de la danse masquee Gelede des Yoruba de l'Ouest du Nigeria. Mythe, symbolisme, masques, danses, musique
The Present State of Art Historical Research in Nigeria: Problems and Possibilities
This paper reviews the present state of art historical research in Nigeria with a view to clearing the ground for a more accurate interpretation of the evidence. The ancient arts of Benin, Ife, Nok, Owo, Nupe and Igbo-Ukwu are discussed, among others, and suggestions offered that might shed more light on some of the problems created by the paucity of art historical data
Art, Behavior, and the Anthropologists [and Comments and Reply]
Can Social activities be understood as having important and persistent social functions which are unintended by members of the society in which they are performed? In arguing that the answer is no, I draw methodological comparisons between aesthetic criticism is shown to make use of a broader sense of "intention" than many anthropologists have wished to employ in describing the functional significance of social activities. Yet the persistent func…
The Living Dead: Art and Immortality among the Yoruba of Nigeria
Opening ParagraphThe consciousness that Death will sooner or later expel him from the earth, despite all his efforts to make it a permanent home-and such a comfortable one for that matter-is certainly the greatest question facing man. Scared by the imminence of Death, man sometimes wishes that he had not been created at all; but having been created, he has no choice other than to accept Death as the price to be paid for living. Now it is up to hi…
Some Aspects of Yoruba Aesthetics1
Dating Problems at Igobo-Ukwu
This paper reviews the results of the recent excavations at Igbo-Ukwu, from which large quantities of copper and bronze objects, glass and stone beads as well as highly decorated pottery were recovered. Although four out of five radiocarbon dates fall in the middle of the ninth century a.d. , while the fifth one falls in the middle of the fifteenth century, other dating evidence—like the presence of European-type manila and beads, and the preserv…
The Artist as a Creative Force in Education and Society
The Living Dead: Art and Immortality among the Yoruba of Nigeria
Opening ParagraphThe consciousness that Death will sooner or later expel him from the earth, despite all his efforts to make it a permanent home-and such a comfortable one for that matter-is certainly the greatest question facing man. Scared by the imminence of Death, man sometimes wishes that he had not been created at all; but having been created, he has no choice other than to accept Death as the price to be paid for living. Now it is up to hi…
Some Aspects of Yoruba Aesthetics1
Orí: The Significance of the Head in Yoruba Sculpture
This paper discusses why the head (orí) is the most prominent part of Yoruba sculpture. An analysis of Yoruba ontology of the person reveals that the Yoruba regard the head as the locus of the àse (divine power) of the Supreme Being (Olódùmarè) in the individual, constituting the person's life-source and controlling personality and destiny. Three different modes of representing the head are identified in Yoruba sculpture: the naturalistic, which …
Dating Problems at Igobo-Ukwu
This paper reviews the results of the recent excavations at Igbo-Ukwu, from which large quantities of copper and bronze objects, glass and stone beads as well as highly decorated pottery were recovered. Although four out of five radiocarbon dates fall in the middle of the ninth century a.d. , while the fifth one falls in the middle of the fifteenth century, other dating evidence—like the presence of European-type manila and beads, and the preserv…
Èjìwàpò: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture
March 01 2008 Èjìwàpò: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture Babatunde Lawal Babatunde Lawal Babatunde Lawal is Professor of African and African Diaspora Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and, in Spring 2008, the Robert Sterling Clark Visiting Professor of Art History at Williams College, Williamstown, MA. [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Informati…
Art, Behavior, and the Anthropologists [and Comments and Reply]
Can Social activities be understood as having important and persistent social functions which are unintended by members of the society in which they are performed? In arguing that the answer is no, I draw methodological comparisons between aesthetic criticism is shown to make use of a broader sense of "intention" than many anthropologists have wished to employ in describing the functional significance of social activities. Yet the persistent func…
À Yà Gbó, À Yà Tó: New Perspectives on Edan Ògbóni
Les « edan » sont des paires de figurines feminine et masculine en cuivre representant l'appartenance a la societe Ogboni chez les Yoruba. Les interpretations concernant la representation de ces figurines s'opposent : la revision des rituels et du symbolisme par un pretre anglican et la controverse autour d'Oduduwa contribuent a la confusion concernant le sexe de la terre (Ile) alors que la litterature sacree considere la terre comme une deesse. …
The Present State of Art Historical Research in Nigeria: Problems and Possibilities
This paper reviews the present state of art historical research in Nigeria with a view to clearing the ground for a more accurate interpretation of the evidence. The ancient arts of Benin, Ife, Nok, Owo, Nupe and Igbo-Ukwu are discussed, among others, and suggestions offered that might shed more light on some of the problems created by the paucity of art historical data
A arte pela vida: A Vida Pela Arte
.
Dating Problems at Igobo-Ukwu
This paper reviews the results of the recent excavations at Igbo-Ukwu, from which large quantities of copper and bronze objects, glass and stone beads as well as highly decorated pottery were recovered. Although four out of five radiocarbon dates fall in the middle of the ninth century a.d. , while the fifth one falls in the middle of the fifteenth century, other dating evidence—like the presence of European-type manila and beads, and the preserv…
The Artist as a Creative Force in Education and Society
Some Aspects of Yoruba Aesthetics1
The Present State of Art Historical Research in Nigeria: Problems and Possibilities
This paper reviews the present state of art historical research in Nigeria with a view to clearing the ground for a more accurate interpretation of the evidence. The ancient arts of Benin, Ife, Nok, Owo, Nupe and Igbo-Ukwu are discussed, among others, and suggestions offered that might shed more light on some of the problems created by the paucity of art historical data
Art, Behavior, and the Anthropologists [and Comments and Reply]
Can Social activities be understood as having important and persistent social functions which are unintended by members of the society in which they are performed? In arguing that the answer is no, I draw methodological comparisons between aesthetic criticism is shown to make use of a broader sense of "intention" than many anthropologists have wished to employ in describing the functional significance of social activities. Yet the persistent func…
The Living Dead: Art and Immortality among the Yoruba of Nigeria
Opening ParagraphThe consciousness that Death will sooner or later expel him from the earth, despite all his efforts to make it a permanent home-and such a comfortable one for that matter-is certainly the greatest question facing man. Scared by the imminence of Death, man sometimes wishes that he had not been created at all; but having been created, he has no choice other than to accept Death as the price to be paid for living. Now it is up to hi…
New Light on Gelede
Nouvelle approche de la danse masquee Gelede des Yoruba de l'Ouest du Nigeria. Mythe, symbolisme, masques, danses, musique
A arte pela vida: A Vida Pela Arte
.
Orí: The Significance of the Head in Yoruba Sculpture
This paper discusses why the head (orí) is the most prominent part of Yoruba sculpture. An analysis of Yoruba ontology of the person reveals that the Yoruba regard the head as the locus of the àse (divine power) of the Supreme Being (Olódùmarè) in the individual, constituting the person's life-source and controlling personality and destiny. Three different modes of representing the head are identified in Yoruba sculpture: the naturalistic, which …
Nigerian Artists: A Who's Who and Bibliography
À Yà Gbó, À Yà Tó: New Perspectives on Edan Ògbóni
Les « edan » sont des paires de figurines feminine et masculine en cuivre representant l'appartenance a la societe Ogboni chez les Yoruba. Les interpretations concernant la representation de ces figurines s'opposent : la revision des rituels et du symbolisme par un pretre anglican et la controverse autour d'Oduduwa contribuent a la confusion concernant le sexe de la terre (Ile) alors que la litterature sacree considere la terre comme une deesse. …
The Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture
Teaching the Contemporary: Disjunctures and Accommodations
Sidney L. Kasfir, Kate Ezra, Babatunde Lawal, Raymond A. Silverman, Christopher D. Roy, Teaching the Contemporary: Disjunctures and Accommodations, African Arts, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 10+88-90
The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World
Essays that survey the impact of the slave trade dispersal of the Yoruba people
In Word and Image: Remembering Anne Eisner's Adventures in Africa
This is an outstanding book. Most of the essays are revised versions of papers first presented in the course of a special workshop held at Harvard Univer sity in 2002 to examine the art and life of Anne Eisner (1911-1967), the white American woman artist who lived in the Ituri rainforest of the former Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) during the 1940s and 1950s. Anne Eisner's African adventures began in 1945. While working …
Èjìwàpò: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture
March 01 2008 Èjìwàpò: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture Babatunde Lawal Babatunde Lawal Babatunde Lawal is Professor of African and African Diaspora Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and, in Spring 2008, the Robert Sterling Clark Visiting Professor of Art History at Williams College, Williamstown, MA. [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Informati…
Eye Du Ke Esit Nyin Ke Nsinsi: Remembering Ekpo Okpo Eyo (1931–2011) Administrator, Archaeologist, Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, and Friend
I first met Ekpo Eyo (Fig. 1) in the 1960s during one of his visits to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I was then an undergraduate and a studio major in the institution's Department of Fine Arts. He soon became a mentor and friend. Our frequent meetings at the National Museum in Lagos contributed significantly to my decision to become an art historian.1 I know of several other colleagues (black and white) who benefitted from his advice. …
Signifying Jars, Resonating Like a Banjar
This chapter glosses the major couplets and inscriptions, connecting formal matters of allusion, symbolism, tone, absence—in short, the poetics of the jars and pots—to their socio-historical, political, and philosophical contexts. Beginning with an investigation of the African roots of Dave the Potter’s practice, Lawal links Dave’s pottery to the tradition of colonoware and his cryptic marks to the cosmogram of the Kongo people. He proceeds to ex…
Art (15 works) · History (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Visual arts (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Linguistics (7 works) · Yoruba (7 works) · Political science (4 works) · African history and culture studies (3 works)