Masks on the Move

In the realm of African art, masks are some of the most exemplary and iconic artworks. Whether displayed to be admired for their shape, form, and volumes, or presented in dialogue with ethnographic information and contextual images, masks are omnipresent in collections and displays of African art. As aesthetic and ethnographic objects, masks are used as gateways to the understanding and appreciation of “cultural styles” as well as the formal and creative solutions adopted by artists and workshops. Yet the appeal of masks also relies on their perceived irreducible difference and mysterious spiritual aura. Even when isolated and stripped of their fiber costumes and attachments, there is always a reference to the body of an absent wearer, thus evoking a situated and embodied history of production, performance, and social meaning that often does not accompany the mask into the museum. Yet even when isolated and stripped of their embodied meaning, masks are still perceived as affecting.The meaning constrictions of masks in museum displays often extend to many other African art objects which, in their aesthetic and function, known or imagined, suggest different forms of conceptual and geographical displacement. Many galleries and museums in Europe and North America contain large numbers of religious and performative objects, collected as Europeans expanded their control over territory and over the minds and bodies of people throughout the continent. While these were often seized, stolen, or acquired as people “converted” to new beliefs and cultural practices, others were purchased in rather straightforward market interactions. Indeed, the fascination shown by foreigners towards these “mysterious” and “sacred” artworks also gave birth, almost immediately, to a rather secular, market-oriented production of masklike objects meant for display rather than performance.This article investigates the longstanding history of commercial practices and stylistic experimentation that characterize the production of masks and other artworks in the Grassfields of Western Cameroon. While I acknowledge the importance of long-distance and international trade as an important stimulus for creativity and artistic production, my intention is to highlight the significance of contemporary artistic inventions in shaping local understanding of aesthetics and material displays. Collections, museums, eco-museological itineraries and, more recently, experimentations and artistic interventions by contemporary artists Hervé Youmbi and Hervé Yamguen (Fig. 1) have produced a complex and intriguing regional and national artistic scene. Here the taxonomies distinguishing commercial productions from “authentic artworks” have been blurred and subverted in local practices, where masks are now moving between spheres of practice and understanding that defy canonical strictures.In a 1910 postcard, published in 2014 on Bruno Claessens's blog, four young men stand by an artfully arranged display of decorative masks and figures carved in Kongo style (Fig. 2).1 This early Loango market stall, featuring “fetishes” for sale, was strikingly similar to more contemporary commercial displays of comparable objects found in rural and urban centers across Africa and beyond. While postcards documenting early tourist markets are not very common, the practice of creating objects for sale to merchants, travelers, and colonial administrators is as old as contact itself. The classic examples of the Afro-Portuguese ivories (Fagg 1959, Bassani et al. 1988) or Loango carved tusks and figurines (Bridges 2013) are well-known cases. Yet many travelers' and collectors' accounts testified to the entrepreneurship of local artists and middlemen, fast to grasp and cater to the tastes and preferences of new customers. Scholars have highlighted the importance of commerce in shaping artistic production since early contact times and likely even earlier.2 A paradigmatic example is found in Enid Schildkrout's essay on Fredrick Starr and Herbert Lang's collecting in the Congo. In one of the pages of his diary from 1905, Starr wrote:Such interactions were clearly not limited to the Congo area, but were recurrent in almost any region touched by European “civilizing” and “scientific” endeavors. As colonial powers expanded their control over inland territories, new objects and productions started to develop to cater to the needs of a society in transformation. The Cameroonian Grassfields offer important insight into this process of artistic and market changes over the course of the twentieth century.The Grassfields, corresponding to the francophone West and the anglophone North West Regions of the Republic of Cameroon, is a densely populated, politically and linguistically divided region, and a well-known area in the study of African art. While never a favorite of the European and North American high-end art market because of their bold and blocky forms, Grassfields arts have nevertheless found a place in all significant institutional collections of African art.3 The centers of production and use of these artworks were located in a relatively small and densely populated area in the west of the country, but despite their known local specificity, Grassfields arts have become an almost metonymic representation of the artistic production of Cameroon as a whole.4One recurrent theme of the scholarship of this region was an emphasis on style and shared material culture as important elements defining the area as an ethnic/cultural unit. According to Fowler (1997), art was what defined the Grassfields regional character, despite great political and linguistic fragmentation. Indeed, the stylistic homogeneity of the region was a feature that reflected in visible terms the broad circulation of artworks through short- and long-distance networks of exchange, whereby masks, stools, pipes, and other prestige items would be traded and exchanged both as diplomatic gifts and as commodities (Bravmann 1973, Warnier 1985) (Fig. 3). The slippage in identification from artistic style to a somewhat uniform cultural area was by no means unique to this region and can be traced as a common taxonomic and classificatory device in many canon-shaping art historical publications. Yet, in the Grassfields as elsewhere, trade and exchanges were more influential than cultural or linguistic identity in determining artistic forms and regional aesthetics.5Whether locally produced or acquired, the public display of art was an important feature of the manifestation of local political power and a marker of distinction, which identified the rank and prestige of individuals and households. In the first decades of the twentieth century, Grassfields artworks were systematically and competitively acquired by government officials, scholars, missionaries, doctors, curators, and explorers (Geary 1983, 2011). Important field collections from this area are found in prestigious European and North American institutions and particularly in Germany, Switzerland, and France (Obenhofer 2010). Chris Geary (1983:85–94) accounts for the almost aggressive early twentieth century collecting practices of various foreigners interested in securing the best pieces for their government or funding institution. While older objects were most coveted, collectors would not refuse to purchase the bold zoomorphic and anthropomorphic masks, stools, pipes, figures, richly decorated containers, garments, and other artworks inspired by the local material culture of power and produced by the many contemporary workshops active at the time.Many scholars have written about the complicated historical dynamics that have influenced the development of the arts of the Cameroonian Grassfields and their lasting legacy in contemporary production (Argenti 2002; Forni forthcoming; Geary 1983, 2011; Geary and Xatart 2007; Horner 1993). Indeed, the artistic preeminence of the Grassfields was not just a thing of the past, but continues to be a notable and acknowledged feature of the region in the twenty-first century. Artistic workshops are found throughout the region often still mirroring regional artistic specialization (Knöpfli 1997, Warnier 1985).In this rich regional scene, Fumban, the capital of the Bamum kingdom, is the main market center for regional artworks, with thousands of artists working in a variety of media and hundreds of dealers trading artworks locally, nationally, and internationally (Fig. 4). The centrality of Fumban as art market and production center has deep historical roots, which can be traced to the aggressive expansive politics of Bamum leaders, their ability to assimilate conquered people, their ability to control artistic production for the court's display and for diplomatic exchanges, and the centralization of artist workshops around the palace (Forni in press; Geary 2011; Tardits 1980, 2004). In addition, Bamum leaders, and particularly King Njoya (r. 1886–1931), strategically used art as a vehicle of diplomatic and commercial exchange with the Europeans who explored and/or settled in the region since the early 1900s (Geary 1994). The political and diplomatic production supported by Bamum kings and notables rapidly morphed into a broader range of artworks when King Njoya, towards the end of his reign, released control over the sale of and access to prestigious goods, allowing court artists to work not only for the king and foreigners but also for a broader segment of local society.6 Other kingdoms specializing in art and prestige items production also saw the progressive expansion and diversification of their clientele, with workshops producing a broad range of objects for local, national, and international markets.The social and political transformations at the beginning of the twentieth century account for the remarkable concentration of workshops and dealers in the Grassfields, and Fumban in particular. Here production aesthetic and style have continued to morph and change as a response to the transformation of local demands as well as the continuing expansion of the African art market in Europe and North America, and more recently South Africa and Asia. Research by scholars of commercial art have highlighted creative dialogue between producers and consumers often mediated by dealers, acting as intermediaries and cultural brokers.7 In Fumban this dialogue and mediation has long been recognized as being a crucial aspect of creative production. Makers and brokers were not just passive recipients of the collecting and scientific interest of foreign agents and scholars, but they often took an active role in understanding the developments in the field of African art and in shaping it. Cultural brokers—whether kings, notables or dealers—understood the potential that artistic innovation had in sustaining a regional and international art market and strengthening the relevance of Fumban as an art-producing center.Missionary George Schwab, in a to the of the at on the role of his and field (Fig. in his collecting on of the that the museum for his a on African art. While is not or not any was museum of African artworks from the which were on for to with his interest in African art, at the when the was first being in the West through a process of and an of and, often and in the the early interest in African and art forms from other the for the production and aesthetic experimentation that many contemporary workshops in the in the Grassfields from the to different of experimentation in Cameroonian produced by Bamum in While many of these formal were with foreign in decades of production, artworks in different African have become into the material culture of the region (Forni century museums, and to be populated with material figures carved in different canonical African as or religious images, international and Grassfields artistic productions a variety of aesthetic that are and locally, a to art historical A a be found a in of the with power (Fig. carved inspired by power figures from the Republic of Congo are often in and palace masks the to the by the king and his the a African aesthetic and they as in displays. stylistic to with style in African art, who these of objects with a of and of the for these new is the of from Grassfields and local and have a more in their material culture of power than style the local the cultural displays that and political and religious are not by defined stylistic but on many to as well as new and aesthetic is by now creative experimentation with and is not a new for Grassfields workshops. In a similar pieces carved in foreign have long in public and where in many they have to to local through a somewhat of their formal I the palace of the of on the to place a mask one of the main to the palace (Fig. emphasis on the rather than the style of the In his the the to highlight the social and spiritual importance of in that the style is but is clearly a In not have masks that clearly This one the very this the of new and somewhat objects the public display of clearly just a in formal or but is the of a new to needs for which no in the local While formal innovation in local is through of artworks and objects in local urban contemporary artists a more to to and the needs of contemporary displays and complex and of and is the of the more production of artist Hervé an artist with rather international and (Fig. of longstanding artistic has been to on the blurred and of that are the of creative practices of contemporary to the of contemporary and the somewhat between and Youmbi and practices in the urban of many other urban of Youmbi a with his and the broader region, where for and In his and his artistic practice Youmbi different cultural and creative from his strategically artistic at from of between of and art of and of taxonomies is very at the of an artistic experimentation with the of one the most important and of Western is a complex conceptual in which Youmbi with the that and his identity as an internationally artist in is also by the of the culture that in some is a society throughout the region (Fig. and by different and the different of and is often at the of kingdoms and While of as the are throughout the region, others a rather of and is an with a in and long of that the body of the (Fig. Other have more defined zoomorphic or anthropomorphic figures with often or with bold and are that and as they are with that to who are not in the of the society and of relevance and role in local is a society that continues to young people to As an important is also the of creative innovation in public While the of are in rural and are clearly to the of that local identity in many they have not and across In Youmbi was to a in where of a from masks of a (Fig. This creative of a mask inspired by the The of and through a of the for on the of and the role that the artist in shaping local culture through creative in to that as a to started to the and of masks in and the of to mask and in the his is from the area, who was in the African Republic moving to had never explored in the between local religious and spiritual practices and the beliefs are embodied in the objects used in and In to that become a of Youmbi identified the centrality of the as a through which to to foreign in and the mask can be as an representation of a which, in the Grassfields can be with the spiritual realm at the of local In Grassfields arts great emphasis on the as the of of an in the as the main of the of their performative Yet they through a of elements that local and long-distance trade both colonial and of the older masks were decorated with and other material from masks, on the other new forms of commercial and cultural (Fig. from this Youmbi to new masks, in with local commercial artists who in and While the conceptual development of was long in the most of the pieces were in 2014 a at the contemporary art and cultural center by artist in in the of the Grassfields, Youmbi was to work with a of artists to his to a in Fumban, was with the of the of the mask (Fig. The was through various a The carved were to where they were by (Fig. and to and where and other decorative elements were (Fig. was to a body of work that would to the and in older at the a broader range of both Western and the various of the of on artistic production and in Africa in a and masks well-known African mask as and with the carved of the formal these masks are meant to the with the power of in the Grassfields, at the a of an of that historical stylistic from the region (Fig. In their and stylistic the masks are a of or that the artist towards his This is a the lasting of and the conceptual and that to place in the The also to the that and contemporary art by these different forms of artistic in and conceptual as a and this work and conceptual and Youmbi a not by ethnographic and taxonomies and the to a by as as by the of masks are in a by which display the objects as both artworks and contemporary art productions (Fig. to the museum and art the artist with the international art that is a of also a of cultural that of the contemporary art scene. the Youmbi also to the of local aesthetic displays. is as about producing masks that would the of urban as is about of the local in a about contemporary and the of stylistic to work with that were more than just a of a somewhat of and that a role in the shaping of the social and political of the Youmbi to as the of a dialogue that and the of to a of a more contemporary aesthetic at the a the of what is perceived as in to his masks had to the and be first manifestation of this of and artistic took place through the with Hervé artist in his Yamguen to the not as a but as a the of his Yamguen had been to his role as and at both the and the As of his Yamguen had to be and become a of the society of his Yamguen was to one of at his as a Yet was still to the formal of the to that the mask would be in of the (Fig. and Youmbi with the of the and other of the society of the of where Yamguen was to be they to and the new mask the field as of the public of the was very The of the and the of the were all to new forms of masks being for their While formal elements were to be as the of to be to the of the or the of the to the body of the others were clearly to and for a broad creative The mask that was for public as a new of was a of a that a to the elements of as the use of and the (Fig. masks the are more and in their formal are pieces in which Youmbi from a variety of African stylistic forms and that to the and aesthetics of the of West Cameroon. the mask that Youmbi for Yamguen was the only one that had from the of the in the art of to the performance, and to the in As continues his with local Youmbi is that other to one of his local as a to and the of is also that the performative a with and even the transformation and of the in to between his and the aesthetic of the performance.This between creativity and aesthetics is an feature of that at different on the one Youmbi to and the local of artists and offer a different creative through his on the also to control over the and that of the artists had a formal and understanding of the Youmbi was of the of and of local who for over a century had been to and market and their production to to local and international Youmbi the creative and aesthetic of the also to that of his masks would not become a feature of the art found in and throughout this was his first that with in Fumban and other in the Grassfields, was not the first that Youmbi Grassfields work in his masks were to his work (Fig. This with and the and the of over African by institutional and art market from Europe and North America of and market dynamics in the art were also the of of to (Fig. which was in and Youmbi and not just with contemporary African artists and their commercial artworks. As an artist and Youmbi has been very that this has to a been an in the of commercial workshops. his to Fumban, was new for the of these work continues to be found both in Grassfields and all over the practice of of workshops throughout the region and of artist as in the field the of the artist as main creative allowing for of and Yet to new formal and also to control over the which to and in a more and international art market than the one to the Fumban the to which inspired artworks and the significant and exchange that this has one of the most of is the of the display and artistic In the masks were as a contemporary art in the of the this contemporary art the pieces were of as an and conceptual to the various taxonomies and that spheres of meaning and in the contemporary art of the masks, have only as and artworks in the In their they were as a of cultural artworks in the as their and identified by that at used in museum and the through which objects are for While the and the international and of artworks, significance and is to their and their ability to and different have his work the artist to to taxonomies to a when they become and (Fig. is a that needs to in more and different than what is for contemporary art. While be in and in a international art of the in art and museum Youmbi his masks to be active agents in local In his the embodied in the field of be only the first of many of these objects of to the of this Youmbi to the somewhat dialogue with the international art of galleries and to in a material and performative with the people of the Cameroonian This is that not through an to the of an at a located at the of the area, by international is to the masks to the performative of the at the of the social and of local first in with a but also an artist and a that this dialogue and is and can very (Fig. Youmbi is that this is to a of mediation and on of the is also by the and understanding of the pieces that from the with a public that is to interested in art in a In an almost in at the of the of and was to and the to in the as of the As of the end of had on the and the was on to and international art Indeed, the of by the would even the conceptual and of the masks that would be somewhat in a still defined by a rather of the between different and of with the Youmbi has found new to his role as an in media and one of the elements in work is the on the broader and political that the various that as a contemporary Cameroonian artist who in the international art scene. this into what be or defined as a different of market and aesthetic Youmbi to a taxonomic that a more complex understanding of contemporary African creativity in Cameroon and

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Ethnography · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Performative utterance · Realm · Referent · Situated · Sociology · Visual arts · African history and culture studies · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Cultural Identity and Heritage · History · Philosophy

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