Wooden complex

Igbo, 20th century AD
From Nigeria

This carved, wooden complex consists of many images of power, such as horsemen, imported goods, military insignia, Europeans, rifles, wild beasts and masqueraders painted in white with black markings on the face. Such structures act as rallying points for public displays of dancing by different social groups. The images are carved separately and then pieced together on a central wooden armature.

The Igbo people also produce community shrines to honour and respect spirits which are represented by carved, standing figures of up to five feet high. Frequent offerings are made to ensure goodwill and the figures are decorated for annual festivals. The figures are placed in a public place with a roof to protect them.

The Igbo peoples are the largest ethnic group in south-eastern Nigeria. They set great store by personal success and achievement. Their villages and towns are headed by chiefs whose authority is organised via clans, local councils, men's societies, age-grades and associations who confer titles to designate social prestige and status. One institution, Ozo, utilise various objects to symbolize wealth, generosity, strength, intellect and moral integrity. The compound of a member of the Ozo institution has decorated doorways to indicate his membership and an obi, a shrine devoted to the ancestors of the head of the compound. Images carved into the portals include the Ozo staff, kola nut tray, knife and python and abstract motifs such as a lozenge and star. The lozenge represents the kola nut bowl, a symbol of hospitality and the star represents the head of the kola nut, a symbol of the ritual and social value of the kola.

H.M. Cole, Icons: ideals and power in the (Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989)

J. Perani and F.T. Smith, The visual arts of Africa: gen (Prentic Hall, New Jersey, 1998)

Ceramic altar for the new yam harvest festival


Igbo, probably late 19th century AD
From Nigeria

Around the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Igbo people of southern Nigeria made clay altars or shrines with a number of figures. The main crop of the Igbo was yam, and these altars were used at the new yam harvest festival to help produce good harvests and to emphasize the importance of the family in Igbo society.

This example consists of a central male chief holding a drinking-horn in his left hand and a fan in his right, both signs of his status. Either side of him are two pregnant women, probably his wives, with elaborate hairstyles and scarification, and holding fans. Seated in front is a servant or child with a fowl, possibly a sacrifice for the yam deity, Ifejioku.

In this region, as in most of sub-Saharan Africa, the potters are women. Normally only men are permitted to make representational and naturalistic figures. However, the creator of this piece was probably a post-menopausal woman who was perceived by society as having relinquished her female status.

T. Phillips (ed.), Africa, the art of a continent (London, Royal Academy, 1995)

Mask, Igbo; Nigeria
Wood, iron, pigments; H. 16 1/4"

This large and grotesque mask, displaying obvious aggressive attributes, fits within the category of masks referred to as Mgbedike. Masks such as this express concepts of strength, violence, and bravery. However, it cannot be ruled out that this mask may be of the type known as Ojionu (Cole & Aniakor, 1984.131). The impact of this mask would have been even greater were the traditional costume still intact–a large, shaggy tunic with numerous accoutrements. To the Igbo who created and danced with it, this mask represents the embodiment of bravery and potency.

[img]http://www.aug.edu/~artpxh/Class%20files/HUMN2002/IgboArt/IgboWebImages/36OgbodoEnyiLittleFigure70c.jpg[/img]

Mask, Ogbodo Enyi (elephant spirit), wood and pigment, 70.2 cm

Men’s Art:  Images of Status and Power

An Ikenga figure usually belongs to an individual man, although a village could have an Ikenga, and in a few cases, a woman could have one.  Achebe’s protagonist Okonkwo has a “personal god”, and this is surely his ikenga.  An ikenga combines the concepts of the man’s chi (which is a combination of personal power and fate), his ancestors, and the power of his right hand.  Young men acquire Ikengas at various ages.  A man could start with a simple Ikenga and get a more complex and elaborate one later in life.  If a man takes a title, he may order a new (more expensive, more impressive) Ikenga for the occasion.

Many Ikengas take the form of a human figure with horns on its head (although there are other types, such as disc-shaped Ikengas). Here are examples of simple horned ikengas:

The horns are often thought of as rams’ horns.  Sometimes the two horns look more like the two eagle feathers sometimes worn on the heads of titled men.  The horns symbolize manly strength and respect.

This ikenga clearly represents the horns as rams’ horns:

The strength of the man’s right hand is also emphasized.

This is an elaborate ikenga:

The horns appear as rams’ horns, and the figure carries a weapon in the right hand. The left hand holds a curved trumpet. In real life, a titled man would hold a trumpet made from an elephant’s tusk. The figures in the headdress on top of the head of the ikenga contain small heads wearing pith helmets, which would represent an influence from the British.




Painted wooden figures (ikenga), Igbo People, Nigeria

[img]http://www.aug.edu/~artpxh/Class%20files/HUMN2002/IgboArt/IgboWebImages/4IkengaNorthcentral.jpg[/img]

Ikenga, 76.1 cm

@OP,all masks are arushi(gods) or some are just masks with no "chi" attached to it ?

ifyalways:

@OP,all masks are arushi(gods) or some are just masks with no "chi" attached to it ?

They are treasures, not Gods and has never been so. Ndigbo has never worshipped gods but God in heaven called Chukwu or Chineke.
The advent of Christianity in Igboland is marvellous in our eyes for it only replaced the messengers but not God.
Mr Brown and the white men learnt some lessons about the Igbo belief in God when this issue was raised at Umuofia. Please see the last pages of Things Fall Apart (1958).

Andre Uweh:

They are treasures, not Gods and has never been so. Ndigbo has never worshipped gods but God in heaven called Chukwu or Chineke.
The advent of Christianity in Igboland is marvellous in our eyes for it only replaced the messengers but not God.
Mr Brown and the white men learnt some lessons about the Igbo belief in God when this issue was raised at Umuofia. Please see the last pages of Things Fall Apart (1958).

The advent of Christianity in Igboland is the worst thing that happened to the igbo-Nation!

Christianity stole our culture, values and respect for fellowman!

Christianity is a virus that has destroyed every good fabric of our culture and replace it corrupt foreign culture that has visited us with nothing good but woes!

greateros:

The advent of Christianity in Igboland is the worst thing that happened to the igbo-Nation!

Christianity stole our culture, values and respect for fellowman!

Christianity is a virus that has destroyed every good fabric of our culture and replace it corrupt foreign culture that has visited us with nothing good but woes!

Refer to the Igbo debate thread started by Andre Uweh.

Andre Uweh:

They are treasures, not Gods and has never been so. Ndigbo has never worshipped gods but God in heaven called Chukwu or Chineke.
The advent of Christianity in Igboland is marvellous in our eyes for it only replaced the messengers but not God.
Mr Brown and the white men learnt some lessons about the Igbo belief in God when this issue was raised at Umuofia. Please see the last pages of Things Fall Apart (1958).

Thank you.
I've seen and walked past a few okwu arushi's and no matter where or what it stands for,there is always a carved mask amongst other things.
Ogwugwu,Agbala and co are not represented with a carved mask  

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga1.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Nri-Awka Igbo

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga2.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Amobia, Nri-Awka Igbo (Now in Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (1938 15 43)

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga5.JPG[/img]

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga6.JPG[/img]


Ikenga Achalla, Nri-Awka Igbo

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga7.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Nimo, Nri-Awka Igbo (Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (1938 15 43)

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga8.JPG[/img]

Two Ikenga Nri-Awka Igbo

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga4.JPG[/img]

Three Ikenga Nimo, Nri-Awka Igbo

^^^Ehen those last images,are they not (or represent) deities(arushi)  

ifyalways:

^^^Ehen those last images,are they not (or represent) deities(arushi)  

Yes, they do represent deities.

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga9.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Nri-Awka Igbo

Ikenga is the embodiment of traditional male leadership and power among the Igbo. The shrine expresses their personal spirit, chi, a source of strength and courage. Ikenga visualizes the authority of leadership; the ability to sit in judgement and be a warrior-chief. The horns refer to the powerful and agressive nature of the ram.

A magnificent, provenanced piece of Tribal Art. This exceptional Igbo people Ikenga Statue dates to the early 20th Century and originates from Nigeria.

The Igbo are a tribe of approximately eight million who occupy the northern part of the Niger River delta in the West African state of Nigeria. This is an area of forests and fertile swampland, exploited by the Igbo, who are skilled farmers. Power is concentrated in the hands of the Elders, but this is counter-balanced by secret societies.

The figure depicts a seated, horned male, his forehead scarred and his mouth open to reveal his teeth. In his right hand he holds a curved blade and in his left he holds a decapitated head, its eyes half closed and its forehead scarred centrally. He is nude with the exception of a shawl. He wears bangles on his arms and legs and a necklace around his neck. The theme is very clearly one of a 'headhunter'.

Ikenga figures such as this are some of the most well known and sought-after types of Tribal art. Not only are they of great artistic merit, but they are a fascinating and integral part of the Igbo Culture. Ikenga figures are kept on altars, hence their flat base, and receive prayers and libations before important events. They are used for protection, good luck and strength as well as to symbolize the power and courage that Igbo warriors aspire to.1 These qualities are particularly evident in this example, which is one of the finest such figures we have seen.

Height, mounted: 34 inches.

Provenance: Originally field collected in the 1960's by Josef Lagergren, Swedish missionary working in the Kongo and Benin. Subsequently sold in 1969 by Gallery Leger, Sodra Vagen, Gothenburg. Subsequently in the collection of architect, Kalle Jonsson. Ex Bonhams. Ex British Private collection.

[img]http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/buildings&CISOPTR=6077[/img]

[img]http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/buildings&CISOPTR=6050[/img]

Mbari shrine house

To Ala. Ala is an Igbo spiritual force.

[img]http://3.bp..com/_QVW98iGMXHI/TN5Vh2yc3mI/AAAAAAAAMzA/oen6CQ5lamw/s400/igbo%2Bstatue.JPG[/img]

Igbo Painted Shrine Sculpture (Alusi)

Igbo Terracotta Sculpture of a Family Group - PF.4973
Origin: Southeastern Nigeria
Circa: 20 th Century AD
Dimensions: 12.75" (32.4cm) high x 10.5" (26.7cm) wide
Collection: African
Style: Igbo
Medium: Terracotta

Igbo Shrine Panel, Nigeria

[img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR0TrZkMDJ9zV5la_tVaD2G1z0Jsx1iugNxc1Cyzy5JEC0giUeWgA&t=1[/img]

Amadioha

Omenani:

[img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR0TrZkMDJ9zV5la_tVaD2G1z0Jsx1iugNxc1Cyzy5JEC0giUeWgA&t=1[/img]

Amadioha

amadioha is wearing tie and white collar T-shirt

why is the originality of his costum or clothe he would be wearing back in his days or in his place.

i mean it is not white collar shirt and tie, that was brought by the white people to africa

just and observation

moreove omenani can get me the reason why most of the igbo gods or idol back in those days have horns of one form or the other

ifyalways:

Thank you.
I've seen and walked past a few okwu arushi's and no matter where or what it stands for,there is always a carved mask amongst other things.
Ogwugwu,Agbala and co are not represented with a carved mask  

Agbala is what Christian call the "Holy Spirit", Anyanwu is "Jesus".

Omenani:






Igbo Shrine Panel, Nigeria

This is Kalabari.


I know, same thing.