ABSTRACT
The understanding and appreciation of African sculpture internationally has been dominated by Western scholarship. In the hands of Western scholars, the objects involved have progressed from exotic curiosities to anthropological artifacts to works of art that are sometimes accorded masterpiece status today. This last stage is evidenced by the manner in which they are displayed, elaborately mounted in floodlit museums and galleries, severed from their cultures of origin, and treated as if primarily works of art.
African scholars who become intellectually involved with the situation have by and large sought to reintegrate such pieces with their cultures of origin. They argue that understanding and appreciating African sculpture from African points of view, as well, will illumine the indigenous aesthetic and other values that govern their creation and meaning. They have also made some telling critiques of what they see as the Western presumption to speak authoritatively on behalf of non-Western cultures. One consequence of these exchanges between Africa and the West is a growing recognition by the parties concerned that what African sculpture ‘is’ for Western culture is not what African sculpture ‘is’ for African cultures.
More has been published on the sculpture of the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria than any other African ethnic group. The very distinct roles of sculpture in that culture and the underlying aesthetic criteria have been studied and analyzed by scholars who are products of that culture. Their work demonstrates how superficial was the general approach that invoked mute repetitive tradition to account for the creation and use of sculpture. In this chapter, particular attention is paid to the work of ‘Wole Soyinka, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, and Rowland Abiodun, Professor of Art and Art History at Amherst College, USA. Yoruba aesthetic experiences that involve both tragic and banal dimensions to life, as well as sculpture, provide access to realities that make ‘art’ truly vital and profound.
