Baule mask. Piece over 30 years old. Delivered on base.

In African art, the art of the Baoulé occupy a special place. The finesse of execution of Baoulé masks and Baoulé statues makes them particularly accessible to Western tastes.

Baoulé sculpture on wood has the finesse of goldsmithing: the sculpture is very refined, the surfaces are very polished, the representation of the scarifications, the jewels, the hairstyle, the face is done in a neat and meticulous way.

Among the African Baoulé statues, there are two main types:

* Baoulé statues of husbands from beyond (blolo bla) or wives from beyond (blolo bian).

* Baoulé statues representing a spirit or genius of nature with the aim of appeasing them. Asiè usu (“genius of nature”) statues are less common than (blo bla). The difference for differentiates them from each other and the following. The genius of nature is always seated while the husband of the beyond is always standing.

One distinguishes in the Baoulé statues the evocations of spirits of nature (with sacrificial patina) and those of the spirits favorable to the amorous relations (with polished patina). The first type of statue represents the spirits of the bush with ambivalent power, as often in Africa, who are feared for their malevolence: The statues of these spirits of the bush are honored to appease them and acquire their good grace and protection.

There are Baoulé masks of ancestors. Baoulé masks have the same characteristics as statues: elegant, finely sculpted and polished.

Otherwise there are zoomorphic Baoulé masks, reminiscent of the buffalo and the antelope. These masks are always worn by men. They have a different realization of the Baoulé masks portraits of ancestors, they are more conceptual and schematic because they represent spirits.

The Baoulé occupy part of the center of Côte d'Ivoire, both savannah and forest.

Baoulé statues

Baoulé statues correspond to 2 different types of worship:

    One corresponds to the husband (the wife) of the beyond who, to be appeased, demands the creation of a Baoulé statue in the effigy of the husband (the wife) of the beyond and an altar in the hut of the individual concerned. The need for a husband or wife from beyond is signaled by misfortunes and through a dream. It is for example following sexual disorders, in men, sterility in women. A man will have his wife blolo bian as a statue and a woman will have her husband from beyond blolo bla. This Baoulé statue must be taken with you on all trips. Its owner washes it, wipes it, feeds it, caresses it: hence the beautiful patina of this kind of work. After the death of its owner, the blolo bian or blolo bla statuette is discarded or abandoned.

    The other type of Baoulé sculpture will represent a spirit and will have the role of appeasing it. The Baoulé statues of spirit or genius of nature are always seated while the spouses of the beyond are always standing. We distinguish the spirits of nature asi asu with a sacrificial patina and the spirits conducive to romantic relationships with a polished patina. The spirits of the forest and the bush are imagined to be hideous: hunchbacks, feet turned backwards, dirty skin, red hair, with huge eyes and only one arm...Very dangerous, they can have an adverse effect on agriculture, hunting, health. Coaxed by sacrifices, they can become favorable to humans. It begins with a consultation with the diviner who identifies the cause of the misfortunes and prescribes remedies, consisting in having Baoulé statuettes carved for which he indicates the sex, attitude, hairstyle and wood to be used. The sculptor makes the Baoulé statuette by drawing inspiration from the physical aspect of his possessed client in a trance. After the death of its owner, the Baoulé statuette is carefully preserved and the cult is continued by the descendants. The harmonious appearance of the statuettes of these spirits of nature comes from the fact that they would not go to inhabit them if they were given the hideous forms which are theirs. These Baoulé statues have an idealized human aspect, with beautiful hairstyles and ethnic tattoos, which give them a civilized air making them favorable to those who practice their worship. On these asi asu we notice the traces of sacrifices: food, raw eggs, blood of the victims, hence the crusty patina.

Baoulé masks

The Baoulé have masks, no doubt, under the influence of their Gouro or Sénoufo neighbors. There are Baoulé masks of ancestors but which now have a secular role and appear during entertainment dances. These portraits have the same characteristics as statuary: elegant, finely sculpted and polished. They show great regional diversity in hairstyles and tattoos. . The double Baoulé mask represents the marriage of the sun and the moon or twins whose birth is always a good sign.

Otherwise there are zoomorphic Baoulé masks, reminiscent of the buffalo and the antelope. They are always worn by men. They have a different realization of the Baoulé masks portraits of ancestors, they are more conceptual and schematic because they represent spirits. In the past they were worn during funeral ceremonies to attract the graces of the beyond, to cure illnesses and to ward off sorcerers. These Baoulé masks correspond to 3 types of dances: the gba gba, the bonu amuen and the goli:

    The gba gba, of Gouro origin, is used for women's funerals during the harvest period. It celebrates beauty and age, hence the finesse of its features.

    The bonus amuen protects the village from external threats. It obliges the women to a strong discipline and it appears during the commemorations of the death of notables. The bush spirits have their own sanctuary where they receive sacrifices. When the spirits intervene in community life, their masks have the shape of a wooden helmet representing a buffalo or an antelope and are worn with raffia costumes, metal ankle bracelets. The muzzle has teeth symbolizing the strength of the animal which must defend them.

    The Goli can be danced both for entertainment and on the occasion of funerals of important people. It was borrowed from the Wan after 1900. The kple kple mask has a round shape, surmounted by two horns. The male mask is red, the female mask black (sometimes the reverse in some villages). It often appears in pairs in the Goli dance and is followed by a pair of zoomorphic helm masks (Goli Glen), then a pair of horned face masks (Kpan Pre) and finally two man-head masks with braided hairstyles crest (Kpan). Although each mask pair includes both male and female elements, the first two pairs are considered to have predominantly male personalities. Goli masks are larger and heavier than other Baoulé masks.

There is also a divination instrument called a mouse oracle, made up of pottery placed on a wooden base. The oracle is made up of two communicating floors. On the upper floor, the diviner places food next to a turtle shell containing small bones or a piece of iron to which are attached small sticks adorned with pearls. We put the lid on the box and we wait for the mouse to come up and eat the food. the box is then opened and the diviner deciphers the message by analyzing the arrangement of the rods or bones moved by the mouse.

The Baoulé also created figures of monkeys, endowed with a prognathic jaw with pointed teeth, a grainy patina due to the sacrifices, the monkey holds a cup or a pestle in its hands. Sometimes the monkey would intervene in divination rituals, sometimes he would be a protection against sorcerers, sometimes a protective deity of agrarian rites, sometimes a genius of the bush. This cult would be relatively recent.

The Baoulé sculptor and his characteristics

The profession of sculptor is not hereditary and results from a personal choice or a desire that manifests itself during a dream or a crisis of possession.

There is a great mobility of people and works of art among the Baoulé. These trips are an opportunity to commission a new type of sculpture or to adopt a new type of dance from another village. Artists may have learned in a workshop and perform very different works from that workshop. Artists travel and can sometimes work for clients living far from home.

The Baoulé have a wood sculpture that has the qualities of goldsmithery: extremely refined sculptures, highly polished surfaces, representation of scarifications, hairstyles, jewelry made in a neat and meticulous way.

Baoulé statuary is characterized by a certain realism, with Baoulé canons of beauty: round calves for women, long hands with slender fingers, small buttocks. The harmonious hairstyle is made of many finely braided pigtails. The beard is neat and sometimes braided. The patina is smooth.

Baoulé religion and rituals

The Baoulé believe in a creator god called Nyamien, intangible and inaccessible. The earth god named Asia who controls men and animals. Spirits or Amuen are endowed with supernatural powers. The real world is the opposite of the spiritual world, called blolo, where souls come from at birth and where they return at death. Religion has as its main precept the recognition of the death and immortality of the soul. The ancestors are the object of a cult but are not represented. In the past, a death was never considered natural. So we were looking for his manager. The heir was the brother or sister born of the same mother as the deceased, as it was considered that there is no certainty of being the real son of his father.

Rituals can evolve. The creation of a new cult can be decided following a dream or a crisis of possession during which the spirit reveals itself to the dreamer or the possessed and explains to him the ritual, the rules and the objects that he he must acquire or manufacture.

Sculptures and wooden masks help to create a closer contact with the supernatural world.

The Baoulé believe that an individual comprises a body, a double and a soul. Each being would have a respondent in the other world: blolo. To this celestial personage are dedicated statues to which offerings are made.