"It's better not to shoot at the leopard than to shoot and miss." Ashanti proverb

Portuguese sailors in search of a route to India arrived in the African kingdom of Benin (now southern Nigeria) in 1485. They found there a city as large and bustling as those they knew back home. The great warrior-king Ewuare (eh-woo-AYE-ray), who ruled from 1440 to 1473, had expanded the kingdom’s boundaries and rebuilt the capital, Benin City. To solidify the authority and power of the king, or oba, Ewuare started some new traditions that would last for centuries.

One such tradition, linking the oba with leopards, began with a story from the days before Ewuare became king. One day, Ewuare took a nap under a tree and awoke to find blood dripping on him. Looking up into the branches, he saw a leopard with a dead antelope in its mouth. Ewuare leapt to his feet and killed the animal. He saw this close call as an omen of his good fortune and future kingship. The leopard might be the mightiest of wild beasts, but the oba was even mightier. From then on, the leopard symbolized the oba’s special powers.

Ewuare and the obas who came after him kept caged leopards, wore leopard skins, and were called “leopard” by their subjects. Court artists produced all kinds of leopard images for royal costumes and ceremonies. Like most royal art, leopard images were generally crafted out of durable materials—in this case bronze—to suggest the permanence of the oba’s power.

This leopard, made in the 17th century, is actually a pitcher for pouring water (it has a hole at the top of its head and holes in its nostrils). The oba would have used it in ceremonies honoring an ancestral oba. When not in use, the leopard stood inside a shrine to the ancestor, in the oba’s palace.

Excerpt from "Around the World at the Time of Columbus" Teacher Resource.

Artist: Artist Unknown (Benin)
Date: 17th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: H.17 x L.26 in.
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 58.9

In traditional Africa, a spirit inhabits a mask upon its creation. When a man puts on a mask and costume he gives up his own being. The identity of the spirit takes over. Sometimes this spirit can be of another person, such as an ancestor. Other times the spirit is an animal or natural force.

The person who performs with a mask, called a masker, will undergo a physical change. The costume worn with a mask is just as important as the mask itself. A masker dresses in private and covers every inch of his body to conceal his identity. Costumes can be quite complex, made with hoops, padding, poles, and layers of fabric and raffia. Unfortunately, while many museums collect masks, very few costumes survive.

The masked spirit appears to the community in a music and dance performance known as a masquerade. Sometimes the spirit's movements are unpredictable. Although audience members know that a human being is behind the mask, they accept that the spirit of the mask is present. They may respond to the spirit with fear or joy, depending on the purpose of the spirit's visit.

Excerpt from "African Masks and Masquerade" Teacher Resource.

Artist: Artist Unknown (Chokwe)
Date: c.1910
Size: 7 1/4 in. (18.42 cm) (mask)10 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (26.67 x 26.67 cm) (headdress)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 86.16

Like other memorial screens made during the 19th century, this one is made of wood and raffia and features three figures carved from odumdum wood, chosen because of its allegorical association with orderly human social life. The construction of memorial screens is typical of Kalabari art. The heads, bodies, appendages, and accessories are individually carved and then assembled with nails, raffia, staples, and pegs, in relief against the backdrop of a rigidly framed wicker screen. This type of assembled relief construction produces a visual effect quite different from freestanding three-dimensional sculptures.

The large central figure represents the leading Kalabari citizen to whom the screen pays homage. His large size emphasizes his importance relative to the two smaller flanking figures, who probably represent his kinsmen. The artist does not represent the leader through individualized features as in a portrait, but rather by the accessories that he wears and holds. This man wears an Ekine society headdress of the Alagbamasquerade which indicates his prestige. The objects he and his followers once held were small carved attributes of leadership such as a canoe paddle, a tusk, a staff, a fan, or a fly whisk. The smaller figures wear either knitted caps or special Sansun hats.

Originally they all probably wore cloth skirts around their waists. The pegs above the frame probably supported a row of small heads that symbolized the great numbers of dependents this leader had. The letters DP on the top and sides of this frame may identify the house of the deceased as the Don Pedro house, but this cannot be proven with certainty.

Typical of Kalabari art, the figures are abstract, symmetrical, and frontal. The artist reduces the various anatomical features to stylized geometric components: large ovoid heads, eyes, and mouths; flat, rectangular torsos; and rigid outstretched arms and bent legs. The tongue-shaped brown forms may represent their chests or their shoulder blades. The dotted lines painted down their torsos represent the backbone, and reinforce the human quality of the ancestors who continue to be personally involved with their descendants.

Excerpt from the MIA Education Division Docent Manual Article, "Kalabari Ijaw Duein Fubara (Memorial Screen)."

Artist: Artist Unknown (Ijo)
Date: late 19th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 37 1/2 x 28 x 9 3/4 in. (95.3 x 71.1 x 24.8 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 74.22

Luba staffs often contain many layers of meaning, the most obscure perhaps known only to the bearer. The staff itself is sometimes thought of as a "map" of Luba territory, the decorated flat areas representing political centers and the undecorated shaft uninhabited territory. (The Luba people inhabit southeast Zaire, Africa.) Movement of groups of Luba people, or of historic personages, can be read in the designs that connect one part of the staff to another—mountains or other environmental features may be encoded in geometric design. At the top of this example, a seated female figure emphasizes the important role of women as the foundation of matrilineal society. The pattern of decorative scars on the abdomen makes visible her cultural identity as Luba. The pose of the figure, with hands to breasts, appears on much African sculpture as a gesture of respect and generosity. Beautifully carved and worn smooth from use, this elegant image of power is also testimony to the complexity of Luba speculative thought.

Excerpt from MIA Magazine, 1996 "New Exhibition at the Institute: 'Staffs of Life: Rods, Staffs, Scepters, and Wands from the Coudron Collection of African Art'  February 10-March 31, 1996, Cowles Gallery"

Artist: Artist Unknown (Luba)
Date: 20th century
Size: 60 x 4 7/8 x 2 1/2 in. (152.4 x 12.4 x 6.4 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 95.102

Even among the capable Bakubas a ritual mask carved from a single piece of wood such proportion is exceedingly rare. Most Bakuba masks are of the frontal type. The Institute's example, carved in the round and conceived with a strong architectonic sense, must be considered a work of exceptional quality within its field. Bakuba masks vary between a wide range of realistic and non-realistic quality found in the Institute's example is its scale, which, with its decoration, creates an impression of darkness and fear of the unknown. Decoration of these masks also varies tremendously. Some are found with human hair, nails, studs, and a great deal of paint. Others, like the Institute's mask, are handled with greater restraint and, to us, seem more effective. For example, very few colors have been added to the Institute's head. The wood itself has been stained and rubbed until it has acquired a black patina. The eyes and mouth have been highlighted with white circles, the beard, hair and headdress have received light touches of white and brown and red color. However, it is the white around the eyes and mouth which must have made this mask stand out when used in night jungle ceremonies. Although countless fetishes and masks must have been created for a single ceremony and then discarded, our mask was probably intended for repeated use.

Excerpt from MIA Arts Bulletin, 1954 "African Ceremonial Mask Acquired by Gift."

Artist: Artist Unknown (Luba)
Date: 19th century
Size: 19 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 17 in. (49.5 x 39.4 x 43.2 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 53.14