African Ceramics
Historical Examples
Contemporary Approaches
Nok Art
In 1943, tin mining in the vicinity of the village of Nok near the Jos Plateau region of Nigeria brought to light a
terracotta head, evidence of the oldest known figurative sculpture south of the Sahara.
Although stylistically related heads, figures, animals, and pottery shards have been found in a number of
Nigerian sites since that time, such works are identified by the name of the small village where the first
terracotta head was discovered.
Artifacts continue to be unearthed without documentation of the context in which they were buried, a lack of
extensive archaeological study that has severely limited our understanding of Nok terracottas.
One of the earliest African centers of ironworking and terracotta figure production, the Nok culture remains an
enigma. Many Nok pieces have been illegally exhumed and expropriated. Nok terra cottas are now on the list
of threatened world heritage objects.
Most Nok sculpture is hollow and coil-built like
pottery
The slip (the mixture of clay and water used to
give pottery surfaces an even texture) of many
Nok terracottas has eroded, leaving a grainy,
pocked exterior that does not reflect their
original smooth appearance. Most of the Nok
sculpture found consists of what appear to be
portrait heads and bodies fragmented by
damage and age.
Nok Head
from Jemaa, Nigeria
5th century B.C.E.
terracotta
9 13/16 in. high
Although every Nok sculptures is
unique, certain stylistic traits are
found throughout the body of
known work. Triangular eyes and
perforated pupils, noses, mouths,
and ears combine to depict men
and women with bold, abstracted
features. Typically the head is the
area of most importance. The body
and legs are shaped like columns.
Perhaps the most striking aspects of
Nok sculptures are the elaborately
detailed hairstyles and jewelry that
adorn many of the figures.
Seated Dignitary, c. 250 B.C.
Nok People, Africa, Eastern Nigeria, Nok
PlateauFired Clay
H. 36 1/4 x W. 10 7/8 x D.14 in.
Genuflecting Figure
Ife Art – Ife is the sacred city of the
Yoruba people
An important urban center in contemporary southwestern Nigeria, Ife's origins can
be traced back to around 350 B.C., when it began as a cluster of some thirteen
hamlets. Ife holds particular significance to the Yoruba, a traditionally urban people
who represent one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria and on the African
continent.
According to the Yoruba worldview, Ife is the place of origin of all humankind and is
therefore of particular religious and political importance. Here the deities Odudua and
Obatala, under instruction from the creator Olodumare, began the creation of the world.
Obatala has become associated primarily with the creation of the first humans with clay,
while Odudua's legacy as the first divine king of the Yoruba is political. Yoruba monarchs
still trace their lineage back to the founding of Ife, and it remains the seat of Yoruba sacred
kingship. The Oni (King) of Ife, himself considered to be descended from the god Odudua,
determines the legitimacy of all other Yoruba kings by assessing their right to wear royal
beaded crowns.
Title: Head of a king (oni), from Ife, Nigeria
Date: Yoruba culture, c. 12th-15th century
Medium: Bronze
Size: height 11 7/16" (29cm)
A tradition of naturalistic figure
sculpture began in Ife about 1050
CE. And flourished for four
centuries. These figures were
contemporaneous with the Middle
Ages in a Europe. While Europe
abandoned naturalistic style in
favor of an abstract, symbolic
style, a naturalistic style flourished
in Africa. The portraits appear in
clay and bronze.
.
We do not know whether these heads are
idealized or realistic individual portraits.
Leo Frobenius
The sculptures of the Ife were
exposed to the world in 1910 by
the German ethnographer Leo
Frobenius. They were so
naturalistic that Frobenius
concluded that they could not
have been made by Africans, but
rather by some unknown
civilization. He believed that a
great civilization existed in the
heart of Africa, and that it
gradually disappeared. Later,
archeologists, however, attributed
the artifacts found by Frobenius
as belonging to the Yoruba
culture.
The naturalism of Ife sculpture
continued to lead many 20th Century
Europeans to question whether it was
from African because it went against
all of their assertions to the
“primitive” aspect of African art. They
suggested in was made by those from
the Lost City of Atlantis, or that it had
to have been influenced by ancient
Greece or Renaissance Europe.
Shrine Head
Ife people
YorubaTerracotta
H. 12 in., W. 5 3/4 in.
The locals knew better
The contemporary Oni court
recognized symbols of kingships on
these early sculptures so
archaeologists believe they are
representations of rulers.
Some sculptures have lines depicting
scarification patterns. One dynasty of
kings adopted this practice while
another did not, so Ife heads can
come with lines or without. Holes on
scalp may indicated the original
attachment of a crown or beaded veil
. Some figures have holes for a beard
attachment.
A Ritualized Court Art
Ife art was a court art; it
represented royal figures and
their attendants.
These heads may have been
attached to wooden bodies in
the king’s funeral or perhaps
brought out in other
ceremonial processions. Based
on what we know of Ife culture,
this king when he was alive may
have only showed his face to
his court. In larger public
gatherings, he may have
appeared with his face covered
in beads so his person would
not be desecrated outside the
sanctity of court.
Figure of Oni
Early 14th-15th century AD
This is the only full
figure bronze
surviving from ancient
Ife. It is 47 cm tall.
The king wears a
crown. He holds a
medicinal ram’s horn
in his left hand and a
staff in his right hand.
He has a ceremonial
collar, beads and toe
rings.
Ceramic Heads were
found along with bronze
heads. Contrast the two
materials.
Crowned Head of a
Queen, 12th-15th c. CE, ceramic,
23.2 cm.
The city of Ife takes its name from
terra cotta paved walkways. IleIfe means the place of paving.
This head has lost royal insignia at
the bottom of the crown. This
head came from the royal
sanctuary of Ita Yemoo . It had
commorative value and was used
in ceremonies honoring cults of
the ancestors.
Sub-Saharan Coiling
Coiled pots such as the one below were and are used
for storage, beer making and rituals.
Nesta Nala and the Zulu Village Pottery Tradition.
Women passing on techniques through family lineages.
(1940-2005) Nesta Nala is today recognized as the finest
exponent of her craft - which she learned from her mother
Siphiwe, who in turn inherited this skill from her mother.
Nala passed it on to her daughters.
Crafting a pot is an arduous process that begins with digging
brown and red clay from two separate sites far apart. Fine
grinding and delicate mixing are done with traditional
implements. Not using a wheel, Nala put vertically rolled
coils of clay onto a flat base to build up the vessel.
Decorating involves removing a V-shaped bit of hard clay,
filling it with soft clay which is then decorated in the
Umasumpa style. After burnishing with river stones, the
firing is done with dry grass and aloe leaves in a shallow pit.
The reddish brown is then smoked over and blackened. Final
finishing involves animal fat and polishing.
In addition to her daughters, Nesta Nala also taught her
coiling skills to members of the Magwaza family. Their
traditional Zulu pottery is also prized today
Clive Sithole, a South African potter working with traditional
forms and techniques, but an urban man schooled at university.
Contemporary Ceramics in Africa and African Inspired
Ceramics Elsewhere
Issues of Diaspora, Patronage, Colonialism, War and Identity
19th century import pot from the Belgian Congo.
Hybridization, Trade, Colonialism
Europeans and European-Africans
First Story: Michael Cardew
• IN 1950 the English studio potter Michael
Cardew was recruited by the Nigerian colonial
Government as Pottery Officer. Looked at from
a contemporary vantage point, for the colonial
government to “improve” the pottery
techniques of Nigeria was odd, considering that
Nigerian pots, made according to the
traditional method practiced for centuries,
were magnificent. However Michael Cardew
was one of the best publicist ever for West
Africa`s traditional potters even as he worked
to create a new network of rural Potteries using
techniques foreign to the region.
Ladi Kwali
She was a traditional Nigerian potter who used handbuilt
coils. Her work had already gained recognition when
Cardew invited her to join his pottery. she learned to throw
pots on the wheel. She continued to make hand built pots
but hese were glazed and fired in a high-temperature kiln
and represent a hybrid of traditional African and western
studio pottery. Through her contact with Cardew, she and
her work became well known. She became Nigeria’s bestknown pottter and the Abuja pottery was renamed Ladi
Kwali Pottery.
Ladi Kwali
Fee Halsted Berning and Ardmore Ceramics in South Africa.
Berning was born in Zimbabwe, learned ceramics in South Africa, married and
converted a farm into the first of several pottery workshops devoted to
painted pottery. Many of the workers have become recognized artists and
the pots sell for high prices at auction houses.
While the pottery has provided jobs, a dependable income and even
name recognition, it also shows inequalities in South African life. The
pottery’s artists have little formal education and Berning’s role is that
of director and stylist. The artist/workers experiment within her style.
Sculpture and a dish by Berning’s first pupil Bonnie Ntshalintshali
Two African Artists educated abroad. Issues of cultural
migration and hybridization: Magdalen Odundo and Helga
Gamboa
Helen Gamboa – Angola/United Kingdom
“In my work I draw inspiration from African artifacts and their role in
society, and I explore the history of my country, Angola, as well as my
own personal history and cultural identity. I am especially concerned
with the fragility of women and children in my society.”
* Trained in England, inspired by tradition.
*Uses post-modern juxtaposition and appropriation to describe polyvalent
and fractured post-colonial identity. Sources: Portuguese blue and white
ware, decals of contemporary and historic images, traditional coiled pottery
shapes and designs.
Magdalene Odundo –Kenyan, ceramics education in
Great Britain, Nigeria and the American Southwest.
• “You can work from
the African tradition
and also view it from a
distance. That was my
culture shock: I
thought I had left
behind something
that was mine,
whereas I had actually
gained something
new.”
Magdalene Odundo
• Influences: Michael Cardew, Hans Coper
(English), Maria Martinez and Pueblo potters,
Nigerian and Kenyan potters, basket makers.
Two late career African-American Potters, Involvement in Africa and
African Influence
Winnie Owens Hart and David MacDonald.
Winnie Owens Hart
Born Washington DC, teaches at Howard University. Learned from
craftswomen in Ghana and helped to establish ceramic programs in
that and other countries. Her work is influenced by ceramic traditions
of Ghana and Nigeria .
David MacDonald
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, MacDonald's work received
most of its creative inspiration from his investigation of his African
heritage. Looking at a variety of design sources in the vast creative
tradition of the African continent, MacDonald draws much of his
inspiration from the myriad examples of surface decoration that
manifests itself in the many ethnic groups of sub-Saharan Africa
(such as pottery decoration, textiles, body decoration, and
architectural decoration).
David MacDonald