Virtual art tour (inspired by The Art Issue of The New York Review of Books): Sahel

Megalith. 8th–9th century. This rugged, carved megalith, distinctive for its lyrelike shape, was originally among more than one thousand stone monuments positioned in some ninety-three circles within a sixty-two mile band extending along the Gambia River. Four major concentrations of these have been found, including at the site of Wanar, which saw consistent if discontinuous occupation from the late second millennium B.C. until the twelfth century A.D. The creators of these enigmatic monuments were likely highly mobile herder farmers belonging to intermediate-scale communities. Their members may have periodically assembled at ritually specified times and been unified by a common regional identity. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 199. Photo: Antoine Tempé. Title: Megalith. Date: 8th–9th century. Geography: Senegal, Kaolack region. Medium: Lateritic conglomerate. Dimensions: H. 82 11/16 × W. 63 × D. 31 1/2 in., 8862.5 lb. (210 × 160 × 80 cm, 4020 kg). Classification: Stone-Sculpture. Credit Line: Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal (IFAN). Photo and caption: The Met.

Pendant: Equestrian. 19th century. Dogon or Bozo peoples. Functional and sacred metalwork and ceramics were produced and consumed across the Middle Niger. As blacksmiths mastered the manipulation of various metals, they developed ambitious imagery that paralleled examples in fired clay. Notable among these shared subjects was the equestrian figure. The small scale of this intimate cast creation suggests a talisman worn upon the body. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 199. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art (photo by Peter Zeray). Title: Pendant: Equestrian. Date: 19th century. Geography: Mali. Culture: Dogon or Bozo peoples. Medium: Copper alloy. Dimensions: H. 3 1/2 × W. 3 1/4 × D. 1/2 × L. 3 5/8 in. (8.9 × 8.3 × 1.3 × 9.2 cm). Classification: Metal-Ornaments. Credit Line: Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1975. Accession Number: 1975.205. Photo and caption: The Met.

Boli. 19th–20th century. Bamana peoples. Segu’s leaders maintained political power through the possession and control of four potent occult objects known as “the great boliw of Segu.” Sometimes described as portable altars, boliw are understood to be a microcosm of the universe. Their surfaces are formed by packing, layering, and blending sacrificial materials into an indeterminate form that is believed to be a source of mystical power deliberately inaccessible to the uninitiated. Boliw were the primary targets of the jihad waged by the Umarian army. At the time of ‘Umar Tal’s victory over Segu, the leader’s chronicler Mamadou Ali Cam wrote: "The Differentiator [‘Umar Tal] then said to them [Bina Ali and the defeated Bamana]: “Now break them [the idols], crush them, and build mosques in all of Segu.” Ali said: “You mock me. You alone can smash them and survive. Anyone else would not live to tell the tale.” . . . Then the Unique One [‘Umar Tal] rose up and crushed [the idols] with his powerful hand, imitating the action of the Elected One [Muhammad] at Medina.”" On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 199. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art (photo by Peter Zeray). Boli, Wood, sacrificial materials, Bamana peoples. Title: Boli. Date: 19th–20th century. Geography: Mali. Culture: Bamana peoples. Medium: Wood, sacrificial materials. Dimensions: H. 12 1/2 × W. 7 1/2 × D. 17 3/4 in. (31.8 × 19.1 × 45.1 cm). Classification: Wood-Sculpture. Credit Line: Collection of Francesco Pellizzi, New York. Photo and caption: The Met.

The New York Review of Books: The Art Issue, 14 May 2020.
Corona lockdown art museum visits.

For the first time in the 125-year old history of the cinema, movie theatres are closed worldwide. The same with museums and galleries. In an innovative way, The New York Review of Books has dedicated an issue for art exhibitions that can be visited online. It's not the same thing but better than nothing! I started two weeks ago with my first one, Gerhard Richter: Painting After All (Met Breuer, New York). The visual quality of the museums' digital tours is high. They are worth visiting on a good television screen.

Following the NYRB Art Issue page by page, my next exhibition is Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara, introduced by an essay by Howard W. French: Treasures of the Sahel.

Virtual visit:
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City): Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara.
The Met Fifth Avenue January 30–August 23, 2020

Exhibition Overview of Metropolitan Museum of Art: "From the first millennium, the western Sahel—a vast region in Africa just south of the Sahara Desert that spans what is today Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger—was the birthplace of a succession of influential polities. Fueled by a network of global trade routes extending across the region, the empires of Ghana (300–1200), Mali (1230–1600), Songhay (1464–1591), and Segu (1640–1861) cultivated an enormously rich material culture."

"Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara is the first exhibition of its kind to trace the legacy of those mighty states and what they produced in the visual arts. The presentation brings into focus transformative developments—such as the rise and fall of political dynasties, and the arrival of Islam—through some two hundred objects, including sculptures in wood, stone, fired clay, and bronze; objects in gold and cast metal; woven and dyed textiles; and illuminated manuscripts."

"Highlights include loans from the region's national collections, such as a magnificent ancient terracotta equestrian figure (third through eleventh century) from the Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, University of Niamey, Niger; and a dazzling twelfth-century gold pectoral that is a Senegalese national treasure, from the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, in Dakar."

"The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue bring together an array of cross-disciplinary perspectives on the material, with contributions from historians specializing in oral traditions and Islam, archaeologists, philosophers, and art historians." (Exhibition Overview)

AA: On my virtual art tour, the Sahel exhibition is the most haunting, rewarding and humbling. How little we know. 4000 years of history in a huge area are covered in this exhibition which displays many artistic practices and spiritual traditions. Howard W. French in his essay emphasizes that this area has been Islamic for a thousand years, as long as the Nordic countries have been Christian. There is  as little justification to claim that the art of Sahel is animist as to argue that Finnish art is. There are 181 Sahel art objects on the Met website in beautiful photographs and interesting program notes. Usually they are scattered in many museums. It is a privilege to have such an engrossing overview.