Pale, a sculptor from Gongombili and a “sayer of secret things,” thanks to documentation and photographs by Jean Suyeux, a judge in Gauoa in the 1950s. The magistrate, confronted by Lobi reality in his daily practice, describes a world in which truth is an illusion, or at least multidimensional, and never found where it is expected. Suyeux’s numerous photos of Pale posing in front of his “showroom” and his altar shed light on this plurality. One sees the artist brandishing not only works considered to be in his own style, but, with the same pride, those of Sikire Kambire, his colleague at Gongombili, and even curios destined for export. So which of them is the “Master of the Globular Eyes”—Pale or his elder, Kambire? More recently, Piet Meyer was not mistaken when he used the German term vermutlich (“probable” or “likely”) to describe attributions associated with the works of deceased artists illustrated in his book. Whether it be in Brecht, Goldoni, or Hegel, the concept of the master or of dominator exists only in relation to its alter ego, the servant, the slave, or the student. When one forgets that the master can sometimes be surpassed by the latter, and when too many “masters” are named, the title is cheapened and loses its association with excellence. This issue, which may be little more than a semantic digression, cannot prevent one from most emphatically recommending Schnitzer der Lobi to anyone wanting to know more about the artistic world of the Lobi. 143 CENTER LEFT: Male figure, bateba phuwe, attributed to the “Master of the Smiling Face.” Lobi, Burkina Faso. Photo © Niklas Herkenhoff. LEFT: Group of figures, bateba phuwe, attributed to the “Master of the Close Nipples.” Lobi, Burkina Faso. Photo © Niklas Herkenhoff. TOP: Group of figures, bateba phuwe, attributed to the “Master of the Collars.” Lobi, Burkina Faso. LEFT: Group of figures, bateba phuwe, attributed to the “Master of the Cubist Heads.” Lobi, Burkina Faso. BELOW: Group of figures, bateba phuwe, attributed to the “Master of Pointed Heads.”Lobi, Burkina Faso. Photos © Niklas Herkenhoff.
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