ART on view of the 1950s and vanished even earlier from the south. Based on the transmission of secret knowledge, Baga beliefs are closed off to external observers, and all the more so to ethnologists, whose desire to interpret everything has led to the dissemination of many misconceptions. This exhibition and its accompanying catalog represent a brilliant exercise in deconstruction. Many of the interpretations existing in the specialized literature are carefully scrutinized, refined, and completed here, thanks to Berliner’s rigorous documentation resulting from several in situ research expeditions conducted by him, including two that were sponsored by the Association of Friends of the Barbier- Mueller Museum in Geneva. With the Baga’s continued connection to the past, the use of older forms continues today. In the Bulongic or Sitem areas, for instance, the dimba shoulder mask might be made to dance its measured steps on the occasion of a marriage, a soccer match, or to celebrate the arrival of an important guest in the village. Banda masks, characterized by a crocodile head with pointy teeth (although the Barbier-Mueller example is an exception to this) and a human head terminating in antelope horns, which in turn flank a representation of a chameleon tail, are now used for amusement purposes and are no longer associated with initiation contexts, as some informants had indicated they were. Lastly, examples of new types of artworks that have sprung up as a result of the social changes described above are also displayed in this exhibition. The sibondel (fig. 5), with their lively polychrome coloring and hare-shaped heads connected to a box bearing key colonial figures (cavalryman, infantryman, district officer, etc.), are among the most emblematic of these. 70 The attention given to the present day allows Découvrir les Baga de Guinée to successfully avoid a recurring pitfall in museum presentations of objects from other cultures— that of presenting a fixed and static image that is far from the dynamic and varied reality. This exhibition is not to be missed and, by virtue of the small number of presented works and the mystery that surrounds them, provides a viewing experience that is both intimate and striking. FIG. 4: Mask, banda. Baga, Nalu, Landuma, or Susu, Guinea. Wood, pigment. L: 141 cm. Ex André Lhote. Musée Barbier-Mueller, inv. 1001-24. Photo: Studio Ferrazzini-Bouchet. FIG. 5 (below): Mask, sibondel. Baga, Guinea. Wood, pigment, fiber. H: 78 cm. Musée Barbier-Mueller, inv. 1001-59. Photo: Studio Ferrazzini-Bouchet.
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