ART on View Warriors and Mothers Epic Mbembe Art 92 By Alisa LaGamma A landmark exhibition now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Warriors and Mothers: Epic Mbembe Art reunites what are among the earliest wood sculptures preserved from sub-Saharan Africa. The creations of master carvers active on the frontier of Nigeria and Cameroon some three hundred years ago, these imposing representations depict men and women engaged in roles of universally recognizable resonance. Poised to defend, fortify, and sustain their communities, their subjects are formidable warriors and nurturing mothers. Most of these works are the precious surviving fragments of colossal ceremonial drums hewn from enormous logs that featured figurative depictions at either end. Situated at the physical epicenter of Mbembe communities, the beating of such slit drums alerted their members to critical developments. Their sound was also a communication system that relayed information over long distance to neighboring villages. The wood gradually eroded over the course of many generations as a result of being positioned outdoors. While the hollowed drum element at the center rotted away, the solid figurative elements survived. Safeguarded as precious relics of the past, these took on a new life for their quality as independent sculpture of the highest order. Because of their exposure to the elements, the surfaces of these figures appear roughly hewn and raw, but despite the degree to which the forces of nature have informed their actual aesthetic, they retain subtle formal details original to the vision of their human authors. In 1974 this tradition came to the attention of the art world when twelve Mbembe sculptures were presented in Paris by Hélène Kamer. That unique corpus of epic creations is brought back together for the first time in forty years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from December 9, 2014, through September 7, 2015. The twelve works from the Paris exhibition have been supplemented in New York by four additional comparative works. Discovering a Nigerian Tradition on the Left Bank On May 28, 1974, Hélène Kamer’s (now Leloup) gallery exhibition Ancêtres M’Bembé presented a series of commanding full-bodied male and female figures of monumental stature whose appearance was bold and rugged (figs. 1, 2, and 3).1 The unveiling of these Mbembe works outside of their original communities in Nigeria made manifest a tradition that was unlike any of those that had previously come to define the African art canon. Leloup first became aware of Mbembe sculpture in September of 1972 during a visit to a Malian dealer named O. Traoré. During that meeting at his Paris hotel on Rue de l’Ancienne Comedie in the sixth arrondissement, a massive figure from Nigeria with broken arms caught her attention. Deciding to acquire it, she inquired about its origins, use, and subject matter. Traoré promised to gather information on his next visit to the region and to bring back other ex- FIG. 1: Invitation to Ancêtres M’Bembé, Galerie Kamer, Paris, May 28, 1974. Archives Hélène Leloup, Paris. FIGS. 2 and 3: Installation views of the exhibition Ancêtres M’Bembé, Galerie Kamer, Paris, 1974. Archives Hélène Leloup, Paris.
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