Although Lambaréné in Gabon is famous throughout the world because of the hospital Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) founded there in 1913, the cultural and historical complexity of the surrounding Middle Ogooué River Delta region is generally not well known. Schweitzer is mentioned in this opening paragraph because the mask that this text addresses comes indirectly from the “Great White Doctor,” being one of many that were given to him between 1913 and 1950 by patients he treated as a token of their gratitude (fi gs. 4a–c). It came onto the art market by way of his assistant and nurse, Gertrud Koch. Interesting and informative as this provenance may be for this small horned mask, it does not in itself offer any solid measure of stylistic identifi cation, especially insofar as, over the course of the centuries, this vast region, in which forests, lakes, and tributaries of the river mingle inextricably from the Middle Ogooué to its delta on the Atlantic coast, was inhabited and traveled through by a whole series of peoples from many different places and who spoke many different languages. A BIT OF HISTORY In the twentieth century, the travelers, missionaries, and merchants in the area noted that the Galwa (or Galoa), who inhabited both shores of the Lower Ogooué River and the lakes of its delta downstream from Lambaréné, were 122 living there side by side with the Betsi Fang, the Nkomi, the Eshira, the Adjumba, the Akele, and the Okande. In this surprising melting pot, which was the result of both ancient and more recent migrations, all of these peoples had moved west and eventually arrived at the ocean. A sense of orientation here can be gleaned only through examining the various oral traditions of these groups, the proximity of the many languages to one another, and the extent to which those languages were mutually intelligible. According to Gabon specialists who have researched these questions (notably André Raponda-Walker 1960, Joseph Ambouroué-Avaro 1981, and Léopold Codjo-Rawambia OBJECT history Comments on a Dance Mask from the Lambaréné Region of Gabon By Louis Perrois FIGS. 4a–c (right): Horned dance mask. Lower Ogooué region, Gabon. Wood, pigment, iron. H: 40 cm. Private collection. Ex Gertrud Koch, assistant to Albert Schweitzer (brought to Europe in 1952). Wood tested: Dr. Bonani, ETH Zurich, to 16th or late 17th century. Photos: Vincent Girier Dufournier. FIG. 2 (left): View of the Ogooué river at Lambaréné, c. 1950. L. Perrois archives. FIG. 3 (above): Ogooué and Lambaréné from the album of F. Grébert. Éditions D Genève and Musée d’ethnographie de Genève, 2003). L. Perrois archives. FIG. 1 (upper left): Emergence of an Okukwè mask, Lower Ogooué. Documented by Monsignor Le Roy, CSSP, before 1900. This is the only known representation of a “Galwa” mask from this time period.
T80E
To see the actual publication please follow the link above