FEATURE 102 Nkombe’s village quickly fell into ruin, but the Lambaréné site became Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s place of residence in 1913. The settlement by Whites caused a rupture with traditions. Metalworking ceased and, according to Pastor Fernand Grébert, the sources of inspiration for the production of traditional art were irreversibly weakened. The Galwa declined and were threatened with extinction. GALWA RELIGION Myene accounts reveal belief in two rival gods, both called Anyambye. Each had his own geographical area: There was “Anyambye of the coast” and FIG. 16 (left): Mask. Galwa, Gabon. Wood, vegetable fi ber, kaolin, red ocher, charcoal. H: 37 cm. Drouot Montaigne, Paris, Vente Ader Picard Tajan, 21 May 1990, lot 73. Private collection. “Anyambye of the forest’s edge.” Anyambye was always described as having the characteristics of a village chief, a patriarch who did not personally participate in combat. In some accounts, his oldest son is called Nkombe (the sun), and his other sons are called Ndjambe (thunder) and Ogula (tornado). 18 Léopold Codjo Rawambia adds that these two Anyambye were also the fathers of the wind and the full moon and that the world is split into three universes. The fi rst is the upper and macrocosmic one in which they both live, along with the ancestors and the spirits of certain deceased people. The second universe, the intermediary or middle cosmos, is the universe of chance or of natural laws that seem strange. It begins at the edge of the village and includes the forest, which is home to the spirits (imbwiri) that have double vision (okove) that allows them to see into the future. The third universe is the social microcosm in which humans, who do not have double vision, live. There the ancestors and the divinities are the objects of ritual. None of these worlds is sealed off and their continuity is possible only when there is frequent travel between them, reincarnation being the central mode of interaction.19 The Galwa also believe in the spirits that inhabit lakes, mountains, forests, trees, fi elds, and rocks, which are called ombwiri. An ombwiri is a siren with white skin and long hair, which may sometimes abduct a person, which it will take with it into the water and hold him there for fi ve days.20 GALWA WOMEN: “THESE NEGRO VENUSES” According to Mary Kingsley, writing in 1893, the very dark-skinned Galwa women were the most appealing in all of West Africa. They braided each other’s hair and arranged it in elaborate coiffures that they decorated with long hippopotamus ivory needles and openwork ornaments fabricated by their husbands. They colored their hair with powdered padauk wood and used black charcoal-based makeup on their eyebrows. Yellow ochre and vermillion were also appreciated. They scarifi ed their cheeks and hips for the sake of beauty as well.21 Kingsley noted a number of specifi cs. It was fashionable to wear an ivory ring behind each ear, which extended forward and had a horn-like appearance. Women wore a wrapper that passed beneath their armpits and sometimes also a shawl made of European cotton decorated with Chinese designs. The only head covering was a handkerchief folded into a trian- FIG. 17 (right): Mask. Galwa, Gabon. Wood, pigment. H: 28.5 cm. Ex M. de Schryver. Sotheby’s Paris, 15 June 2004, lot 169. Private collection. © Vincent Girier Dufournier.
T84 EN Online
To see the actual publication please follow the link above