The art of Bamana, a people who inhabit soutwest Mali, has been presented in a new light by the Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.
Bamana wood sculpture and iron work, which make up the majority of Bamana art objects, were introduced to the American public twenty-five years ago by Dr. Robert Goldwater in his book, Bamana Sculpture from the Western Sudan. At that time, the art had not undergone radiocarbon tests and it was assumed that no particular Bamana piece was more than a couple of hundred years old. Also, there was only a vague notion about what significance the sculpture and iron work had for the community. It was accepted that the artwork had significance in fertility rituals, initiation ceremonies, and ancestor worship.
As with most other sub-Saharan African cultures, much of Bamana art is largely undiscovered. In most sub-Saharan cultures, there is no native writing system. As a result, historical documentation is sparse. Also, the extreme heat of the climate and regular handling during ceremonies wears down the wooden, clay, and iron figures.
Since the 1950s objects as old as 500 years have been discovered through radiocarbon testing. Also, through extensive research by Dr. Kate Ezra, the uses of specific objects in various rituals and what art is supposed to promote and symbolize in Bamana culture have been discovered. For example, wood sculpture is used in initiation ceremonies and fertility rites. Iron staffs are used to mark graves and are carried by young women after their excision ceremony. Also, most sculpture depicting humans is made in the image of a female in her ideal state of beauty.
For this reason, the Washington exhibit is entitled A Human Ideal in Art, Bamana Figurative Sculpture. It is immediately obvious that the sculptures depict women and, on occasion, men in their youth and at the height of their physical attraction. The bodies of both sexes are slim with long narrow waists. The female figures have large rounded breasts and jutting buttocks with a slightly swelled abdomen. During ceremonies, they are oiled and adorned with beads, bracelets, necklaces, and bright cloth.
Dr. Ezra, currently assistant curator at the New York Metropolitan Museum's Department of Primitive Art, observed and interviewed members of the Bamana community in 1978 on a Fullbright-Hays award for her doctoral dissertation. She returned for a brief visit in 1985 with funding from the Metropolitan Museum and the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Ezra said that the appealing, naturalistic forms of the sculpture are what attracted her to the study of Bamana art.
The exhibit displays art of the Jo association and Gwan sub-association within the Bamana territory in particular. This is because Jo and Gwan (a women's fertility cult within the Jo association) sculpture is distinguished from that of other forms. Most Bamana sculpture has a geometric design formed from cubes, cones, and cylinders meeting at abrupt angles.
The historical roots of the Bamana or Bambara peoples can be traced to the Sudanic kingdoms and various stateless societies through Arabic literature going back to the ninth century. Kaarta and Segou, Bamana states of the north, were influential until they fell to the Muslims in the mid-nineteenth
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