Dr. Christa Clarke

About Dr. Christa Clarke

Dr. Christa Clarke is Senior Curator, Arts of Global Africa at the Newark Museum. Dr. Clarke has held fellowships at the Smithsonian, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Clark Art Institute, and teaching appointments at NYU Abu Dhabi, University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, Rutgers University, Purchase College, and Drew University. She is currently a fellow of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University and President of the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Helmet Mask (Gelede), 20th century, Nigeria or Republic of Benin, Yoruba people, Ketu group, wood, 57.2 x 38.7 x 45.7 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Who told you not to get a big head? In some African art, a large head is believed to guide one to success!

The human figure, animals and symbols

Kòmò Helmet Mask (Kòmòkun), 19th–mid-20th century, Guinea or Mali or Burkina Faso or Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, Komo or Koma Power Association, Wood, bird skull, porcupine quills, horns, cotton, sacrificial materials, 35.2 x 22.1 x 85.6 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Objects created by African artists often express, aesthetic, functional, and moral values all at once.

Aesthetics

Pair of diviner's figures (Baule) — Used by a diviner during ritual sessions, these figures help to communicate with the spirits.

Pair of Diviner’s Figures (Baule peoples)

Detail, Zlan of Belewale, Ceremonial Ladle (Wakemia or Wunkirmian), Libera, Dan peoples, before 1960, wood, fiber, metal, and pigment, 13.3 × 58.4 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — The hostess with the mostess: these ladles honored women for their exceptional generosity and hospitality.

Ceremonial Ladle (Dan peoples)

Detail, Helmet Mask, 19th-20th century, Sierra Leone, Moyamba region, Mende or Sherbro peoples, wood, metal, 47.9 x 22.2 x 23.5cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Masks like this represent a guardian spirit and allude to an idealized female beauty in Mende and Sherbro culture.

Helmet Mask

Headdress: Female Bust (D'mba), 19th–20th century, Baga people, wood, 118.1 x 35.3 x 67.5cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Though this mask was made, worn, and danced by men, it celebrated the role of women in the community.

Headdress: Female Bust (D’mba)

Detail, Lidded Saltcellar, Sierra Leone, Sapi-Portugese, 15th-16th century, ivory, 29.8 cm high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Ivory saltcellars were objects created for trade: they were African made and intended for the Portuguese market.

Lidded Saltcellar

Bwa mask, Burkina Faso — African masks may seem “ancient” to Westerners, but many—like this one—belong to living, evolving traditions.

Mask (Nwantantay) (Bwa peoples)

Kòmò Helmet Mask (Kòmòkun), 19th–mid-20th century, Guinea or Mali or Burkina Faso or Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, Komo or Koma Power Association, Wood, bird skull, porcupine quills, horns, cotton, sacrificial materials, 35.2 x 22.1 x 85.6 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Intended to intimidate, this headdress was used by a member of the powerful Kumo society of blacksmiths.

Kòmò Helmet Mask (Kòmòkunw) (Bamana peoples)

Headdress: Male Antelope (Ci Wara), 19th–20th century Mali, Bamako region, Bamana, wood, metal bands, 71.1 cm high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — These headdresses celebrate the divine Ci Wara, half man and half antelope, who introduced humans to agriculture.

Male and Female Antelope Headdresses (Ci wara) ...

Mask (Kanaga), Mali, Dogon peoples, 20th century, wood, fiber, hide, pigment, 53.6 x 97.2 x 15.9 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Kanaga masks were traditionally worn during the dama, a six-day long funerary ritual for Dogon men.

Mask (Kanaga) (Dogon peoples)

Seated Figure, terracotta, 13th century, Mali, Inland Niger Delta region, Djenné peoples, 25/4 x 29.9 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — This hunched figure is a large part of the material record of an egalitarian society that disappeared around 1400.

Seated Figure (Djenné peoples)

Plaque: Equestrian Oba and Attendants, 1550-1680, Nigeria, Court of Benin, Edo peoples, brass, 49.5 x 41.9 x 11.4 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — By the sixteenth century, Western trade involved Africans being forcibly brought to the Americas as slaves.

Historical overview: from the 1600s to the ...

Detail, Linguist Staff (Okyeame), 19th-early 20th century, Ghana, Akan peoples, Asante, gold foil, wood, nails, 156.5 x 14.6 x 5.7 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — Recent discoveries in southern Africa provide remarkable evidence of the earliest stirrings of human creativity.

Historical overview: to 1600

Google earth view of Africa, © Google — Over a thousand distinct languages are spoken in Africa, where over 680 million people make their home.

Peoples and cultures

Veranda post (detail) — This equestrian king is clearly powerful, but he rests on a nude female figure from whom his power is derived.

Olowe of Ise, veranda post (Yoruba peoples)