African Art and Agency in the Workshop

Introduction

A -fricA -n A -rt A -nd A -gency in the Workshop AfricAn ExprEssivE culturEs Patrick McNaughton, editor Associate editors Catherine M. Cole Barbara G. Hoffman Eileen Julien Kassim Koné D. A. Masolo Elisha Renne Zoë Strother A -fricA -n A -rt A -nd A -gency in the Workshop edited by Sidney Littlefield Ka -sfir a -nd Till Förster Indiana University Press Bloomington and Indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931© 2013 by Indiana University Press All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. • The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data African art and agency in the workshop / edited by Sidney Littlefield Kasfir and Till Förster. p. cm. — (African expressive cultures) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-00741-4 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-00749-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-00758-2 (eb) 1. Workshops—Africa. 2. Artists’ studios—Africa. 3. Artisans—Africa—Societies, etc. 4. Art patronage— Africa. I. Kasfir, Sidney Littlefield. II. Förster, Till. III. Series: African expressive cultures. N8520.A39 2013 706.096—dc23 2012036058 1 2 3 4 5 17 16 15 14 13 Contents Acknowledgments vii INTRoDUCTIoN Rethinking the Workshop: Work and Agency in African Art \ Till Förster and Sidney Littlefield Kasfir 1 The Contributions to This Book \ Sidney Littlefield Kasfir and Till Förster 24 pArt 1. production, Education, and learning 1. Grace Dieu Mission in South Africa: Defining the Modern Art Workshop in Africa \ Elizabeth Morton 39 2. Follow the Wood: Carving and Political Cosmology in oku, Cameroon \ Nicolas Argenti 65 3. Masters, Trend-makers, and Producers: The Village of Nsei, Cameroon, as a Multisited Pottery Workshop \ Silvia Forni 91 4. An Artist’s Notes on the Triangle Workshops, Zambia and South Africa \ Namubiru Rose Kirumira and Sidney Littlefield Kasfir 111 pArt 2. Audience and Encounters 5. Stitched-up Women, Pinned-down Men: Gender Politics in Weya and Mapula Needlework, Zimbabwe and South Africa \ Brenda Schmahmann 125 6. Rethinking Mbari Mbayo: osogbo Workshops in the 1960s, Nigeria \ Chika Okeke-Agulu 154 7. Working on the Small Difference: Notes on the Making of Sculpture in Tengenenge, Zimbabwe \ Christine Scherer 180 8. Navigating Nairobi: Artists in a Workshop System, Kenya \ Jessica Gerschultz 207 vi Contents pArt 3. patronage and Domination 9. Lewanika’s Workshop and the Vision of Lozi Arts, Zambia \ Karen E. Milbourne 233 10. Artesãos da Nossa Pátria: Makonde Blackwood Sculptors, Cooperatives, and the Art of Socialist Revolution in Postcolonial Mozambique \ Alexander Bortolot 252 11. Frank McEwen and Joram Mariga: Patron and Artist in the Rhodesian Workshop School Setting, Zimbabwe \ Elizabeth Morton 274 12. “A Matter of Must”: Continuities and Change in the Adugbologe Woodcarving Workshop in Abeokuta, Nigeria \ Norma H. Wolff 298 pArt 4. comparative Aspects 13. Work and Workshop: The Iteration of Style and Genre in Two Workshop Settings, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon \ Till Förster 325 14. Apprentices and Entrepreneurs: The Workshop and Style Uniformity in Sub-Saharan Africa \ Sidney Littlefield Kasfir 360 CoDA Apprentices and Entrepreneurs Revisited: Twenty Years of Workshop Changes, 1987–2007 \ Sidney Littlefield Kasfir 385 Contributors 399 Index 401 ACknowledgments The essays presented herein began as a double panel on workshops convened at the Triennial Symposium in African Art, held at the University of Florida in April 2007. Several panelists were our own graduate students and former students—including Christine Scherer, Elizabeth Morton, Chika okeke-Agulu, and Jessica Gerschultz, a young group of scholars working in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya who have, in the intervening five years, moved forward in their own careers and conducted more research while acquiring jobs and promotions. To augment their essays we have added our own—based on fieldwork conducted from Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon to Nigeria, Kenya...