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African Art Insights

This section brings together in-depth texts dedicated to some of the central themes in the work of Dalton Somaré Gallery: classical African sculpture, the ritual and memorial role of objects, the construction of form, and the historical dialogue with the European avant-gardes.

Fang guardian figure from Gabon, wood, classical African art, Dalton Somaré Milano

Fang Guardian Figures: Byeri, Ancestors and Sculptural Synthesis

Picasso Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and African masks in the birth of modernism, Dalton Somaré Milano

Picasso and African Art: African masks and the birth of modernism

African sculpture and European avant-garde painting in dialogue, Dalton Somaré Milano

African Art and the European Avant-Garde

Blolo bian Baule figure, Ivory Coast, African art, Dalton Somaré Milano

Blolo bian and blolo bla Baule: spouses from the otherworld

image of a Dan mask, Ivory Coast, late 19th century, wood, Brooklyn Museum

Dan Masks: Spirit, Initiation and Performative Presence

Kpelye Senufo mask from Ivory Coast, African art, Dalton Somaré Milano

Kpelye Senufo masks and Cubism: ritual form, abstraction and modernism

Hemba ancestor figure from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, frontal carved wooden sculpture, Dalton Somaré Milano

Hemba Statues: Ancestors, Lineage and Monumentality in African Sculpture

Fang byeri guardian figure, Gabon reliquary, ancient African art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

African tribal art: history of a term and critical use

African Sculpture, Punu mask, Gabon, wood and pigments, late 19th century, Dalton Somaré Milano

Punu Masks: White Face, Ritual Presence and Feminine Memory

Kota reliquary guardian figure from Gabon with metal-covered face, Dalton Somaré Milano

Kota Reliquary Figures: memory, metal and abstraction

Dogon zoomorphic figure, Mali, 13th century, Dalton Somaré Milano

Zoomorphic Figures in Dogon Art: the Dog

Lega Bwami sculpture from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, used in initiation and moral instruction, Dalton Somaré Milano

Bwami Society Lega: masks, morality and initiation

Magical Figure Mangaaka Yombe-Kongo artist and nganga, late 19th century, wood and metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

African art: provenance, quality and context

Lumbu guardian figure from Gabon, African art, Dalton Somaré Milano

Gabon: Kota, Punu and Lumbu

Kuba ceremonial cup from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, carved prestige object, Dalton Somaré Milano

Kuba Ceremonial Cups, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Baule portrait mask ndoma from Ivory Coast, carved face and refined social image, Dalton Somaré Milano

Baule portrait masks: ndoma, mblo and social image

Bamana Tchiwara headdress from Mali, antelope form associated with agriculture and social order, Dalton Somaré Milano

Bamana Tchiwara headdresses: antelope, agriculture and social order

African mask, Kwele, Gabon, wood and pigments, second half of the 19th century, Dalton Somaré Milano

African masks: ritual function and formal language

African sculpture, Fang Betsi head, wood, 19th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

African wood sculpture: material, patina and conservation