 A Century of Makonde Art
Masquerade in Mozambique
1190 Amsterdam Avenue, near 116th Street, Morningside
Heights
Through Dec. 8, 2007
Wallach
Gallery
Figures of Makonde men, around 1970-80, one carrying a boy and a
suitcase, the other a water pipe and a spear.
Goodbye to timeless Africa, darkest Africa, out-of-Africa and the
“primitive” Africa that made Western Modernism sexy — to all the blinding
stereotypes that shape the way Africa continues to be viewed internationally.
Such farewells form the very basis of African art history as a progressive
discipline today. And they clearly underlie exhibitions like this one, organized
by Alexander Ives Bortolot, a lecturer in African art history at Dartmouth
College and a Columbia University doctoral candidate.
Art from Mozambique, and East Africa in general, is scantily represented in
public collections, and the art of the Makonde people has been little studied in
recent years. So Mr. Bortolot is filling a scholarly need. And he approaches his
subject in an interesting way, not through objects per se, but through the
masked performance tradition called mapiko in which they play an integral role.
The show begins with 19th- and early-20th-century sculptures that suggest the
roots of the masquerades performed by masked and costumed Makonde men —
participation by women was forbidden — who assumed the personas of ancestral
spirits who protected and preserved order in the community. Beginning in the
1920s, its spiritual utility diminished, but its role as inventive social
commentary increased. When a socialist government came to power after
independence in 1964, the masquerade became a vehicle for a new ethic of
self-reliance and social equality. Women began participating and created
masquerades of their own.
Now, after a protracted civil war and the establishment of multiparty
democracy, the mapiko tradition is thriving in freestyle mode. Some performers
present it as pure entertainment, others as social critique, still others as a
way to restore old spiritual meanings. In every case this is a transformative
art at the center of society, not a luxury item at its fringes. It encompasses
ideas of repetition and change, and Western art can learn from it.
 Revolutions:
A Century of Makonde Masquerade in Mozambique
19 September-8 December 2007
Opening Reception: 18 September, 5-7 p.m
details
Mr. Bortolot captures all of this thrillingly. And Wallach, in presenting the
show, does exactly what a university gallery should so. It showcases fresh
research; fleshes out that research with marvelous and unfamiliar objects; and
distills it in a catalog of nuanced clarity, written by the curator.
Congratulations all around.
HOLLAND COTTER
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