Fang
Expert Dr. James Fernandez lectures on september 17, 2011
Alexander
Soifer’s collection exhibition of (Sub-Saharan) African Art
| Chancellor
Pam Shockley-Zalabak cordially invites you to join her for an exhibition
and lecture on |
Fang
Reliquary Figures as Objects and Subjects in Two Worlds, A Biographical
Approach: Thinking About
the Soifer Collection of Fang Arts and Crafts
 |
Lecture by Visiting
Scholar
expert Dr. James W. Fernandez,
University of Chicago
September 17, 2011 | 3:00
p.m. |
Wine and cheese reception to follow
Kramer Family Library,
3rd Floor
University
of Colorado Colorado Springs
1420 Austin Bluffs Pkwy, Colorado Springs, CO USA 80918
719-255-8227 (UCCS), 800-990-8227
Free parking available in Lot 4
(see campus map)
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About
the Exhibition
The exhibition features a part of Alexander Soifer’s collection of
(Sub-Saharan) African Art, and centers on the art of the Fang peoples of West
Equatorial Africa and their neighbors in Gabon, such as Eshira-punu, Bakota,
Pove, Tsogho, Mbete, and Yesa (Bakwele). The artifacts include the famed Fang
statuary, their rare masks, and artifacts of their life: adornments, weapons,
cookery, gaming, music instruments, etc. created between 70 and 200 years
ago. The Fang artists are deservedly among the most famous artists of the
Sub-Saharan Africa. They live in three countries: Gabon, Equatorial Guinea
and Southern Cameroon. The special feature of the grand opening of the
exhibition on Saturday, September 17, 2011, will be a lecture by the
University of Chicago Anthropologist James William Fernandez, who lived among
the Fang for two and a half years 1958-1960.
About
Dr. James Fernandez
Professor James W. Fernandez (Ph.D., Northwestern University 1962)
worked in the anthropology departments of Smith College, Dartmouth
College, Princeton University (where he was Chair), and the University of
Chicago. He has done field research in West Equatorial Africa, South Africa,
and Asturias, Spain. Professor Fernandez’s interests include short-range
social and cultural evolution and the way local communities narrate their
past, understand their present, and strive to foretell their future. His
publications include numerous articles and several books including the
738-page monograph dedicated to the Fang peoples, Bwiti: An Ethnography
of the Religious Imagination in Africa, Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 1982.
Professor
Fernandez has won numerous prizes, awards, and fellowships, including:
- John
Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, 2003-04
- Member,
American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 1991
- President,
Society for Humanistic Anthropology, 1992-94
- Fellow,
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, 1982-83
- Fellow,
Institute of Advanced Study, 1988-89
- Radcliffe-Brown
Lecture, The British Academy, 2002
- Honorary
Doctorate, Amherst, 2002
About
Dr. Alexander Soifer
Alexander Soifer (Ph.D., Moscow Pedagogical University 1973) was
born in Moscow, but left in search of freedom. His search brought him to the
American shores in 1978. He has been a professor at the University of
Colorado Colorado Springs from 1979 to present. Soifer teaches courses in
mathematics, art and film history. He writes books on mathematics, history,
and biography. Soifer’s most important monograph is The Mathematical
Coloring Book, Springer, New York, 2009. During 2009-2011, six of
Soifer’s books contracted by Springer have been published. Springer also
contracted his memoirs. In 2006 at Cambridge University, Professor Soifer was
presented the Paul Erdös Award by the World federation of National
Mathematics Competitions. He is a recipient of the 1992 University of
Colorado President’s Service Award.
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Related books:
Bwiti
: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa January 1, 1982 by
James Fernandez
Persuasions
and Performances: The Play of Tropes in Culture (A
Midland Book) by James W. Fernandez.
"This is a rich and stimulating collection of articles." - Journal of
Ritual Studies
Music
from an Equatorial Microcosm (unavailable) ed. James W. Fernandez...
Fang and Gabon art and music from
other authors:
Gabon:
Musiques
des Mitsogho et des Bateke
Ancestral
art of Gabon
Louis Perrois, Jea..
Art
of Equatorial Guinea by Louis Perrois, Maria Sierra Delange...
The
Fang tribes of Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea carved polished wooden
statues, used in ancestor worship, that are fiercely enigmatic and were said to
possess certain powers. Manipulation of these naked female and male figures was
believed to resuscitate the dead. French ethnologist Perrois and Spanish art
historian Delage set these statues in the context of Fang religion, which
includes secret initiation societies, witchcraft and ritual sacrifice. They
discuss the Fangs' migrations from savannahs to jungles and trace expeditions
into West Africa by European explorers and ethnologists from the late 19th
century to the 1940s. Also showcased in color and black-and-white illustrations
are ceremonial masks, brass collars worn by men and women, and canes in the
form of human figures. The book brings to light an art that reached its high
point a century ago and has all but disappeared.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Fang
Louis Perrois
Digital article : Ephemeral
Fang reliquaries: a post-history.(Report): An article from: African Arts
| |
Recent
postings:
Nok
Statue Crushed. A $300G oopsie!
Bad Review - April 2012
L Africa Di Attilio
Pecile & Peter Savorgnan de Brazza
masques Gelede Les mille et
un symboles des masques
Tribal Art Society , an
online website that replicates the fine tribal art gallery experience.
African art fakes and
expertise
Hand
Held-Personal Arts from Africa
Books
I like :
Making of History
african art
Invention
and Tradition
Herbert M. Cole. released on May 25, 2012.
Surfaces:
Color, Substances, and Ritual App...
african_faces
Africa
Tom Phillips, Roya..
A
Personal Journey: Central African Art from the
Lawrence Gussman Collection
more african art books
visit my amazon store
In
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Home Up Grambling art gallery Palmer Museum of Art Iowa digital art gallery Hiram Van Gordon Gallery Hallie Ford fowler museum Lacma Yoruba at Newark Museum Amistad Research Center Ohio University Kennedy Museum of American Art Hofstra University Museum Rosalinde Wilcox fang expert
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