The Grace And Power Of Ife

monarch Alayeluwa, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, begins its final journey this week, Daily Times Review serves you an extraordinary exhibition, Kingdom of Ife, which held a few years ago in London with the second leg of cultural feast at the National Commission for Museum and Monument in Lagos. AGOZINO AGOZINO, who followed the show, recalls the thrill and why the late Monarch and Ife will remain significant in the annals of time

A full page article in the 1948 edition of the London Illustrated News was headlined ‘African art worthy to rank with the finest work of Italy and Greece.’ It was referring to the discovery of hundreds of sculptures in Ife, in the now Osun State of Nigeria, dating back to the Middle Ages.

Describing them as the most significant works of art ever found in Africa outside of Egypt, the newspaper couldn’t quite believe its own words. “Their refined naturalism, so close to the European tradition, certainly a remarkable phenomenon to occur in West African state countries before the first step on the coast of Portuguese discoverers.”

Indeed, the European explorer who discovered them at the turn of the century, Leo Frobenuis of Germany, refused to believe the figures, mainly bronze, copper and terracotta were West African at all.

He claimed he had found the lost city of Atlantis as described by Plato in The Republic and stated the life-size head of the local sea goddess Olokun was a depiction of the Greek god, Poseidon. Much the same astonished skepticism was expressed by British forces who said the beautiful antiquities they looted from Benin City in Nigeria towards the end of 19th century had been the work of either ‘the Portuguese, the Egyptians, or the lost tribe of Israel.”

So it is little wonder that the modernist European artist, Pablo Picasso, believed that the stylised and colourful African masks that influenced such works by Les Demoiselles D’Avignon in 1909, represented the entirety of African art.

A year later, Frobenuis made the first major excavation of Ife, once a powerful city-state in south western Nigeria. Another expedition 30 years later produced the more sensational finds, prompting a re-examination of what theIllustrated London News called ‘negro art’.

More than a hundred of these examples of Nigerian (Yoruba) race classical art were, a few years ago, on display at the British Museum in the Kingdom of Ifeexhibition, which was opened with fanfare in London by the late Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and former Osun State governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola. The exhibition drew exhibits from several international bodies including the National Commission for Museum and Monument (NCMM), the Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander and the Museum for African Art, New York. Guest curator was Enid Schildkrout, of the Museum of African Art, New York, while the event was Co-curated at the British Museum by Claude Ardouin and Julie Hudson. The exhibition was also supported by the multinational corporate firm, A.G. Leventis Foundation Groups.

The very influential British Museum underscores the essence of the exhibition thus: “Ife works are the highpoint of African art and culture, which combine technical accomplishment with strong aesthetic appeal. The event was necessitated because from the 12th to the 15th centuries B.C., Ife flourished as a powerful, cosmopolitan and wealthy city.

“It was an influential centre of trade connected to extensive local and long-distance trade networks which enabled the region to prosper. Ife developed a refined and highly naturalistic sculptural tradition in stone, terracotta, brass and copper-alloy to create a style unlike any in Africa at the time.’’

Regarded as the spiritual heartland of the Yoruba people, the ancient kingdom of Ife emerged around 800AD and flourished as a commercial and cultural centre between 12th and 16th centuries. The human figures on display portray a wide cross-section of Ife society and include depictions of youth and old age, health and disease, suffering and serenity. One striking terracotta object shows a man suffering from elephantiasis of the testicles, while the almost pure copper mask of Obalufon II, an early Ooni of Ife, is one of the finest images of royal power from Ife on display at the exhibition.

Similarly, the superb Olokun head, so-called because it was dug up in Olokungrove in the 1800s, possibly depicts one of the wives of the Oduduwa, Ife’s first ruler, displaying a hauteur all of its own.

An exquisitely detailed bronze figure of a bow man, showing him with a full quiver of arrows and headdresses with the snake-winged bird motif, dates back to the 1300s-1400s was also one of the thrills. It was once a nine metal sculpture found in Tada and Jebba, two isolated villages on the banks of the River Niger.

They were also the source of the spectacular copper seated figure, dated late 1200s to early 1300s found in a shrine associated with fertility. Plump and curvy, it reveals sophisticated technical skill, made as it is from almost pure copper which is much more difficult to cast than brass and bronze alloys.

According to Yoruba myth, Ife was the centre of creation of the world and all mankind. Ife was home to many sacred groves located in the city’s forests. Two groves in particular have revealed numerous sculptures. The Ore Grove with its stone monoliths human and animal figures and the Iwinrin Grove which is associated with terracotta head and fragments from the size figures. One of the granite animal figures is of a huge mudfish, prized then and now as a source of food, but also a symbol of rebirth.

Other sites have revealed exquisite pieces with royal associations including the only known compete king figure and a majestic terracotta head, possibly portraying a queen. A terracotta elephant and hippocampus head lavishly adorned with beaded regalia comes from the royal burial site of Lafogido.

In Ife mythology, elephants are linked to royalty; hippos are known as known as elephants of the water, while the ubiquity of glass beadwork reflects the economics of glassmaking in Ife in medieval times.

The figurative terracotta sculpture, which represents the largest group of works, captures the diverse nature of Ife society at the time. Several terracotta heads bear facial striations suggesting cultural markings, some possibly from groups outside Ife. Some head appear to depict women wearing regalia or jewelry, indicating their high statue.

Also on display are almost life-size copper alloy heads, some of them weighing several kilos, which revealed an idealised, naturalistic uniformity, although, each head has notable individual characteristics.

Ife’s ascendancy came at the end of the late 1500s as the nearby city-state of the Old Oyo and Benin developed superior trade routes that left it out on a limb. Both had close links with Ife, reflected in recurring themes and motifs. Indeed, many believed there is a relationship between the Oba of Benin and the Ooni of Ife.

The exhibition, which was developed in partnership with the NCMM), was a remarkable outing. More than 12,000 people attended it, including couples from Cuba, who, after watching the show with their small baby boy claimed their ancestors came from Yorubaland.

According to researchers for the show, the ancient arts of Ife document an epoch that historians have not dwelt deeply on, as several sites in the city “have revealed spectacular pieces with royal associations including the only known complete king figure and an exquisite terracotta head, possibly portraying a queen both from Ita Yemoo.