#makonde

Water Container (Chilongo Chakumuto), Makonde, 1950, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of Africa

The Makonde of Northern Mozambique are known for their large, intricately ornamented pottery jars, and while these are increasingly being supplanted today by other, less-fragile containers, some people still prefer them for transporting and storing water. Hence, these handsome vessels continue to be made for domestic use, and their beauty has also led to their production for the commercial art market. Made on commission, such vessels were among the most treasured possession of Makonde women.The water jar is the Makonde potter’s favored stage for virtuoso expressions of creativity, such that no two pots ever receive the same overall design. After a piece has been built up of coils and then smoothed, shaped, and left to dry for several hours, it is painted with a mica-rich wash of earth, charcoal, and water, which gives it a distinctive, speckled gray-black color. Once this colored wash has been absorbed, the potter burnishes the surface with a stone until it is hard and smooth. At this point the water pot is ready to be meticulously embellished with incised designs.The Makonde word for drawing on pottery, nkova, is the same word they use for tattooing, once a widespread practice with important ritual significance, and many visual similarities exist between these two art forms. The potter marks the outlines of the pattern—a combination of straight and curved bands, zigzags, triangles, and semicircles—and then fills it in with light hatch marks, punctured lines, or more deeply impressed triangles. Another woman may sometimes assist her in this lengthy process. Finally, after firing it in the open, the maker may accentuate the designs by rubbing kaolin into them. —Entry, For Hearth and Altar, African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (2005), pp. 97-99. Restricted gift of Mrs. Stanley M. Freehling Size: 58.4 x 63.5 cm (23 x 25 in.) Medium: Terracotta and kaolin

(image source 1: Wikipedia user Gadfium)

(image source 2: renaissancesociety.org)

The Shetani [East African mythology]

Shetani are spirits from eastern African mythology (specifically among the Makonde people). If I understand it correctly they are usually, but not exclusively, malicious. This image shows (a sculpture of) an elephant Shetani. These creatures are usually depicted as physically distorted humanoid or animal figures, and as such they are a popular subject for sculptures and paintings. They resemble melting animals or people, with limbs and faces on random places. It sounds like a great premise for a horror movie.

There are a great many different types of Shetani. One “subspecies” is the Ukundaka, a monster that feeds through copulation. Another is the Shuluwele, a benevolent type of spirit that helps people gather medicinal herbs.

THE DRAGON BUILDING

ARCHITECT PANCHO GUEDES

Helmet Mask (Lipiko), Makonde, 1900, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of Africa

Incarnating ancestral spirits, Makonde helmet masks appear in dances that celebrate the conclusion of initiation rituals for adolescent boys and girls. In this dark-brown male example, real human hair has been applied to the skull in irregular patterns that imitate a once-fashionable hairstyle. Other lifelike characteristics include angular scarification marks and chipped teeth. The artist’s proper name—Diteka—is inscribed in Swahili on the mask’s cheek. Through prior bequest of Florene May Schoenborn Size: H. 26 cm (10 1/4 in.) Medium: Wood, human hair, and pigment

Water Container (Chilongo Chakumuto), Makonde, 1950, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of Africa

The Makonde of Northern Mozambique are known for their large, intricately ornamented pottery jars, and while these are increasingly being supplanted today by other, less-fragile containers, some people still prefer them for transporting and storing water. Hence, these handsome vessels continue to be made for domestic use, and their beauty has also led to their production for the commercial art market. Made on commission, such vessels were among the most treasured possession of Makonde women.The water jar is the Makonde potter’s favored stage for virtuoso expressions of creativity, such that no two pots ever receive the same overall design. After a piece has been built up of coils and then smoothed, shaped, and left to dry for several hours, it is painted with a mica-rich wash of earth, charcoal, and water, which gives it a distinctive, speckled gray-black color. Once this colored wash has been absorbed, the potter burnishes the surface with a stone until it is hard and smooth. At this point the water pot is ready to be meticulously embellished with incised designs.The Makonde word for drawing on pottery, nkova, is the same word they use for tattooing, once a widespread practice with important ritual significance, and many visual similarities exist between these two art forms. The potter marks the outlines of the pattern—a combination of straight and curved bands, zigzags, triangles, and semicircles—and then fills it in with light hatch marks, punctured lines, or more deeply impressed triangles. Another woman may sometimes assist her in this lengthy process. Finally, after firing it in the open, the maker may accentuate the designs by rubbing kaolin into them. —Entry, For Hearth and Altar, African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (2005), pp. 97-99. Restricted gift of Mrs. Stanley M. Freehling Size: 58.4 x 63.5 cm (23 x 25 in.) Medium: Terracotta and kaolin

Water Container (Chilongo Chakumuto), Makonde, 1950, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of Africa

The Makonde of Northern Mozambique are known for their large, intricately ornamented pottery jars, and while these are increasingly being supplanted today by other, less-fragile containers, some people still prefer them for transporting and storing water. Hence, these handsome vessels continue to be made for domestic use, and their beauty has also led to their production for the commercial art market. Made on commission, such vessels were among the most treasured possession of Makonde women.The water jar is the Makonde potter’s favored stage for virtuoso expressions of creativity, such that no two pots ever receive the same overall design. After a piece has been built up of coils and then smoothed, shaped, and left to dry for several hours, it is painted with a mica-rich wash of earth, charcoal, and water, which gives it a distinctive, speckled gray-black color. Once this colored wash has been absorbed, the potter burnishes the surface with a stone until it is hard and smooth. At this point the water pot is ready to be meticulously embellished with incised designs.The Makonde word for drawing on pottery, nkova, is the same word they use for tattooing, once a widespread practice with important ritual significance, and many visual similarities exist between these two art forms. The potter marks the outlines of the pattern—a combination of straight and curved bands, zigzags, triangles, and semicircles—and then fills it in with light hatch marks, punctured lines, or more deeply impressed triangles. Another woman may sometimes assist her in this lengthy process. Finally, after firing it in the open, the maker may accentuate the designs by rubbing kaolin into them. —Entry, For Hearth and Altar, African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (2005), pp. 97-99. Restricted gift of Mrs. Stanley M. Freehling Size: 58.4 x 63.5 cm (23 x 25 in.) Medium: Terracotta and kaolin