BwakaMasks, figures & African art

Overview

The ethnographic and linguistic recording of the Ubangi region in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the neighbouring areas of the Central African Republic (CAR) has historically been characterised by considerable taxonomic blurring and colonial projections. The geographic distribution area of the ethnic group now mostly referred to as Ngbaka is primarily centred on the Gemena Plateau in the Congolese Equator Province, with significant extensions along the Ubangi River into the Zongo region. Demographic estimates from recent studies put the population of the so-called Ngbaka Minagende in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at around 1.02 million individuals, while the Ngbaka-Ma'bo in the Central African Republic are estimated at around 162,000 members. Linguistics places the Ngbaka historically within the Adamawa-Ubangi language family, which was categorised as part of the Niger-Congo macrofamily in older models.

However, the classification of this language group is the subject of ongoing scientific controversy. The source situation regarding the genetic relationship of the Ubangi languages is ambiguous. Tom Güldemann and Benedikt Winkhart problematise the insufficient empirical evidence for a genealogical Ubangi classification and criticise the morphosyntactic reconstructions of the proto-Bantu predicate (as previously proposed by Meeussen or Hyman) as being highly prone to error and unsuitable for this region. Güldemann dates language shifts and migrations completely differently and rejects the homogeneous unity of the Adamawa-Ubangi group. Yves Moñino, on the other hand, argues in his linguistic reconstruction in favour of a stronger structural cohesion of the Gbaya-Ngbaka-Monzombo language branches and defends the validity of the macrogroup.

A central research controversy, which particularly concerns private collection archives, auction catalogues and older acquisition books, manifests itself in the nomenclature of the ethnic group: the self-designation (endonym) versus the foreign designation (exonym). In colonial documents and early inventory catalogues - exemplified by the archives of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) in Tervuren - the ethnonym "Bwaka", "Bouaka" or "Mbaka" can be found consistently until the 1980s. However, more recent sociolinguistic and ethnographic analyses, based on archive material and field research, prove beyond doubt that the term "Bwaka" was an exogenous attribution. This nomenclature was largely established by Belgian colonial officials and Flemish Capuchin missionaries from around 1910 and imposed on the local population in the course of administrative enrolment. Contemporary research subsumes the material and linguistic products almost exclusively under the term "Ngbaka", although the art market occasionally adheres to the Bwaka classification for reasons of provenance tradition.

The traditional social structure of the Ngbaka is strictly acephalous and patrilineal. The settlement form historically consisted of highly decentralised hamlets, each inhabited by an extended extended family or a patrilineal clan, without the existence of a superordinate, hierarchically structured political authority or a sacred kingship. This segmentary form of society is directly reflected in the fragmented, highly individualised ritual practice. The subsistence strategy is primarily based on extensive shifting cultivation, with bitter manioc, sorghum, taro, yams and bananas being the main crops. There is a rigid gender-specific division of labour: while agricultural cultivation, plantation maintenance and fishing (using fish traps, nets and plant toxins) are exclusively female domains, hunting, forest clearing and, in particular, the highly respected metalworking are the responsibility of men. Historically, blacksmithing had an exceptional social status, which manifested itself in the production of prestigious weapons and agricultural tools. The relationship with the neighbouring ethnic groups - in particular the Mbanza (Mbanja), Ngbandi and Monzombo - is historically characterised by intensive cultural exchange, reciprocal ritual borrowing and inter-ethnic marriages, which makes the clear morphological classification of isolated art objects from the Ubangi region extremely difficult to this day.

Cultural context

The religious system of the Ngbaka differs significantly from the highly stratified initiation and secret societies of neighbouring major cultures. Whereas in the eastern and southern Congo Basin systems such as the hierarchical Bwami confederation of the Lega or the institutionalised Mani structures of the Zande monopolised social and spiritual power, the cosmological order of the Ngbaka is centred on the family ancestor cult and the immediate household level. Instead of an exclusive, hierarchised ritual elite, spiritual interaction is primarily the responsibility of the head of the family or specialised healers. The supreme cosmological entity is the creator god Gale (also known regionally as Gbonboso). In classical African theology, however, Gale is conceived as a deus otiosus - an enraptured creator who is not visualised in anthropomorphic sculptures and only plays a marginal role in everyday ritual practices.

Active ritual practice focusses almost exclusively on the mythical cultural heroes and primordial ancestors Seto (male) and his sister-wife Nabo (female). According to oral tradition, Seto and Nabo functioned as epic messengers of the Creator who saved humanity from initial death and ensured the perpetuation of the human species through their incestuous union. The gender duality of this ancestral pair is central to the cosmological balance. While Seto is generally invoked for hunting, agri-cultural success and the protection of the patrilineal lineage, Nabo is specifically associated with the healing of childhood diseases and the defence against pathogenic spirits. This gives the female entity, and by proxy the woman in the cult, a singular protective and curative role that is otherwise rarely institutionalised in the Ubangi region.

Among the Ngbaka, ritual authorities manifest themselves above all in the function of diviners and healers, who act as indispensable mediators between the physical symptoms of an illness or social misfortune and its spiritual cause. A central identity-forming and social regulator of society is the far-reaching initiation and rite of passage Gaza (or Ganza, literally translated: "that which gives strength"). As part of the Gaza rites, which are performed in strictly segregated cycles of several years for male and female adolescents, the initiates spend several months in strict isolation outside the village community. The initiation culminates in extreme physical endurance tests, the learning of coded choreographic dances, instruction in genealogical knowledge and circumcision for boys and excision for girls. These rites transform the biological individuals into fully-fledged, reproductive and socially recognised members of the community.

There is a sharp research controversy regarding the origin, chronology and ritual autonomy of these Gaza rites, which has a direct impact on the attribution of artworks. The source situation here is highly ambiguous. Herman Burssens (1958) classified the Gaza masks and the associated ritual infrastructure primarily as an indigenous, autochthonous phenomenon of the Ngbaka, which later spread to neighbouring groups. Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers (2007), however, dates the establishment of the rite in its recent form differently and argues convincingly that the Ngbaka historically borrowed and adapted essential elements of the initiation as well as the morphological conception of the masks from the Mbanza (Mbanja). Grootaers postulates that due to the close cultural symbiosis, a reliable distinction between Ngbaka and Mbanza masks is de facto impossible without valid primary data from the field. In current curatorial discourses, such as those conducted by the Brooklyn Museum on the occasion of the exhibition Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, it is increasingly emphasised that these performative mask traditions must not be understood as isolated fetishised objects, but as dynamic, reactive instruments for coping with global and internal structural pressures.

Aesthetic features

The canonical object typology of the Ngbaka is characterised by a robust, highly stylised formalism dominated by two primary sculptural formats: the anthropomorphic standing figures representing Seto and Nabo, and the Dagara helmet and face masks of Gaza initiation. Smaller divinatory objects such as bowls, pipes with anthropomorphic heads or bowed harps (cordophones) round off the corpus. The iconography of the Seto/Nabo figures follows a strict, formulaic canon of proportions: the sculptures usually have massively shortened, U-shaped or zigzag angled legs, which add a dynamic, almost springy element to the statics. These support a heavy, cylindrical torso to which the arms are closely attached as narrow, barely moulded reliefs. The head is disproportionately large, enthroned on a strong neck and has a characteristic, heart-shaped, concave face. The eyes are often deep-set and fitted with flat copper nails or cowries, giving the gaze an intense presence. An absolute, diagnostic feature of Ngbaka carving is the vertical scarification line (keloid scar), which runs as a raised ridge in the axis of symmetry from the forehead over the root of the nose and exactly mirrors the real tribal statues of the ethnic group. The size spectrum of the ancestor figures ranges from tiny, amulet-like miniature figures for personal protection to altar figures almost one metre (approx. 40 inches) high.

With regard to the choice of material, the historical carvers favoured soft to medium woods that allowed for quick processing. Forensic and botanical analyses often identify the primary carving wood as Vitex madiensis (Lamiaceae family), a shrub or small tree endemic to the savannahs and dry forests of the Ubangi Basin. Microscopic studies indicate that this wood has a certain structural integrity due to its specific density and secondary metabolites (coumarins, flavonoids), although it remains susceptible to weathering. The complex formation of the patina on these objects marks the difference between a profane wood carving and a ritually activated altarpiece. After completion, the figures were primarily blackened and successively rubbed with red kúlà powder, which is obtained from the shredded wood of the African redwood tree. The characteristic, crusty patina in exposed areas is usually the result of repeated sacrificial rituals in which crushed kola nuts were spat onto the sculpture in combination with saliva.

There is a clear methodological disagreement in the research on documented master hands and delimitable workshops. In his stylistic analyses of African art complexes, Bernard de Grunne argues strongly in favour of the identification of highly individual masters. He uses the concept of the "hapax legomenon" for unique sculptures which, due to their extreme formal quality and sheer size, represent singular masterpieces by sculptors who are unrecognised by name but stylistically identifiable and who disregarded the regional canon. The more established Ubangi research by Herman Burssens and Joseph Aurélien Cornet, however, largely negates the existence of documented individual masters in the sense of the Luba or Hemba workshops for the Ngbaka region. They consider the morphological variance to be the result of local hamlet traditions rather than an expression of individualised artistry.

Distinguishing authentic, activated ritual objects from recent forgeries produced for the Western art market requires immense expertise. Forgery criteria include an exaggerated, illogical patination that does not correlate with the actual haptic touch points of a used object. Forgeries often show parallel sanding marks from industrial sandpaper and lack the wear-related smoothing on the inside of the masks caused by sweat and friction on the dancer's face over the years. Authentic comparative specimens, such as those kept at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, confirm the homogeneous, organically grown encrustation and the authentic dehydration of the wood fibre, which cannot be reproduced in pieces that have been artificially aged quickly.

Ritual practice

The ritual practice of the Ngbaka is characterised by a highly pragmatic, therapeutically oriented approach to material culture that is deeply rooted in the domestic environment. The anthropomorphic standing figures (Seto and Nabo) were not primarily carved for public, large-scale theocratic spectacles, but remained almost without exception in the sphere of family privacy. The ritual structure and spatial disposition centred on the ndábà, a specific domestic altar, which usually took the form of a low seat or table. The sculptures of the ancestral couple were permanently positioned on this altar, where they radiated a constant protective aura over the homestead. The head of the household turned to them every day, but the ritual acts intensified significantly during acute family crises - such as threatening childhood illnesses, lack of hunting success, infertility or the loss of harvests.

The formal activation of a handcrafted but still profane piece of wood into a powerful, sacred ritual object was a complex process that had to be carried out by the local divinator or healer. If a healer was consulted to request the intervention of Nabo to ward off pathogenic spirits in a seriously ill child, he would apply a specifically prepared powder to the exact anatomical area of the sculpture that corresponded to the diseased region of the child patient's body. This sympathetic magic "charged" the figure. The family elder then made regular offerings. These consisted almost exclusively of organic fluids, mostly from the intensive chewing of kola nuts and the subsequent spitting out of the red, fibrous mass directly onto the surface of the figure. Through this permanent, intergenerational lifecycle of application, the wood accumulated the coveted, dense and crusty patina that Western collectors often mistakenly labelled as a "blood sacrifice".

In stark contrast to the intimate domestic use of the statues, the performative use of the Dagara helmet and face masks was subject to strict temporal and spatial restrictions in public spaces. These masks were only taken out of their hiding places and activated in the direct context of the Gaza initiation. The choreography of the performance was strictly regimented: The masks were primarily worn by the older instructors or, in some documented regional variants of the mbanza, by the newly circumscribed initiates themselves. Their main function was exclusionary and apotropaic: they served to physically and spiritually demarcate the forest initiation camp, which was strictly isolated from civilian society. The masked dancers patrolled the periphery of the camp to ward off women, uncircumcised boys and any non-initiated persons and to keep them away through ritual intimidation.

The lifecycle of an Ngbaka object was always inextricably linked to its ritual potency and physical integrity. As the sculptures and masks, as already mentioned, were primarily made from relatively soft woods such as Vitex madiensis, they were extremely susceptible to climatic degradation, microbial infestation and, in particular, to rapid infestation by xylophages (termites) in the tropical climate of the Congolese rainforest and savannah. If an altar figurine was irreparably destroyed by insect damage or simply lost its spiritual effectiveness in the eyes of the family and the divinator - for example, if an illness ended fatally despite offerings - the object was devalued. Among the Ngbaka, there were no elaborate deactivation rituals in the sense of a formal "burial", such as those documented for disused Nkisi sculptures in the Congo estuary. The functionless wood was carelessly disposed of, left to rot naturally or replaced by a quick re-carving. The impressive exhibition Persona. Ritual Masks and Contemporary Art at the RMCA Tervuren illustrated this fluid, unsentimental transition from temporarily activated spiritual entity to obsolete wooden object using historical Ubangi mask complexes that would have long since crumbled to dust without the conservation intervention of Western collectors.

Historical context

The migration history of the Ngbaka and the superordinate Ubangi-speaking ethnic groups is highly controversial in academic discourse, as pre-colonial, written sources for this region of the Central African heartland are almost completely lacking. The dating controversies are significant. Older linguistic models, dominated by Luc Bouquiaux and Jacqueline Thomas (1980), postulated that the initial secession of the Ngbaka-Monzombo groups and their southward migration into the Congo Basin as a result of drastic population pressure took place as early as the late 18th or early 19th century. However, Tom Güldemann (2015) vehemently disputes the empirical basis of this chronology and criticises the unproven assumptions about the long-term co-migration of farming ethnic groups and pygmy poaching groups over immense geographical distances as "poorly substantiated". Other historical reconstructions place the arrival of the Ngbaka on the Gemena Plateau in significant numbers as late as the 1920s, after they had entered into political and economic alliances with the French colonial power in the late 19th century, which later secured lucrative positions for many members of the ethnic group in the post-colonial administration of the Central African Republic.

With the increasing administrative and military consolidation of the Belgian colonial administration in the 20th century, the societies of the Ubangi came under enormous pressure to adapt. The colonial encounter was characterised by attempts at territorial control. In the 1930s, colonial officials enforced a rigorous "territorial homogenisation", an administrative act aimed at consolidating formerly fluid, overlapping identities and clan affiliations into static, fiscally and legally comprehensible "ethnicities" - the birth of the constructed exonym "Bwaka". This structural intervention, coupled with the massive evangelisation efforts of the Capuchin order, had a restrictive influence on art production. Traditional initiation rites such as Gaza were opposed by the missionaries as pagan, which led to the production of performative masks being pushed underground, profaned or completely modified.

Paradoxically, the market reception and canonisation of Ngbaka art in the West began precisely during this phase of colonial upheaval and culminated early on in some of the most legendary and style-defining exhibitions in African art history. The auction of Georges de Miré's elite collection at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris on 16 December 1931 marked an absolute, irrevocable breakthrough in market valuation. This auction, curated and accompanied by experts from the influential Parisian art dealers Charles Ratton and Louis Carré, presented the raw aesthetics of the Congo to a select European avant-garde. From this very collection came some of today's most iconic Ngbaka sculptures, which subsequently passed through the hands of luminaries such as Pierre Matisse (son of Henri Matisse), the sculptor Chaim Gross and finally Myron Kunin. The influence of Charles Ratton, who together with Tristan Tzara organised the groundbreaking exhibition at the Théâtre Pigalle in 1930 and the exhibition African Negro Art at the MoMA in New York in 1935, was decisive in elevating Ubangi art from the status of curious ethnographic objects to highly esteemed masterpieces of global modernism.

The price development for masterpieces from these early provenance chains is unprecedented in the 21st century and reflects the extreme scarcity of authentic objects collected before 1940. In November 2014, the 54 cm high Seto figure from the Myron Kunin Collection, formerly owned by De Miré, was auctioned at Sotheby's in New York for a remarkable USD 4.08 million at an estimate of USD 1.2 to 1.8 million, an all-time record for art from the Ubangi region.

This spectacular price explosion and the enormous demand for unexplained Ubangi artefacts naturally generated a massive, highly professional counterfeiting problem. When assessing potential acquisitions for high-calibre collections, external curators must now apply stringent, interdisciplinary authenticity criteria. Simply analysing style is no longer enough. Scientific forensics, the radiocarbon method (C14) and microscopy, such as those used in the research centres of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to validate relic figures, focus on the detection of natural heartwood cracks, deeply organic termite feeding marks (which cannot be imitated by machine) and the deep molecular oxidation of the wood in order to distinguish recent forgeries trimmed to look old from authentic ritually used objects from the late 19th century. An authentic Ngbaka masterpiece is characterised by a holistic structural dehydration and a specific wear topography that could only be created through decades of ritual involvement in the ndábà shrine and under Congolese climatic conditions.