Page 46 - Studio International - June 1972

Manding Art

at the

British Museum

Lamine Touré

From 23 June to 31 August the British
Museum's Department of Ethnography at
Burlington Gardens is holding the first
exhibition of Manding arts and crafts to be
seen in London. Studio International, to mark the
occasion, has produced a book, edited by
Guy Atkins, entitled Manding Art and
Civilisation. (Available from School of Oriental
and African Studies, Malet Street, London
WCIE 7HP. Price 75p + 10 for packing
and postage. This book answers, amongst other
things, the question 'Who are the Manding ?'

A fan-shaped Janus top mask
with eight heads, said to
A Malinke figure from Mali, represent an ancestor lineage,
belonging to the Kjersmeier from the Bambara (Mali).
collection. Height 39 cm. Height 116 cm. Musée des Arts
National Museum, Copenhagen Africains et Océaniens, Paris

`Manding' has a precise definition in terms as the secret society masks of the Vai of artistic expression in the architectural
of those West African peoples who speak northern Liberia (beehive-shaped helmet designs and techniques required for the
dialects of the Manding language and who trace masks surmounted by round turrets) and—at the construction of mosques : the Sankore mosque
their ancestry to the Manding heartland in Mali. other extreme—such refined objects as the at Timbuktu, for example, was constructed of
The Mali Empire was responsible, from the mysterious Malinke figurine reproduced here. baked earth at the height of the Mali Empire
thirteenth century, for drawing together a large The peoples of the Manding world are noted in the 14th century. Although requiring
number of separate cultural and artistic for their artistry and technology in a variety continual repair it has survived for over six
traditions. These are still alive today, although of crafts : these include metal-working, hundred years. Evidence has been advanced
speakers of Manding are spread over no fewer pottery, basketry, leatherwork, weaving and that the architectural style of such mosques
than nine modem West African states, dyeing. The finest examples of the latter are has sometimes been influenced by the
including Mali, Senegal, Guinea, the Ivory the mud-dyed bògòlafini cloths, whose multiple sculptural forms of traditional carvings. A
Coast, the Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia. signs often have a symbolical meaning. further intersection of Islamic and
The best known art region is that of the Ritual symbols and ideograms are a traditional indigenous traditions occurs in the elaborate
Bambara in Mali, whose antelope masks have element of Manding culture. forms of dress worn on festive occasions, and in
almost achieved the status of a national emblem. In the more Islamicized parts of the Manding the wide range of gold and silver jewellery, of
But there are also such divergent creations region, Islam has provided a new outlet for which examples are shown in the exhibition. q
26o