Tête de statue d'ancêtre, Style Nkuyu, Hemba, République Démocratique du Congo

Bernard de Grunne, Bruxelles
Collection Buchmann, Suisse (cf. lots 51, 89 et 107)

Agra/Lugano, Buchmann Galerie, Culture Myth Africa, novembre 2009

Buchmann, Culture Myth Africa, 2009, p. 57 et 63

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Tout en force et en sensibilité, cette tête - fragment d'une effigie d'ancêtre - s’impose, par la beauté des traits et la rigueur de la sculpture, comme une émouvante miniature du plus majestueux art Hemba.

Cerné par l’écrin du diadème frontal dont les lignes se prolongent dans celles du collier de barbe, le visage au réalisme idéalisé s’étire dans la courbe frontale jusqu’au sommet rasé du crâne (selon la coutume), mettant en valeur les lignes fluides du haut nez aquilin, des lèvres finement ourlées et des arcades sourcilières en arc de cercle. A la très grande harmonie des traits répond de profil et dans un équilibre parfait, la dynamique de la coiffure agencée en trois tresses retombant sur la nuque – rare.

Dans son ouvrage de référence sur La grande statuaire Hemba du Zaïre (1977), François Neyt regroupe, dans les "Styles à tresses du nord-est et du sud-est" (groupe XI), les effigies d'ancêtre dont la coiffure s'écarte, comme ici, de la parure cruciforme traditionnelle. cf. Neyt (1977, p. 342, XI, n° 4) pour une tête, également seul vestige d’une effigie d’ancêtre, offrant la même coiffure divisée tresses retombant sur la nuque (dont seule celle de droite subsiste), provenant de la collection Jeff et René Van der Straete.

Si la dynamique de la coiffure et la tension du profil évoquent les formes rigoureuses des Nkuvu voisins, la très grande sensibilité du visage l'inscrit dans l'expression du style Niembo, classique et nucléal, témoignant dans cette confluence des styles, du grand talent de son auteur.

Hemba ancestor head figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo

A masterful combination of strength and sensitivity, this head - a fragment from an ancestor effigy - stands out for the beauty of its features and its impeccable craftsmanship, like a stirring miniature of the most majestic Hemba art.

The face is encircled by the frontal diadem whose lines blend in with that of the chinstrap beard; its idealised realism stretches through the curve of the forehead all the way to the top of the shaved skull (as is the custom), thereby emphasising the flowing lines of the high aquiline nose, the finely drawn lips and the arcuate brow ridges. The great harmony of the facial features is mirrored in the dynamics of the coiffure, in profile and striking the perfect balance, arranged in three braids tapering down on the neck - rare.

In his reference work on The great Hemba statuary of Zaire (La grande statuaire Hemba du Zaïre, 1977), François Neyt lists within the "braided styles of the North-East and South East" (group 11), the ancestor effigies whose coiffure, as is the case here, depart from the traditional cruciform shape. cf. Neyt (1977, p. 342, XI, No. 4) for a head - also the only vestige of an effigy ancestor - with the same split-braids coiffure tapering down on the neck (of which only the right one remains), from the Jef and Rene Van der Straete Collection.

Although the dynamics of the coiffure and the tension of the profile recall the rigorous shapes created by the neighbouring Nkuvu, the great sensitivity of the face places it firmly within the expression of the Niembo style, classic and nucleic, a testament, within this confluence of styles, to the great talent of its creator.