Coupe anthropomorphe, Wongo, République Démocratique du Congo

Collecté par Emile Lejeune entre 1906 et 1914
Collection Boris de Starosvietsky, Bruxelles
Transmis par descendance

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L’art Kuba est « révélé » en 1910 par l’exposition au British Museum des œuvres collectées entre 1907 et 1909 par l’ethnologue hongrois Emil Torday. Le rapport entre le pouvoir centralisé des souverains Kuba et la richesse de leur art sera comparé par Olbrechts aux « princes qui avaient à cœur de s’entourer d’une pléiade d’artistes – comme le firent en leur temps les Médicis et les Ducs de Bourgogne » (Olbrechts, 1959, p. 114). A l’excellence de l’art du royaume de Benin auquel la critique anglo-saxonne la compare, s’ajoute la « révélation d’un art et d’une culture plus merveilleux, plus admirables parce que strictement indigènes, et non influencés par le contact avec les Européens (Blafour inPitt Rivers Museum, 1912, p. 47). L'art Kuba devient l'un des styles les plus prisés de l'art africain. Avant les années 1950, expositions et publications lui consacrent une part égale à celle réservée aux prestigieux arts Fang et  du Royaume de Benin.

Parmi les trésors collectés par Torday figure une coupe anthropomorphe - chef d'œuvre archétypal d'un corpus éminemment restreint, attribué aux voisins occidentaux des Kuba : les Wongo (British Museum, inv. n° 1910.4-20.2, illustrée dans Mack, 1990, pl. 6). La parenté avec la coupe présentée ici, collectée à la même époque, est si étroite - dynamique de la pose, talent avec lequel le sculpteur a proportionné la silhouette pour transcender la fonctionnalité de l'objet, détails des traits du visage et des scarifications - qu'il ne fait aucun doute que les deux sont l'œuvre d'un seul et même sculpteur. 

Les coupes céphalomorphes à vin de palme, et celles anthropomorphes – infiniment plus rares – réservées à l’usage des chefs et des notables Kuba, constituaient pour les artistes royaux de véritables exercices de virtuosité, marquant la compétition permanente pour le prestige, à la fois des artistes et de leurs commanditaires. Selon Torday, les coupes anthropomorphes étaient l’apanage des peuples Wongo (ou Kwango) et Lele, voisins occidentaux des Kuba (Bushange), auxquels ces royaumes étaient affiliés.


Wongo anthropomorphic cup, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kuba Art was "revealed" in 1910 in an exhibition held at the British Museum where pieces collected between 1907 and 1909 by Hungarian anthropologist Emil Torday were displayed. The relationship between the centralised power of Kuba rulers and the richness of their art would later be compared by Olbrechts to that of  "princes who were eager to surround themselves with a host of artists - as the Medici and the Dukes of Burgundy once did." (Olbrechts, 1959, p. 114). The artistic excellence of the kingdom of Benin that Anglo-Saxon critics compared it with was eclipsed by the "revelation of an art and a culture made all the more wonderful and admirable by the fact that they are purely indigenous, untarnished by any contact with Europeans." (Blafour in Pitt Rivers Museum, 1912, p. 47). Kuba Art became one of the most popular styles of African art. Before the 1950s, exhibitions and publications devoted to it a share equal to that reserved for the prestigious Fang arts and arts from the Kingdom of Benin.

Among the treasures collected by Torday figures an anthropomorphic cup - an archetypal masterpiece within a very restricted corpus attributed to the western counterparts of the Kuba: the Wongo. (British Museum, inv. No. 1910.4-20.2, illustrated in Mack, 1990, pl. 6). The similarities with the cup presented here, which was collected at the same time, are so striking - dynamics of the pose, skill of the sculptor in rendering the proportions of the figure so as to transcend the functional aspect of the piece, details of facial features and scarification patterns - that there can be no doubt that they are both the work of a single sculptor. 

Cephalomorphic cups used to serve palm wine, and the - much rarer - anthropomorphic ones reserved for the use of Kuba leaders and notables were a genuine test of royal artists' virtuosity, attesting to the constant competition for prestige waged both between the artists themselves and between their patrons. According to Torday, anthropomorphic cups were the preserve of the Wongo (or Kwango) and Lele people, western counterparts of the Kuba (Bushange), to which those kingdoms were affiliated.