Monolithe, Ejagham, Nigeria

Ian Arundel, Los Angeles
Collection privée, Long Beach, ca. 1975
Peter Wengraf, Londres, 1985
Collection Tom Phillips, Londres
Collection privée européenne 

Londres, Royal Academy of Arts, Africa: The Art of a Continent, 4 octobre 1995 - 21 janvier 1996

Phillips, Africa: The Art of a Continent, 1995, p. 375, no. 5.37c

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Par la remarquable élaboration de son décor, cette œuvre énonce la quintessence d'un des corpus les plus singuliers de l'histoire des arts africains : les monolithes atal des Ejagham. C'est en 1905 que Charles Partridge mentionne pour la première fois l'existence, dans la région de la Moyenne Cross River, de ces impressionnantes créations en basalte : « Au milieu du village se trouvait la traditionnelle place, centre de vie de la communauté. [...] En son centre se trouvait un gigantesque arbre et tout autour, formant un cercle, vingt pierres aux traits anthropomorphes » (Partridge, Cross River Natives, 1905, p. 269). En Angleterre, la découverte est immédiatement comparée à celle de l'art du royaume de Benin (Hamilton in Man, 1905, V, n° 23) et en 1915, Carl Einstein publie dans Negerplastik l'unique témoin alors parvenu en Europe, acquis de Staschewski en 1909 par le Museum für Völkerkunde de Berlin.

En 1968, dans Cross River Monoliths, l'officier britannique Philip Allison répertoria de cet art lithique (très rare sur le continent africain), quelque trois cent œuvres réparties sur vingt-neuf sites du pays Bakor (Nord-Est du pays Ejagham). Il y souligne la cohérence stylistique de chaque ensemble, qu'il définit ou commente brièvement. Ici, les proportions, le schéma corporel (notamment l'absence de cou), mais surtout la richesse et l'élaboration des ornements corporels permettent d'attribuer ce monolithe au clan Nnam, et plus particulièrement au style localisé par Allison à proximité du village d'Ekulogom - dont il souligna « la qualité exceptionnelle » (Allison, Cross River Monoliths, 1968, p. 80, n° 42).

C’est à l’intérieur de ce cercle de monolithes que se déroulaient les cérémonies d’initiation de chaque nouvelle classe d’âge, appelant à la protection des ancêtres : « chacune des pierres sculptées est supposée représenter un ancêtre, une figure légendaire ou historique, ou encore l’emblème d’une société secrète » (Eyo in Kerchache, Sculptures, Afrique, Asie, Océanie, Amériques, Pavillon des Sessions, 2000, p. 140). Si elle arbore les traits classiques du corpus – barbe piriforme, important nombril saillant, chéloïdes temporales et faciales – cette œuvre s’impose par la beauté de sa surface entièrement ouvragée, offrant dans l'univers de la sculpture sur pierre le plus remarquable degré d’accomplissement. 

In the remarkable sophistication of its decor, this remarkable stone  stands out as the pinnacle of one of the most unique corpora in the history of African art: the Ejagham atal monoliths. Charles Partridge first mentioned the existence of these striking basalt creations from the Middle Cross River region in his 1905 book, Cross River Natives: "The traditional square, in the centre of the village was the community's gathering point. [...] In its centre stood a towering tree, and all around it, in a circle, twenty stones with anthropomorphic features." (Partridge, Cross River Natives, 1905, p. 269). In England, their discovery was immediately compared to that of the art of the kingdom of Benin (Hamilton in Man, 1905, V, No. 23) and in 1915, Carl Einstein published in Negerplastik the only specimen known in Europe, acquired from Staschewski in 1909 by the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin.

In 1968, in Cross River Monoliths, the British officer Philip Allison listed some three hundred works of lithic art (very rare on the African continent), distributed in twenty-nine sites across Bakor country (Northeast Ejagham country). He defines or comments on each ensemble briefly and highlights their stylistic consistencies.  The proportions and body structure of the offered stone (including the absence of neck), and especially the wealth and elaboration of the body ornaments indicate that this monolith can be attributed to the Nnam clan, and more specifically to the style located by Allison near the Ekulogom village, of which he noted the "exceptional quality". (Allison,  Cross River Monoliths, 1968, p. 80, No. 42).

Traditionally the initiation ceremonies for each new age group took place within a circle of these monoliths, conjuring up the protection of the ancestors: "Each carved stone is supposed to represent an ancestor, a legendary or historic figure, or the emblem of a secret society." (Eyo in Kerchache, Sculptures, Afrique, Asie, Océanie, Amériques, Pavillon des Sessions, 2000, p. 140). While this stone displays the classical features typical of the corpus - pear-shaped beard, large protruding navel, temporal keloids and facial scarification - it stands out for the beauty of its surface entirely covered in ornately engraved motifs, offering the most remarkable degree of accomplishment in the realm of stone carving. The scale of this stone, concentrates the forcefulness and the sublime of the ancestral figure.