Beside the Koulé, Senufo carvers who work with wood only, there is the occupation group of the Fono, Senufo smithers who also carve wood. As smithers the Fono are able to create their own tools, like the Kadal, a sharp iron hatchet with a long wooden handle.
The range of tools from a Koulé is much wider and more specialized. Koulés also have knives, wedges and blades for a more detailed work. By first view, the surfaces of a Koulé carving is even and smooth, sometimes shiny. You wont see any traces caused by the hatched. In opposite the surfaces of a Fono carving is uneven and structured by the traces of the hatchet.
In the region between Ouézomon in the west and Korhogo in the east, another very typical sign for a Fono work was created in a time between around 1940 and 1980: The triangular facette on the back of the Kpelié mask.
All Kpelié masks of Fossoungo Dagnogo (*ca. 1894, +ca. 1973), a Fono from Kalaha, show this very typical sign. Also the masks of Songuifolo Silué (*ca. 1914, +1986), Fono from Sirasso, have all the same element in the back. Both carvers knew each other very well, so it might be the possible case, that Dagnogo, who was about 20 years older, influenced Silué implementing Kpelié masks with this feature.
On one side this style element is certainly an intentionally sign for the occupation group of the Fono. Another explanation is also, that, because of the limited application of carving tools, a Fono is not able to deeply hollow out the back of the mask. The facette is a style alternative because of technical problems in realization.
Top left: Kpelié mask, carved by Fossoungo Dagnogo, Fono from Kalaha. *1894 +1973. Time of creation around 1950.
32,5x 12,5 x 5,5 cm, wood. Collected by Karl-Heinz Krieg 1989.
Literature:
- Wenn Neuordnung Ordnung schafft, Markus Ehrhard, page 112 - 113.
Top middle: Kpelié mask, carved by Fossoungo Dagnogo, Fono from Kalaha. *1894 +1973. Time of creation around 1940.
29,5x 14,0 x 6,0 cm, wood. Collected by Karl-Heinz Krieg.
Literature:
- Wenn Brauch Gebrauch beeinflusst, Markus Ehrhard, page 92 - 93.
Top right: Kpelié mask, carved by Fossoungo Dagnogo, Fono from Kalaha. *1894 +1973. Time of creation around 1960 to 1970.
29,5 x 13,0 x 6,0 cm, wood. Collected by Christian Siegenthaler.
Literature:
- Wenn Brauch Gebrauch beeinflusst, Markus Ehrhard, page 94 - 95.
- Afrika Begegnung, aus der Sammlung Artur und Heidrun Elmer, page 67.
Below left: Kpelié mask, carved by Songuifolo Silué, Fono from Sirasso. *1914 +1986. Time of creation between 1935 - 1939.
40,0 x 16,0 x 10,0 cm, wood. Former Karl-Heinz Krieg collection.
Literature:
- Wenn Brauch Gebrauch beeinflusst, Markus Ehrhard, pages 96 - 101.
- Kunst & Kontext, Ausgabe 07, 2014, page 39.
- Kunst und Religion bei den Gbato-Senufo, Elfenbeinküste, Karl-Heinz Krieg und Wulf Lohse, page 46 - 49.
- Aus Afrika, Ahnen - Geister - Götter, Jürgen Zwernemann und Wulf Lohse, Seite 65 - 66.
- Afrika Begegnung, aus der Sammlung Artur und Heidrun Elmer, page 67.
Below middle: Kpelié mask, carved by Songuifolo Silué, Fono from Sirasso. *1914 +1986. Time of creation between before 1980.
35,5 x 16,5 x 8,0 cm, wood. Collected 1980 by Frank Friedmann, New York.
Literature:
- Wenn Neuordnung Ordnung schafft, Markus Ehrhard, pages 126 - 129.
- Kunst und Religion bei den Gbato-Senufo, Elfenbeinküste, Karl-Heinz Krieg und Wulf Lohse, page 46 - 49.
- Aus Afrika, Ahnen - Geister - Götter, Jürgen Zwernemann und Wulf Lohse, Seite 65 - 66.
- Afrika Begegnung, aus der Sammlung Artur und Heidrun Elmer, page 67.
Below right: Kpelié mask, carved by Songuifolo Silué, Fono from Sirasso. *1914 +1986. Time of creation around 1960.
31,5 x 19,5 x 8,0 cm, wood, partly restored. Collected by Karl-Heinz Krieg in the 1960ies.
Literature:
- Wenn Neuordnung Ordnung schafft, Markus Ehrhard, pages 122 - 125.
- Kunst und Religion bei den Gbato-Senufo, Elfenbeinküste, Karl-Heinz Krieg und Wulf Lohse, page 46 - 49.
- Aus Afrika, Ahnen - Geister - Götter, Jürgen Zwernemann und Wulf Lohse, Seite 65 - 66.
- Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde, page 14.
- Afrika Begegnung, aus der Sammlung Artur und Heidrun Elmer, page 67.
Copyright content and images by Markus Ehrhard
Kommentar schreiben
Dan Kleitman (Dienstag, 17 April 2018 21:49)
Hi,
I want first to thank you for your posts about Senufo masks which are the source of everything I have learned about the subject.
My wife with slight help from me, run an antique shop, and we also love African art, which we also buy and sell, (but undfortunately mostly buy). Recently we purchased four brightly colored masks, said to be from the estate of a NY collector who died, that I guess were made by Z Coulibaly or someone else very talented, and were painted by someone also very talented. I tried to send pictures of them but they did not get here. I could send them by regular email if I had your email addess.
I would be delighted to discover your impression. I agree with you completely that when the artist makes no distinction between creations meant for use in his village and those meant for sale to outsiders, it is ridiculous, from the point of view of art to care about such matters. Nor is age a significant aesthetic quality. If the creation is appealing there is no reason to prefer one to the other or even old to new..
The difference may be very important for anthropological study and the early collections were mainly by anthropologists, Their influence as experts continues to determine value, which is actually good for us. It has meant that we can buy such things at ridiculously low prices.
It does annoy me that African art is considered primitive, which it is not, and judged by standards that nobody would dream of applying to Western Art, the most fashionable of which was actually inspired by exposure to African art.,
Thanks again for your postings.
Dan Kleitman
Dan Kleitman (Mittwoch, 18 April 2018 01:44)
Somehow the previous post came twice. Sorry.
Anyway two of the masks are very similar to the dyed or painted masks in the first illustration of your posting on Coulibaly. It is the fourth from the left. One of ours has a male figure on top, the other a female. They are slightly more elaborate than the one in your picture, having more projections to the sides. It is because of your picture that I assume that these were done by Z Coulibaly (the Z Coulibaly you wrote about and pictured)
Markus Ehrhard (Mittwoch, 18 April 2018 07:14)
Dear Dan,
thank you very much for your comments. Sure, you can show me your objetcs, but please don't expect an expertise. The email that goes directly to me is: shop@ornito.com
Best regards
Markus