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Une sculpture en bois. - Prampram - Ghana
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Il y a 4 semaines

Une sculpture en bois. - Prampram - Ghana

A Prampram couple attributed to a well-known carver is distinguished by an unusually flattened corpus and arms that taper to points, arranged in an almost diagonal orientation. Within the archive, several comparable yet unpublished sculptures suggest the presence of a specific hand or workshop, pointing toward a coherent sculptural language that merits closer stylistic and material analysis. At the same time, there exist field photographs whose circulation remains deliberately restricted; they are reserved բացառively for scholarly consultation within a tightly controlled context. One publicly accessible image of a Prampram fetish hut may serve here as a reference for the external architectural form of such structures, without encroaching upon their protected interior domains. Our decision to refrain from publishing images of the interiors of fetish huts and their altars is informed by a cautionary precedent. In the case of the Lobi, a large number of photographs documenting highly sensitive ritual contexts were once disseminated in a widely read art journal. The outcome was deeply problematic. Only subsequent political circumstances in Burkina Faso prevented the transformation of these intimate ritual spaces into objects of touristic consumption. The scholarly value of those publications proved minimal. Rather than engaging in sustained, focused research with a limited number of informants and a clearly defined material scope, the approach taken at the time resulted in extensive violations of ritual privacy—an outcome that had already been explicitly warned against. Prampram fetish hut, Southern Ghana (last photo sequence). Equally complex is the issue of the circulation and trade of artifacts originating from comparatively under-researched groups such as the Prampram within the broader Ga-Dangme context. The tensions between legitimate scholarly or collecting interests and the question of voluntary transfer of ownership are embedded in a wider field of asymmetrical cultural encounters between African societies and Western institutions. These encounters are shaped by differing conceptions of value, authorship, and custodianship. A sustainable and ethically defensible path forward requires a careful balancing of research imperatives, market dynamics, and the conditions of digital dissemination. Respect, restraint, and contextual sensitivity remain indispensable in navigating these intersecting domains. Selected literature Cole, Herbert M., and Doran H. Ross. The Arts of Ghana. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, 1977. Eicher, Joanne B., ed. Ghana: Traditions and Change. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976. Fischer, Eberhard, and Hans Himmelheber. Afrikanische Kunst: Meisterwerke aus dem Museum Rietberg Zürich. Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1984. Kreamer, Christine Mullen. African Art in American Collections. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. Meyer, Birgit. Translating the Devil: Religion and Modernity among the Ewe in Ghana. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999. Preston Blier, Suzanne. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. CAB46691 Height: 59 cm / 49 cm Weight: 890 g / 880 g (incl. stand)

103501585

Plus disponible
Une sculpture en bois. - Prampram - Ghana

Une sculpture en bois. - Prampram - Ghana

A Prampram couple attributed to a well-known carver is distinguished by an unusually flattened corpus and arms that taper to points, arranged in an almost diagonal orientation. Within the archive, several comparable yet unpublished sculptures suggest the presence of a specific hand or workshop, pointing toward a coherent sculptural language that merits closer stylistic and material analysis. At the same time, there exist field photographs whose circulation remains deliberately restricted; they are reserved բացառively for scholarly consultation within a tightly controlled context. One publicly accessible image of a Prampram fetish hut may serve here as a reference for the external architectural form of such structures, without encroaching upon their protected interior domains.

Our decision to refrain from publishing images of the interiors of fetish huts and their altars is informed by a cautionary precedent. In the case of the Lobi, a large number of photographs documenting highly sensitive ritual contexts were once disseminated in a widely read art journal. The outcome was deeply problematic. Only subsequent political circumstances in Burkina Faso prevented the transformation of these intimate ritual spaces into objects of touristic consumption. The scholarly value of those publications proved minimal. Rather than engaging in sustained, focused research with a limited number of informants and a clearly defined material scope, the approach taken at the time resulted in extensive violations of ritual privacy—an outcome that had already been explicitly warned against.


Prampram fetish hut, Southern Ghana (last photo sequence).

Equally complex is the issue of the circulation and trade of artifacts originating from comparatively under-researched groups such as the Prampram within the broader Ga-Dangme context. The tensions between legitimate scholarly or collecting interests and the question of voluntary transfer of ownership are embedded in a wider field of asymmetrical cultural encounters between African societies and Western institutions. These encounters are shaped by differing conceptions of value, authorship, and custodianship. A sustainable and ethically defensible path forward requires a careful balancing of research imperatives, market dynamics, and the conditions of digital dissemination. Respect, restraint, and contextual sensitivity remain indispensable in navigating these intersecting domains.

Selected literature

Cole, Herbert M., and Doran H. Ross. The Arts of Ghana. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, 1977.
Eicher, Joanne B., ed. Ghana: Traditions and Change. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976.
Fischer, Eberhard, and Hans Himmelheber. Afrikanische Kunst: Meisterwerke aus dem Museum Rietberg Zürich. Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1984.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen. African Art in American Collections. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.
Meyer, Birgit. Translating the Devil: Religion and Modernity among the Ewe in Ghana. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999.
Preston Blier, Suzanne. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

CAB46691

Height: 59 cm / 49 cm
Weight: 890 g / 880 g (incl. stand)


Offres terminées
Julien Gauthier
Expert
Estimation  € 500 - € 650

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