Igbo Art and Things Fall Apart
Prepared by Priscilla Hollingsworth for HUMN 2002, August 2002
African art is very rich and complex. Certain kinds of large and sweeping conclusions
can be drawn, but art in Africa varies so much from one group of people to the
next that it can be very confusing to understand how the African art described
in your art textbook applies to Achebe’s story. The usual approach we have taken in HUMN 2002
is to start with the art in Stokstad’s Art History that is from Nigeria, especially the art of Ife and Benin.
The cultures of Ife and Benin produced some beautiful, naturalistically
modeled heads of kings that are very appealing:
Head of a king from Ife, Yoruba,
c. 13th century, brass, 11.5" high (p. 476 in Stokstad)
This head was cast in bronze or brass (they are much the same
thing). Metal casting is complex and
requires a lot of technological know-how. The
modeling is sensitive and realistic. It is clear that this head was produced by a sophisticated and powerful
culture. Looking at the head, it is
easy to feel that we are viewing the head of a real individual who possessed
the power of a king. But what are we
missing? It turns out that the holes
at the scalp line were to attach a headdress made of other materials.
The large holes at the neck were to attach a full body made of other
materials (possibly wood). It is thought that this whole figure, which
would have been outfitted with the full attire of a king, would have been placed
in a special area reserved for the display of royal ancestors. Experts theorize that this figure would have
been revered by the living representatives of the royal family, and possibly
by the people also. So it turns out
that we are missing almost everything that is important about this art work
– we only have the head, photographed on a plain background. It was produced hundreds of years earlier than
the setting of Achebe’s story, and by a somewhat different cultural group.
Looking at this image is not getting us very far into understanding the
richness and complexity of the Igbo people that Achebe described in his story.
* * * * *
Time and Change in Igbo Society
What time period is Achebe talking about in Things Fall
Apart? During the first part of
the story, the Igbo culture is all-encompassing.
It is full and strong. Westerners
seem to be a myth. By the end of the
story, Westerners have seriously intruded upon and changed Igbo culture.
But when was this? Chinua Achebe himself was born in 1930, and
he wrote Things Fall Apart in 1958. Achebe
was the son of a missionary teacher, and he wrote Things Fall Apart in English.
Achebe himself clearly has a foot in both Igbo and English colonial cultures. The setting of Things Fall Apart is
before the English had much contact with Igbo people in inland areas away from
the rivers. This setting may have been
at the end of the 19th century, because the story refers to England
having a queen rather than a king, making this the reign of Queen Victoria.
If this is so, Achebe was reconstructing a way of life that he had heard
about from older people.
In this article, I will be showing you various images of Igbo
art in the attempt to relate them to Achebe’s story. I especially like the photos from the 1930s,
because the people shown seem less Westernized than in the photos from later
in the century. I wish I could show
you photos from the late 19th century – but I could not find any
of those. It is hard to take photographs
in un-Westernized areas, and in the
late 19th century, it must have been nearly impossible. But it is also important to realize that change
happens to every culture. The Igbo culture
has experienced great change in the last century, and it is still very strong.
Achebe himself has written the following about art, change, and the Igbo
culture:
“The practical purpose of art is to channel
a spiritual force into an aesthetically satisfying physical form that captures
the presumed attributes of that force. It stands to reason, therefore, that new forms must stand ready
to be called into being as often as new (threatening) forces appear on the scene.
It is like ‘earthing’ (grounding) an electrical charge to ensure safety.” (page ix, foreword to Igbo Arts: Community and Chaos, 1984).
Men’s Art: Images
of Status and Power
An ikenga figure usually belongs to an individual man, although a village could have an ikenga, and in a few cases, a woman could have one. Achebe’s protagonist Okonkwo has a “personal god”, and this is surely his ikenga. An ikenga combines the concepts of the man’s chi (which is a combination of personal power and fate), his ancestors, and the power of his right hand. Young men acquire ikengas at various ages. A man could start with a simple ikenga and get a more complex and elaborate one later in life. If a man takes a title, he may order a new (more expensive, more impressive) ikenga for the occasion.
Many ikengas take the form of a human figure with horns on
its head (although there are other types, such as disc-shaped ikengas). Here
are examples of simple horned ikengas:
These ikengas were collected
in 1931-32. The one on the left is 12.7 cm tall, and the
one on the right is 20.3 cm tall.
The horns are often thought of as rams’ horns. Sometimes the two horns look more like the two eagle feathers sometimes worn on the heads of titled men. The horns symbolize manly strength and respect.
This ikenga clearly represents the horns as rams’ horns:
Ikenga, 54.6 cm.
The strength of the man’s right hand is also emphasized.
This is an elaborate ikenga:
Ikenga, 76.1 cm
The horns appear as rams’ horns, and the figure carries a weapon in the right hand. The left hand holds a curved trumpet. In real life, a titled man would hold a trumpet made from an elephant’s tusk. The figures in the headdress on top of the head of the ikenga contain small heads wearing pith helmets, which would represent an influence from the British.