Ife Art: “… then Africa is Greece, Africa is Italy”

In the late 1930s, metal sculptures found by workmen at a construction site in Wunmonije at Ile Ife, Osun State of Nigeria stunned the world.

Upon examination by Western archaeologists, the pieces forced them to rethink their beliefs about African art, blowing a hole in previously held assumptions of African civilizations. “…high art… is Greece, that is Italy. Africa didn’t do that and if Africa does that, then Africa is Greece, Africa is Italy” – Hassan Arero, Curator British Museum on the effect of the Ife bronze heads on western perception of African art and civilization. “It completely collapsed the myth they had created about civilization. It was confusing. It was disturbing.”  This amazement was echoed in media headlines heralded a display of the sculptures at the British Museum in 1948. “Mysterious Ife Bronze Heads: African art worthy to rank with the finest works of Italy and Greece“, marveled the Illustrated London News.

More than a century ago, Leo Frobenius a German explorer had been less willing to concede that the high quality terracotta and brass sculptures that he discovered were of native origin to the West African communities to which his expedition had led him. He was convinced he had found Plato’s lost city of Atlantis and that the masterpieces he stole and smuggled to Germany were produced by a superior group of people who had migrated to Africa. African art constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Now considered to be among the finest works of art produced anywhere in the world, the Ife art objects are currently on display at the British Museum in an exhibition titled  Kingdom Ife: Sculptures from West Africa, which features objects from the 9th to 15th centuries. The exhibition at the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B  started on 4 March and concluded on 6 June 2010. Read about Africans in Ancient Greek Art. More @ Home Team History