{"id":92094,"date":"2018-01-31T12:05:46","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T11:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/?p=92094"},"modified":"2020-11-25T14:57:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T13:57:35","slug":"beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"What if traditional African art enters Medieval and Renaissance rooms?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-92094 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/13_unvergleichlich\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/13_Unvergleichlich-480x320.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92103\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92103'>\n\t\t\t\t\u201cBeyond compare: Art from Africa in the Bode Museum\u201d, exhibition view \u00a9 Staatliche Museen of Berlin\/ David von Becker.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/01-1a_iii_c_1088\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/01-1a_III_C_1088-362x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92095\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92095'>\n\t\t\t\tBwiti figure (reliquary), Kota or K\u00e9l\u00e9, Gabon 19th century, wood, copper, brass, Staatliche Museen of Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum \u00a9 SMB, Ethnologisches Museum, Martin Franken.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/02-1b_2_61_voigt_2013\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"111\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/02-1b_2_61_Voigt_2013-356x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92096\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92096'>\n\t\t\t\tReliquary bust of a bishop, Brussels ca. 1520, oak and polychromy, Staatliche Museen of Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art \u00a9 SMB, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, Antje Voigt.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/14_unvergleichlich\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"99\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/14_Unvergleichlich-480x317.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92104\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92104'>\n\t\t\t\t\u201cBeyond compare: Art from Africa in the Bode Museum\u201d, exhibition view \u00a9 Staatliche Museen of Berlin\/ David von Becker.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/201-tif\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/03-2a_III_C_10877-480x362.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92097\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92097'>\n\t\t\t\tLeopard Aquamanile, Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria), 17th century, brass, Staatliche Museen of Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum \u00a9 SMB, Ethnologisches, Martin Franken.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/04-2b_2_51_voigt_2016_1\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/04-2b_2_51_Voigt_2016_1-480x362.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92098\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92098'>\n\t\t\t\tLion Aquamanile, Northern Germany, Lower Saxony (Germany) ca. 1500, bronze, Staatliche Museen of Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, \u00a9 SMB, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, Antje Voigt.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/15_unvergleichlich\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"94\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/15_Unvergleichlich-480x302.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92105\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92105'>\n\t\t\t\t\u201cBeyond compare: Art from Africa in the Bode Museum\u201d, exhibition view \u00a9 Staatliche Museen of Berlin\/ David von Becker.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/05-3a_iii_c_10864\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"112\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/05-3a_III_C_10864-358x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92099\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92099'>\n\t\t\t\tStaue of Goddess Irhevbu or Princess Edeleyo, Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria), 16th or 17th century, copper alloy, Staatliche Museen of Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum \u00a9 SMB, Ethnologisches, Martin Franken.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/06-3b_2653_anders_2006_2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"108\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/06-3b_2653_Anders_2006_2-345x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92100\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92100'>\n\t\t\t\tPutto with tambourine, Donatello, Tuscany (Italy) 1428-29, Bronze, traces of gilding, Staatliche Museen of Berlin, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art \u00a9 SMB, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, J\u00f6rg P. Anders.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/11-6a_iii_c_1255_-rio\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"104\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/11-6a_III_C_1255_-Rio-333x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92101\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92101'>\n\t\t\t\tKing and culture hero, Chibinda Ilunga, Chokwe (Angola) 19th centuty, wood, fabric, hair, glass, Staatliche Museen of Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum , \u00a9 SMB, Ethnologisches Museum, Claudia Obrocki.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/01\/31\/beyond-compare-art-from-africa-in-the-bode-museum\/12-6b_8347_voigt_2009_1\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/12-6b_8347_Voigt_2009_1-361x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Beyond compare Bode Museum\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-92102\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-92102'>\n\t\t\t\tChrist in distrtess, Hans Leinberger, Landshut (Germany) ca. 1525, limewood with old polychromy, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, \u00a9 SMB, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, Antje Voigt.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>We once visited the studio of a prominent psychiatrist in Milan and the interior d\u00e9cor was one big clich\u00e9: the couch, ready for the patient, could have been any colour as long as it was red, the painting hanging above it was colour-matched to the couch, and the rest of the space was, very discretely, clad with traditional African art sculptures. Obviously, if someone wants to reinforce his own aura, he\u2019d better choose suitable symbols, and our psychiatrist did everything right. In fact, while we can only guess what the actual drive was behind his collecting \u2013 \u201cI must always have an object to love\u201d, Sigmund Freud, who also was an avid collector, once confessed \u2013 for sure, given the context, there was something particularly intriguing in&nbsp;that&nbsp;selection: \u2018primitive\u2019 art speaks volumes about psychoanalysis.<\/p>\n<p>One must remember, indeed, how<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2017\/12\/13\/classic-oceanic-african-art-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> traditional African art has been a game changer in the development of western art<\/a> through global modernism, a movement of which Freud is considered one of the forefathers. Then, after Picasso \u2013 who was deeply influenced by Sub-Saharan masks \u2013 it comes as no surprise that contemporary art resonates in harmony with African art.<\/p>\n<p>But what happens when traditional African masterpieces are juxtaposed with European sculptures from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance? At Bode museum in Berlin, the exhibition \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.smb.museum\/en\/museums-institutions\/bode-museum\/exhibitions\/detail\/unvergleichlich-kunst-aus-afrika-im-bode-museum.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beyond Compare<\/a>\u201d is a splashy and unpreceded attempt to display together objects that traditionally belong to unconnected compartments: ethnology versus history of art. In other words, it\u2019s the eternal dialectic between low and high or folklore and capital-C culture. And it\u2019s exactly this dichotomy that the curators here &#8211; Julien Chapuis, Jonathan Fine and Paola Ivanov &#8211; want to dismantle, triggering a paradigm shift.<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition starts off in the Basilica with a couple of tiny sculptures in the same stately glass box, which are exquisite examples, in their own right, of the skill of their creators, although only one of the two artists can be identified. This is the putto with tambourine by Donatello (1428-29), the other is the statue of the goddess Irhevbu or of princess Edeleyo from the kingdom of Benin dating from the 16th or 17th century. Neither one was conceived as an independent work of art, the putto being part of a group of five decorating the baptismal font in Siena Cathedral, while the goddess or princess was most probably created for a memorial altar of the&nbsp;oba&nbsp;(the king) of Benin. Both were cast in precious materials \u2013 bronze and copper alloy \u2013 and served religious or ritual purposes. And both were bought at the beginning of the 20th century, the first coming from the hands of private owners, the second brought home by British troops invading Africa. However, despite their unquestionable value in the context they originated from, the reception in German collections was quite different: while the Donatello piece found a place in the Kaiser-Friedrich-museum (now Bode) next to a Leonardo Da Vinci and some other bronze statuettes meant to evoke the cultural background from which it arose, the piece from Benin was relegated as specimen in a crowded display together with various Nigerian objects in the Ethnologisches museum.<\/p>\n<p>The path of the exhibition continues with some 30 further juxtapositions running through the permanent collection (plus a room dedicated solely to the temporary show), revealing correlations on various levels and raising issues concerning how Europeans and Africans have seen and portrayed one another over the centuries, how different the aesthetic values are despite the similar artistic practices, how certain assumptions we have about art in Europe should be used carefully when we talk about art in Africa. In the age of imperialism, Europe and North America \u2013 the global North \u2013 conceived \u2018the others\u2019 not as equals but as vestiges from the past, what the anthropologist Johannes Fabian calls \u201cdenial of coevalness\u201d. And while western art was interpreted as evolving, \u201cAfrican art was considered static or traditional\u201d. Often the word \u2018primitive\u2019 is used, revealing a huge misunderstanding. Traditional African art actually covers an extremely wide range of languages that goes from minute, coarse naturalism to a simplification of forms twisted into expressionism. But we all know that, like all history, the history of art is written by the winner, and it is because of European \u2013 and German \u2013 colonialism that many of the works in the exhibition have left the mother continent to enter Berlin\u2019s museums.<\/p>\n<p>In the act of setting up an exhibit of this kind, curators are shifting walls that have always been there. \u201cThe ability to compare opens new horizons or perspectives and releases us from the narrow parochialism of what is familiar,\u201d write the curators. \u201cComparing things that we do understand with others we do not can help us to build bridges into the unknown.\u201d At the same time they are aware of the fact that comparisons are never straightforward or neutral: if anything, they are \u201cinevitably tendentious, didactic, competitive and prescriptive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But pushing the boundaries, one idea is very clear in the curators\u2019 mind: museum classifications are nothing more than artificial constructs. If it\u2019s not a matter of facts, what they can do is put everything into a new perspective, shed new light.&nbsp;So now, when you see the paired objects \u2013 say the putto and the Benin statuette greeting the visitor at the very entrance of the Basilica \u2013 you are prompted to think of them in aesthetic not ethnographic terms. Visually, it might be a clash, but with such an exciting effect that one wonders why it has not been tried before. The frisson is perhaps similar to that of a wunderkammer, but the operation \u2013 for connoisseurs \u2013 is reminiscent of what has been done in books like Andr\u00e9 Malraux\u2019s Mus\u00e9e Imaginaire.<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition was set up when the Ethnologisches museum was shut down, and will stay at the Bode until further notice; that\u2019s to say, until the installation of the Staatliche Museen\u2019s non-European collections in the Humboldt Forum, some time before the end of 2019. In the meanwhile, preconceptions will possibly have the time to change. In terms of respective influence we cannot say it all started with modernism; Europe and Africa have always been part of the same globalized world. So from the new perspective, you don\u2019t need to be a fan of modernism or later contemporary art to appreciate it. Nor is traditional African art the leisure pastime of some freaks interested in tribal matters rather than in sculpture and its plastic qualities. But in art, in its own right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Berlin: at the Bode Museum a show titled &#8216;Beyond campare&#8217;  juxtaposes traditional African art pieces with the museum&#8217;s permanent collection of European Medieval and Renaissance art. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2385,1796],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-art-history","category-mapping-the-artscape"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}