artists

Leopards were a symbol of royal power. Although it is now subject to the Nigerian government, the Benin court still exists at Benin City. Groups of artists continue to supply the palace with regalia for annual festivals held to assure the prosperity of the people. BCentral Africa Central Africa stretches from Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic southward to Angola and Zambia; it also encompasses Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Burundi, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and Democratic Republic of the Congo . A number of ethnic groups have made notable contributions to artistic traditions in this region; they include the Fang, Kota, Kuba, Luba, Mangbetu, Kongo, Lunda, and Chokwe. Like western Africa, central Africa has been dominated by kingdoms and other forms of strong central government. Much of central African art is designed to reinforce the authority of a leader or to fulfill roles in ritual or religion. Fang and Kota Ancestor cults have been especially important in the traditional culture of the Fang and Kota peoples of Gabon and of many neighboring peoples. Among the Fang, cylindrical bark boxes traditionally held the skulls and other relics of ancestors.

On top of the boxes, seated male or female figures, or in some cases just heads, protected the relics from outsiders and communicated complaints and appeals to the ancestors. Fang reliquary figures sometimes played a role in ceremonies that initiated young men into adulthood-performers held the figures above bark screens and manipulated them like puppets. Kota reliquary figures served a similar function to those of the Fang but took the distinctive form of large concave oval heads over tiny bodies, the whole sheathed in copper or brass. Kuba Kuba peoples in the DRC developed an elaborate culture of court ceremonials and art that focused on the king. This royal art reached its height in a series of seated wooden figures that represent each of the Kuba kings. When the king was absent from his capital, his wives would invoke the necessary presence of royalty in the palace by rubbing his statue with oil. Scholars believe that most of the surviving king figures date from the mid- to late 18th century. Much of Kuba art features geometric patterns, which are used in a variety of ways.

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