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Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination

Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination

LaGamma, Alisa, with an essay by John Pemberton III
2000
80 pages
55 illustrations
This title is out of print.
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Acknowledgments

Director's Foreword
Philippe de Montebello

Introduction
Alisa LaGamma

Map of Sub-Saharan Africa
John Pemberton III

Catalogue

Oracular Sculpture: Figurative Divination Instruments

Visual Metaphors: Ifa Divination Instruments

Dynamic Devices: Kinetic Oracles

Visual Commentaries: Sets of Divination Signs

Invoking the Spirits: Musical Devices

Emblems of Enlightenment and Power: Diviners' Insignias

Empowering the Individual: Diviners' Prescriptions

The Iconography of Divination: Monuments of Divine Insight

Checklist of the Exhibition
Bibliography
Photograph Credits

Met Art in Publication

Male Diviner's Figure, Wood, pigment, beads, iron, applied organic materials, Baule peoples
Male Diviner's Figure
Baule peoples
ca. 1880
Female Diviner's Figure, Wood, pigment, glass beads, copper alloy, sacrificial materials, Baule peoples
Female Diviner's Figure
Baule peoples
19th–mid-20th century
Kafigeledjo (oracle figure), Senufo artist, Wood, iron, bone, porcupine quills, feathers, commercially woven fiber, organic materials, Senufo peoples
Kafigeledjo (oracle figure)
Senufo artist
19th–mid-20th century
Àgéré Ifá (Ifá divination vessel) with kneeling woman, Yoruba artist, Ivory, wood or coconut shell inlay, Yoruba peoples, Owo group
Àgéré Ifá (Ifá divination vessel) with kneeling woman
Yoruba artist
17th–19th century
Divination Instrument (Galukoji), Wood, bamboo, feathers, fiber, beads, abrus seeds, camwood powder, Pende peoples
Divination Instrument (Galukoji)
Pende peoples
20th century
Lawle (gong tapper) with equestrian figure, Baule artist Baoulé, Wood, cotton, Baule peoples
Lawle (gong tapper) with equestrian figure
Baule artist
19th–20th century
Diviner's Bag (Apo Ifa), Cotton, beads, leather, Yoruba peoples
Diviner's Bag (Apo Ifa)
Yoruba peoples
20th century
Kòmò Helmet Mask (Kòmòkun), Wood, encrustation, quills, feathers, horns, bird skull, Komo or Koma Power Association
Kòmò Helmet Mask (Kòmòkun)
Komo or Koma Power Association
19th–mid-20th century
Bocio with opposing faces, Fon artist, Wood, bone, teeth, wire, applied organic material, textile fragment, Fon peoples
Bocio with opposing faces
Fon artist
Ritual specialist
Late 19th–early 20th century
Maternity Figure (Ntekpe), Terracotta, Igbo peoples
Maternity Figure (Ntekpe)
Igbo peoples
19th–20th century

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LaGamma, Alisa, and John Pemberton. 2000. Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art : Distributed by H.N. Abrams.