Magazines - Tribal Art Winter 2009

Interview by Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter

Introduction
The exhibition Artistes d’Abomey: Dialogue sur un Royaume Africain (Artists of Abomey: Dialogue on an African Kingdom), on view at the Musée du Quai Branly through January 31, 2010, offers a fascinating rereading of the art of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, located in the present-day political state of Benin. We met with Gaëlle Beaujean-Baltzer, who co-curated the exhibition along with two Benin scholars, Joseph Adandé, art historian at the University of Abomey-Calavi, and Léonard Ahonon, manager and curator of the site of the royal palaces at Abomey.

Your exhibition takes an approach that is increasingly shared by anthropologists and art historians of studying the works of individual African artists. What new information does this bring to light?
Until recently, Abomey, the capital of the ancient kingdom Dahomey, has not been thought to be artistically exceptional. But it is unique because there, the memory of its artists and the attribution of their works have been retained for more than a century. Many researchers have studied this phenomenon. Renowned American anthropologist Melville Herskovits visited Abomey in 1938. French researchers Paul Mercier and Jacques Lombard worked there in the 1950s, and were the first to document the works preserved in the Musée historique d’Abomey, which was founded in 1944 and is located in the Royal Palace. In the course of their research, the two anthropologists visited the area’s art ateliers. They had the opportunity to interact with first- and second-generation artists, who had actually associated with the kings of Abomey. The publication that they produced remains the most complete work to date and served as the point of departure for my research on what is remembered of artists and the attribution of their works. The work of Marlène Bitton and Suzanne Preston Blier dealt with the artists of the second and third generations. My own inquiry led me to meet artists of the fourth generation.