The gold of the African individuals Akan shines in an exhibition that gathers jewels, crowns and cult objects | Culture | EUROtoday

The historical past of human fascination, and greed, for gold is misplaced within the evening of time, advised over the centuries with mythological tales, equivalent to King Midas; Legends like El Dorado, a metropolis that Spanish conquerors sought; In movies that taught gold fever within the distant west of the United States, or within the images of Sebastião Salgado that portrayed the anthill of potential In the Amazon, seeking a cup of the valuable steel. However, gold can also be a cloth to seize creative magnificence in filigree, perforated plots and wealthy ornamental motifs, as the gathering of greater than 300 objects exhibits that may be seen for the primary time in Spain, within the exhibition The gold of the Akan. Royal Treasures of Western Africa, within the Barrié Foundation (A Coruña), till July 13 and with free admission.

The Akan are a set of villages that inhabit partly within the coast of ivory and Ghana, virtuous within the elaboration of some items that not solely entice due to their brightness, but additionally include an entire symbolic code, both to characterize energy, faith or respect for his or her deceased, and that have been made to exhibit their kings and senior leaders. The objects, nonetheless, come from the previous Europe, from the Liaunig Private Museum, in Neuhaus (Austria), the place that they had solely left one event to reveal themselves in Iphofen (Germany). Interestingly, this assortment of African artwork is the counterpoint to that of up to date artwork that homes the Austrian museum.

At the start of the tour, a salacot, the standard hat of the explorers, in wooden and gold, dated 1935. Most of the objects are from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though there are some oldest. A decrease jaw might be seen subsequent to the Salacot. “The Akan took them from the enemy because it was a way of seizing their voice and history,” defined the gallery proprietor and African artwork professional Jean David within the presentation to the press this Friday. David was accompanied within the guided tour by the director of the Liaunig Museum, Peter Liaunig, and the director of the Barié Foundation, Carmen Arias (establishment that invited this journalist).

It was Jean David’s father, René (1928-2015), who lived in Ghana-a a part of this nation was generally known as the Costa del Oro-and gathered a big assortment of tribal artwork over forty years, by which he additionally traveled via Mali, Cameroon, Congo and Ivory Coast. David’s slim contact with Ghana’s royal household led him to present them a part of his group, the organizers inform. While the collector Herbert Liaunig (1945-2023), Austrian, was shopping for items within the artwork gallery of David in Zurich till the son of the gallery house owners, Jean, when he was already answerable for the enterprise, supplied him the entire assortment: about 400 objects.

At a time like the present one, by which museums from everywhere in the world rethink the colonial origin of a few of his works, David has defended that his father “since the sixties traveled to Ghana and fell in love with his culture, bought objects, which were sometimes almost thrown and did not cost much. Everything was legal and was the first European who opened an intercultural museum in Africa. ” “In addition,” he says, “we must bear in mind that they used to sell these jewels to gather money with which to send their children to study abroad. It was not a sacred material for them. ”

Perhaps some of those sellers held in their heads the spectacular crowns of gathered regents, such as the one decorated with small knives and a war horn, a distinctive power. Or the one that shows two erect lions on their hind legs. There are also wood and gold control canes, intended for the king’s spokesmen, in whose handles we can see antelopes, turtles or snakes or an elephant that avoids a trap. “It represents that the king is above all and that he’s saved from falling into that lure,” according to Liaunig.

Next, emblems of swords, with which the warriors decorated them, like that of an almost human face lion and huge fangs, made in 1915. “The warriors gave these swords to their king as an indication of constancy, which later returned them,” David explained. The Gold of the Akan – who a good title for a Tintin album – is also in arms like a hunting rifle and in the so -called “executioner knives”, with horn handles.

More delicate are the small carved feminine figures, with dense and flat surfaces, and the spectacular rollers with gear, snakes or lions. An Akan King might take as much as 10 rings, though because of the dimension of those there have been solely a pair or three of their palms.

It shouldn’t be troublesome to be speechless to see how the “pectorals of mourning” shine, spherical items that the family members of the deceased have been hung by the neck. The Akan not solely joins this excellent gold work, but additionally a political group within the type of a monarchy (solely males reign, however the successor is barely chosen by the queen mom), a standard language, the twi, and its non secular beliefs.

Closest to European tradition are the bracelets, in stable gold, which, in line with the poster, the pinnacle of the tribe was positioned on the left arm, whereas in different instances, adorned with amulets, they have been adjusted, between three and 5, within the higher a part of the fitting arm.

In a bit the number of utensils used to weigh the gold powder, which didn’t forestall them to even have a creative remedy. Ground gold was used as a forex between the early fifteenth and twentieth century and a video tells the advanced handmade processes with this ductile and malleable steel. Liaunig emphasizes that among the many Akan, the goldsmiths “are always men, it is a trade that passes from parents to children and that is considered very complicated because, according to their beliefs, they work with a piece of the sun,” and David provides that the standing they’ve of their society “is very high.”

The finish of the tour is chaired by two items. A throne of wooden and gold, which Liaunig factors out that kings used it “because it has the backing slightly inclined back; If it had been for a magistrate I would be straight. ” And some actual sandals in leather-based and gold. A superb ruler should have the toes on the bottom, however on this case they have been manufactured for the king “because he could not touch the ground, he could not go barefoot.” And since not the whole lot was going to be so majestic, there may be room for extra prosaic utensils, equivalent to a small richly adorned album whose heart is a rod. David stops earlier than the showcase and says: “It was to clean her ears.”