Introduction
The end of the nineteenth century is the period of the final partition of Africa between the European powers. European states demanded the immediate "salvation" of “savages” and bringing the noble atmosphere of the church Sunday schools to Africa. One of the latest British acquisitions was the State of Benin, the remains of the once mighty forest empire.
The art of Benin was developed under the direct influence of the more ancient culture of Ife. In the XV-XVII centuries this art has reached its zenith. At this time (1400) Benin kingdom (which previously recognized the authority of the supreme kings of the Yoruba tribe) has gained political independence and become the most powerful state on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea.
The wealth of Benin was based on trade in ivory, pepper, palm oil and the infamous slave trade. Ever since the end of the XV century, Portuguese traders flocked here. The Dutch and French travelers visited Benin in the XVII century and was surprised by this populous country and its capital, the size of which was not less than the European cities. They admired the splendor of the royal palace, its magnificent decoration and luxury, as well as high skill Beninese artisans. Great Benin was the capital of the Benin state (locally called Edo), created by Bini people in the 14th - 15th centuries on the territory of modern southern Nigeria. History of Benin, covering almost a thousand years, faced its tragical end at the end of XIX century. In 1897, the city was destroyed by the British.
Body
Great Benin is known only from descriptions. It is known that the houses in the city were built of ultisol - the type of soil with a high content of aluminum and iron oxides, the last element gave it a reddish hue. Dutch travelers who have visited the Great Benin in the early 17th century, admiringly described its wide, straight and very long streets. They noted that the streets of the Great Benin are similar to those in the Netherlands – they were built with correctly positioned large houses. A royal palace of the African capital was as big as the city of Haarlem, surrounded around by a special wall (except the one that protects the city from the outside). The palace consisted of many magnificent buildings and beautiful, long rectangular galleries of almost the same size as the stock exchange in Amsterdam. The roof of the gallery rests on wooden pillars, from top to bottom studded with copper with the image of the military exploits and battles. Most of these royal houses covered with palm leaves like a quadrangular board. Each of them was decorated with peaked roof tower with a copper bird with outstretched wings. (Honour and Fleming, chapter twelve).
Ife art dates back to the XII-XIV centuries ("Ife Terracottas (1000–1400 A.D.) | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum Of Art"). The art of Ife has greatly contributed in the development of Benin art. If we compare both styles, the most ancient sculptural portraits of Benin seem no less naturalistic than the Ife sculptures. However, in addition to some technical differences, they are characterized by less careful work on the portraits details.
With the emergence of Benin art, the prehistory of the state ends and begins its initial stage; later, after the appearance of the Portuguese in 1486, it is possible to talk about the actual history of Benin (although the history of tribes is still largely based on the material of traditions and tales)
As a result of the ruling of board number of militant Benin kings, by the end of the XV century Benin turned into an absolutist state, with some changes existed up until 1897. In the era of the highest flourishing of Benin, there occurred a subtle but very significant departure from the classical or "pure" form of the deification of the king's person, in which the monarch and the people are interdependent components of the unbreakable unity that provides the power and vitality of the tribe.
In Benin, as in ancient Egypt, this balance was broken and the monarch became incarnate the state. The welfare of the people continued to depend on the king, but the desire of the last no longer have been directed towards this goal. This situation had a significant impact on the development of the Benin art over the next four centuries.
It is well known that the so-called art of Benin is not a true tribal art. It is court art, which arose under the influence of a more sophisticated urban culture of Ife (Shakarov and Shakarov-Senatorova 21). There is almost no dynamism in the Benin art (as well is in the Ife art). Benin art to some extent inherited the static characteristics from Ife art. For about two centuries, court artists of Benin (Yoruba or Bini) continued this tradition in the arts and gave a number of works, both technically and artistically worthy of Ife. Some of them, such as unrivaled ivory masks are outstanding contribution of Benin to the treasury of world art ("Khan Academy").
Since the end of the XVI century, there comes a decline of Benin state and at the same time it changes the style of its art. In place of a variety of Ife art styles came a certain monotony: bronze becomes heavier, more monumental, as if to compensate for the loss of the real power of the state.
During this period, a period of about 150 years, the court masters cast a lot of bronze heads and figures, hundreds of bronze rectangular boards, apparently intended for the perpetuation of the outstanding events or feats of heroes . These works left a very strong impression, resembling something Assyrian sculpture; but, as in the past, they do not truly free expression of the creative imagination of the artists. In other words, this period is the period of greatest glory of the art of Benin. It more reflects the technical excellence than the artistic takeoff ("Benin Plaques").
The aesthetic canons of Ife, probably still continued to exert influence on the Beninese artists sufficient to ensure that those able to maintain a strict harmony of proportions. But about the middle of the XVIII century, this influence suddenly loses its strength, giving way to an ever-increasing splendor, hyperbolic, chaotic variety of drawing, product technology and quality. In the last period of the art of Benin, which lasted until the end of the XIX century and in the modern era of the developed tourism, the product of genuine artists is increasingly rare. Most of the products made by masters or just mediocre artisans, far from the classic uniformity on which they could rely.
Monuments of medieval sculptures of Benin are closely linked to the religious and magical Beninese worldview. As in many nations in Africa, there has been widely distributed cult of ancestors. In the consciousness of Beninese, the world was filled with a variety of spirits of once lived people. Although they have already died, they remain invisible tribal community members and have a tremendous impact on the lives of their descendants. In every Beninese house, there was an altar to which members of the family pinned generous gifts for grandparents and especially for the dead father.
The royal ancestors had special reverence among Beninese - the deified rulers of Benin. Their cult had national significance and the altar at the royal palace was considered as the main place of worship of the ancestors of the whole country. In memory of their annual ceremonies, hundreds of human sacrifices were made.
Approximately at the same time, the remarkable, executed in the style of the ancient Edo wooden head of sheep and antelopes, which the leaders of the Edo installed on the altars at the tombs of their ancestors, began to be replaced (with the approval of the oba of Benin) by wooden imitations of bronze heads used in the cult of the king.
Conclusion
A huge number of artistic products of Bini people are just a small part of the artistic wealth of Nigeria and not the most indicative because of its dual nature. Even more numerous and diverse products of bronze, iron, wood, are belonging to the Yoruba masters of five million people, whose art holds a special place in the art of the peoples of Africa. Of all the samples of African art most realistic wooden sculpture of the Yoruba, but we do not have sufficient data to decide whether this is the result of the influence of naturalism of the Ife art or it was developed in the as an original art of the Yoruba tribes.
Nigeria ranks first among African countries not only in the number of preserved examples of traditional arts, but also in terms of contemporary art. However, the number of artists is reduced and their work is now rarely at the level of skill of their ancestors. The growing interest to the art from the side of prominent Nigerians helped to create the best system of museums and museum collections in Africa (from the Sahara to the Zambezi). The program of studies carried out under the leadership of Nigerian scientists and with the financial assistance from the outside greatly contributed to the expansion of our knowledge of the history of Bini and Yoruba.
It is necessary to encourage this work in every way, as unexplored area is still very large. Any nation can (as the people of Nigeria can) give the contemporary artists working in the European style, but only Nigeria can contribute to the treasury of world art their remarkable tribal art, which is a real treasure.
Works Cited
"Benin Plaques". British Museum. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
Honour, Hugh and John Fleming. A World History Of Art. London: Macmillan, 1982. Print.
"Ife Terracottas (1000–1400 A.D.) | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum Of Art". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
"Khan Academy". Khan Academy. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
Shakarov, Avner and Lyubov Shakarov-Senatorova. Traditional African Art. Print.
