Nok sculpture, Head, Terracotta, first millennium BC. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. Photo: Barbara Voss und Monika Heckner. Site of discovery: Kushe. Image courtesy of Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung

ART REVIEW

Nok: Origin of African Sculpture, an exhibition of Nok terracotta figures in Germany, rekindles debates about art forgeries and stolen treasures.

BY KAZEEM ADELEKE

Nok sculpture- Fragment of a human torso-2 Terracotta- first millennium BC. Photo: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. excavation: 2011. Image courtesy of Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung

FRANKFURT, GERMANY- Nok: The Origins of African Sculpture, a special exhibition at Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung focusing on Nok sculpture and the Terracotta Warriors, has become a point of contention among academics and art scholars around the world. Besides the contentious curatorial direction, the exhibition has also rekindled the debate about treasures looted from Africa by thieves who plundered archaeological sites. Encouraged by dubious art dealers who organize illegal searches and the plundering of archaeological sites, these thieves are relentless in their looting of items of cultural value. Many of the treasures plundered by these illegal treasure hunters often end up in Western art markets, where they go to the highest bidder.

Nok terracotta sculptures are just a few of the treasures that have fallen victim to these treasure robbers. With the increase in demand for African art and the top prices achieved for Nok terracotta figures, the thieves have continued to deprive the Nok people and Nigerians of precious historical artifacts.

Nigerian Archaeology and Nok Civilization

The discovery of the Nok sculptures in the 1940s drew the attention of Bernard Fagg, a British archaeologist, who began assembling more of them. By the late 1970s, Fagg, assisted by miners, had assembled more than 150 fragments of Nok terracotta figures. Named after Nok, a small village located near the site of the first discovery, the Nok terracotta figures rank among the earliest and best examples of African sculpture. Since its discovery by accident during tin mining in the 1940s, Nok sculptures continue to gain prominence because of their distinct characteristics. In addition to stylized representations of animals and human beings with triangular eyes whose pupils are suggested by indentations, some terracotta figures have elaborate headdresses and hairstyles that are intricate and detailed.

Curated by Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Brinkmann (Head of the Collection of Antiquities, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung), the Nok terracotta sculptures in Nok. Origin of African Sculpture is on public view for the first time. The exhibition is the result of a joint effort between Frankfurt’s Goethe University and Liebieghaus. Many of the works on display are from over 200 excavation sites in Nigeria over the last eight years.

Nok. Origin of African Sculpture features over one hundred sculptures and fragments recovered by the archaeologists of Frankfurt’s Goethe University. Very few Nok terracotta sculptures have been found intact. Records show that only a single complete figure has been excavated to date. Made from coarse-grained clay covered with slip, many of the Nok terracotta sculptures are fragile, and have been unable to withstand the test of time.

Nok Terracotta Heads

The Nok terracotta sculpture collection on display includes broken Nok heads. From all indications, the heads were originally part of an entire body. In most cases, the heads are not proportionate to the bodies that support them; they are bigger. It is not clear why the heads of Nok terracotta sculptures are often bigger than their bodies. However, studies of later African art traditions suggest a preference for the head over the body because the head is the site of human destiny or spirit.

Nok culture produced many objects of worship and terracotta heads. Of all the objects, Nok heads are the most renowned of the Nok terracotta, evidently because of their unique characteristics. The majority of Nok sculptures have triangle eyes and perforated pupils. Noses, mouths, and ears combine to depict men and women with abstract features. Evidently, the creator of these Nok heads had a clear devotion to aesthetics, as many of the heads have elaborate and detailed hairstyles and jewelry. Several Nok heads also have scarifications, expressing the devotion of the creators to ornamentation. The expressions on many of the Nok heads are as varied as the ornamentations. While some expressions reveal idealized health and beauty, others depict ailments and disfigurations.

As derelict as some of the pieces are, however, they reveal the outstanding ability of the Nok craftsmen and women. While there are images of animals such as snakes and lizards, human beings are the main subjects of the Nok sculptures. In some instances, human figures are combined with animals to attain mythical figures. Although it is uncertain what these hybrid creatures of man and animals known as chimeras were used for, they seem to reflect the relationship between man and spirits or gods.

Rituals and Ancestral Worship

The purpose of the terracotta figures on display in Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung is not clear from this exhibition.  Scholarly research, however, suggests that they were used for rituals, including ancestral worship, harvest rituals, and healing practices. Even that is inconclusive. Decades after they were first discovered, researchers continue to make great strides in their effort to piece together information about the Nok people and their culture.

The works in this exhibition provide a number of insights into the intention of their creators. For example, a relief shows a man beating the drum on which he is sitting. This work is important because it provides the oldest evidence of music in sub-Saharan Africa. Other pieces have extravagant hairstyles, headdresses, beads, and jewelry, showing a great sense of style and fashion sensibilities among the Noks.

Installed alongside about sixty artworks from Egypt in Late Antiquity and Classical Greece that date from the same period, the show attempts to force a dialogue by drawing a parallel between Nok terracotta sculptures and the art of contemporary cultures around the Mediterranean. This curatorial approach to forced dialogue is the subject of contentious debate among art scholars and curators.

Nok Sculptures Alongside Egyptian and Greco-Roman Artifacts

The presentation of the Nok sculptures alongside Egyptian and Greco-Roman artifacts is problematic on several levels. One is that it takes away from the attention needed for studying and understanding the Nok terracotta sculptures. An education component enlightening visitors to the exhibition about the similarities, differences, and influences between the different cultures would have effectively resolved the need for a cacophonic arrangement. Even more, the research results from the excavations carried out by the team of archaeologists from Frankfurt’s Goethe University around Prof. Dr. Peter Breunig in Nigeria in 2005, could have furthered people’s understanding of the Nok culture. The research results would have effectively enlightened visitors to the exhibit about the origin and purpose of the objects before them if they were presented alongside the exhibit.

Nok Terracotta: Original Vs Forgery

In addition to iron smelting, the Nok people in West Africa are well-known for their use of clay, raw materials, and other natural resources to advance their culture. Nok. Origin of African Sculpture is an important exhibition not just because of the works presented, but also because of the issues raised. Besides the illegal plundering and sale of looted Nok treasures, the exhibition also brings attention to art forgery.

Over the past decade, some museums and art collectors have discovered that some of the Nok sculptures they believe are originals are actually fakes or reproductions. This awareness has caused an uproar in the art world, with some museums and collectors demanding refunds because they feel cheated. While many of the Nok sculptures and terracotta pots in the Frankfurt exhibition are genuine beyond any doubt, the presentation of original Nok sculptures alongside forgeries successfully brings attention to the illicit trade in the art market, and looters who continue to plunder archaeological sites across the globe.

The Debate Over Looted Treasures

Additionally, the show has rekindled issues of treasures forcefully removed from their locations by colonialists, who have kept them in their museums. Although some of these institutions have been quick to return looted treasures to Western nations, there have been exceptions when it comes to Africa. Some Western institutions contend that the disparity in the return of looted treasures is rooted in the fear that if these treasures go to their country of origin, people will steal them and resell them in the underground art market, where they will disappear forever. This argument has not dissuaded many African countries that continue to request the return of stolen treasures. For instance, the Nigerian government has been calling for the return of the Benin treasures stolen by the British colonialists for more than a decade.

The exhibition, Nok. Origin of African Sculpture in the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung is a collaboration with Frankfurt’s Goethe University and supported through loans from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria. After this first public presentation in  Liebieghaus, the exhibition will travel to Nigeria where it will go on display. The exhibition will not include artworks from Egypt in Late Antiquity and Classical Greece.  African academics are already accusing the organizers of the exhibition of prejudice.

Nok sculpture, Double-Headed Lizard, Terracotta, first millennium BC. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. Photo: Barbara Voss und Monika Heckner. Image courtesy of Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung

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