Male Vertical-style Chi-Wara (Tyi-Wara) Sculpture Made of Ebony

Male Vertical-style Chi-Wara (Tyi-Wara) Sculpture Made of Ebony

Bamana Culture

Senegal

The Chi Wara headdress is one of the best-known art forms produced by the Bamana peoples of northwestern Africa. The headdress originates in a mythological story about one of earth’s first beings, a half-animal, half-human creature who dug the earth in the same manner that humans hoe the ground. The Chi Wara taught humans how to farm, but as grain became abundant, humans began to waste it. The Chi Wara became angry and buried himself in the ground. To ensure a good crop, the Bamana traditionally make a male and female pair of Chi Wara headdresses to dance masquerades in honor of the Chi Wara. The Chi Wara is most commonly depicted as a part-human, part-antelope creature, and the most common style is the vertical Chi Wara. Vertical style Chi Wara headdresses are carved from one piece of wood, with stylized human faces and tall, vertically oriented horns. The male has horns that curve back at the tips, and it is easily identified by its intricately carved mane with openwork geometric designs. The female has straight horns, and it is identifiable by the miniature male or female baby Chi Wara figure that stands on its back. The other main style of Chi Wara is the horizontal Chi Wara. This Chi Wara also usually incorporates human and antelope features, but its horns are horizontal and tend to curve upward at the tips. The figure is also usually carved from two pieces of wood. This style of Chi Wara tends to be more stylized, with an enlarged head; it may also incorporate parts of other animals, and a baby Chi Wara figure may be represented only by its horns, as on the Stoneman collection horizontal Chi Wara. Horizontal-style Chi Waras later developed into a very abstracted form that is even more complex and stylized, incorporating as many as three digging animals, such as the antelope, the aardvark, and the pangolin or armored anteater. The use of the Chi Wara headdress has changed and developed over time. Most recently, it has become a headdress danced by the winner of agricultural competitions, and it is used in entertainment masquerades. Miniature Chi Wara headdresses and freestanding Chi Wara sculptures are also produced for sale to outsiders. Research by Heather Nelson, 2005, Missouri State University Student. Mentor: Dr. Billie Follensbee

20th

74.5 cm. h. x 14.5 cm. w. x 10.5 cm. d.

Sculpture

Wood

Carving

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Stoneman

1985.90

1985

20150035