GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The forested area that extends from Cameroon to Gabon includes Equatorial Guinea and was home to the Fang peoples whose culture thrived in the 19th century. Fang villages and communities were organized around families and clans with common ancestors. Indeed, the cult of ancestors was central to Fang religion, and artists made reliquary figures to guard the bones and skulls of deceased relatives. Fang artists also carved wooden masks. As a migratory group, the Fang continually absorbed the cultural and artistic traditions of the peoples with whom they came into contact. European influence in the 1910s and 1920s resulted in a decline in the interest in the cult of ancestors, which was eventually replaced by Western religion, thereby causing Fang artistic production to die away. Today this ethnic group numbers two hundred thousand.
Excerpt from
Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 301.
NOTES
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS (list applicable note links)
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- University of Iowa Museum of Art, Art & Life in Africa~Learn more about the Fang peoples.
- Smart History~Read an overview of the peoples and cultures in Africa.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES (digitized/non-digitized)
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
apply to objects where culture contains fang peoples
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
The forested area that extends from Cameroon to Gabon includes Equatorial Guinea and was home to the Fang peoples whose culture thrived in the 19th century. Fang villages and communities were organized around families and clans with common ancestors. Indeed, the cult of ancestors was central to Fang religion, and artists made reliquary figures to guard the bones and skulls of deceased relatives. Fang artists also carved wooden masks. As a migratory group, the Fang continually absorbed the cultural and artistic traditions of the peoples with whom they came into contact. European influence in the 1910s and 1920s resulted in a decline in the interest in the cult of ancestors, which was eventually replaced by Western religion, thereby causing Fang artistic production to die away. Today this ethnic group numbers two hundred thousand.
Excerpt from
Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 301.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
(digitized/non-digitized)
Web Resources
- University of Iowa Museum of Art, Art & Life in Africa~Learn more about the Fang peoples.
- Smart History~Read an overview of the peoples and cultures in Africa.
Notes
rules
Apply To
Objects
culture
Contains
fang peoples
source file
peoples_and_societies-0027.xml.nores