Blocker, “Is Primi=ve Art Art?” pp. 87-‐97. Range: 500 BCE-‐1500 CE Nok, Ife, Benin, Sapi Terms/Concepts: lost-‐wax cas=ng, primi=ve, primi=vism, othering, savannah, living rock, cruciform, toron, Oba, ama, manilla, Olokun, saltcellar Monument List: TerracoQa Head, Nok Culture, Lagos, Nigeria, c. 500 BCE-‐200 BCE. Crowned Head of a King (Oni), Ife, Yoruba, 12th-‐15th Century CE Hip Mask Represen=ng an Iyoba (“Queen Mother”), Benin, Middle Period, c. 1550 CE Master of the Symbolic Execu=on, saltcellar, Sapi-‐ Portuguese, from Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-‐1540.
“Ori Olokun,” likely a crowned head of a King (Oni), Ife, Yoruba, early 20th century copy of 14th-‐15th Century original. “It [Ori Olokun] is en=rely devoid of Negro characteris=cs and there is no doubt that it cannot have been made of local cas=ng…[I] discovered indisputable proofs of the existence of Plato’s legendary Con=nent of Atlan=s”
school was my fellow scholar in learning to read and write. When he leb he could write very well, because the Sapes have a talent and skill at everything they learn.” (Andre Donelha on Beca Bore, a Sapi royal, in 1570s).
Leone, ca. 1490-‐1540. “This is how they mete out jus=ce…they cut off the heads and throw the bodies to the wild animals.” (Alvarez de Almada, 17th century).