Bassa (Liberian and Sierra Leone people) Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Photocopies
Place:
Mali
Africa
Cameroon
Nigeria
Date:
circa 1983
Summary:
This collection is comprised of photographs collected by William W. Brill to document his personal collection of African art objects, which primarily contains masks, sculpted figures, and tools.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is comprised of photographs collected by William W. Brill to document his personal collection of African art objects, which primarily contains masks, sculpted figures, and tools. Masks documented are from the following peoples: Hemba, Lulua, Makonde, and Bbagani. Sculptural figures shown were created by the following groups: Bassa, Dogon, Kulango, Kuyu, Loma, Luba, Lunda, Punu, and Tabwa. Other objecs shown include an Asante comb, Asante royal staff, Baule animal head, Bete heddle pulley, Chokwe comb, Ijo staff, Kuba headrest, Lele staff, Ndengese axe handle, Senufo ceremonial container, Senufo wine strainer, Yela staff, Yoruba house post, Zulu comb, and Zulu hunter's staff. There are also images of musical instruments including bells, flutes, and rhythm pounders from Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria, and Zaire. Photographers represented include Tony Fitsch, Al Mozell and Bernard Pierre Wolff.
Biographical / Historical:
William W. Brill (1918-2003) received a B.A. from Yale University and was the president of the Mutual Real Estate Investment Trust in New York. He started collecting African art around 1960 and has donated several art objects to museums.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
For study purposes only. Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
African art, women, history [videorecording] : the Luba people of central Africa / narrated by Dr. Mary Nooter Roberts, created & produced by Linda Freeman
Judge E. Gorlia's third journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1917 to April 1920.
In eastern Kasai, much of the population was dislocated and disorganized as a result of the Arab incursions and the subsequent campaigns against them. At a very early date, an uprooted class, no doubt including many Baluba but also many others, took refuge around the European posts. Visiting Lusambo, Kasai, in 1908, Hilton-Simpson, a member of the Torday expedition, reported an "enormous" African population. A number of separate ethnic villages were grouped around the post; however," in addition to these, there is a very large mixed population of natives belonging to no particular village, who are generally termed Baluba by the white men of the Kasai, but who in reality belong to that tribe no more than to any other." These included the former Arab slaves, the uprooted, the outcasts, many of whom had no idea from what village they came.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's third journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1917 to April 1920.
Ceremonial axes are important symbols of Luba kingship. Possession of previously delegated symbols as royal canes, axes or bracelets, was important for any client chief or lineage wishing to be recognized by the Luba royal court. Such prestige items could be worn over the shoulder or carried in ceremonies that recalled the mythical origin of Luba kingship traced to the cultural hero Kalala Llunga, who is also believed to have introduced metalworking technology and hunting techniques.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's third journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1917 to April 1920.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's third journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1917 to April 1920.
"Post" - administrative or trading as the case may be - is the most appropriate name for the small settlements which are scattered throughout the country. Generally a post contains sufficient buildings to accommodate an administrative officer and such subordinate staff as he may have, a post office, and hutments for native police, native labourers, or perhaps a company of the Force Publique. There is usually a market for native produce and native dwellings. Most posts also contain a few stores oqned by Europeans.
The type of building found in these posts depends a good deal on transport facilities, and on what European building materials are available. If these materials are not obtainable, then grass must be used for tatching and mud for mortar.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
Luba dance is another memory device. Mbudye society members perform spectacular acrobatics upon a king's or a chief's request, for occasions of state, to celebrate the rising of a new moon, for the initiation of new members, or during funerals, or political rallies. Mbudye dancing recalls episodes of the Luba origin myth, such as when the evil king Nkongolo tried to kill nephew, Kalala.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
Luba dance is another memory device. Mbudye society members perform spectacular acrobatics upon a king's or a chief's request, for occasions of state, to celebrate the rising of a new moon, for the initiation of new members, or during funerals, or political rallies. Mbudye dancing recalls episodes of the Luba origin myth, such as when the evil king Nkongolo tried to kill nephew, Kalala.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Handwritten texts on verso contact print reads, " Lusambo. Baluba girl."
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
In eastern Kasai, much of the population was dislocated and disorganized as a result of the Arab incursions and the subsequent campaigns against them. At a very early date, an uprooted class, no doubt including many Baluba but also many others, took refuge around the European posts. Visiting Lusambo, Kasai, in 1908, Hilton-Simpson, a member of the Torday expedition, reported an "enormous" African population. A number of separate ethnic villages were grouped around the post; however," in addition to these, there is a very large mixed population of natives belonging to no particular village, who are generally termed Baluba by the white men of the Kasai, but who in reality belong to that tribe no more than to any other." These included the former Arab slaves, the uprooted, the outcasts, many of whom had no idea from what village they came.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Handwritten texts on verso contact print reads, " Lusambo. Baluba girl."
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
In eastern Kasai, much of the population was dislocated and disorganized as a result of the Arab incursions and the subsequent campaigns against them. At a very early date, an uprooted class, no doubt including many Baluba but also many others, took refuge around the European posts. Visiting Lusambo, Kasai, in 1908, Hilton-Simpson, a member of the Torday expedition, reported an "enormous" African population. A number of separate ethnic villages were grouped around the post; however," in addition to these, there is a very large mixed population of natives belonging to no particular village, who are generally termed Baluba by the white men of the Kasai, but who in reality belong to that tribe no more than to any other." These included the former Arab slaves, the uprooted, the outcasts, many of whom had no idea from what village they came.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Handwritten texts on verso contact print reads, " Baluba."
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
In eastern Kasai, much of the population was dislocated and disorganized as a result of the Arab incursions and the subsequent campaigns against them. At a very early date, an uprooted class, no doubt including many Baluba but also many others, took refuge around the European posts. Visiting Lusambo, Kasai, in 1908, Hilton-Simpson, a member of the Torday expedition, reported an "enormous" African population. A number of separate ethnic villages were grouped around the post; however," in addition to these, there is a very large mixed population of natives belonging to no particular village, who are generally termed Baluba by the white men of the Kasai, but who in reality belong to that tribe no more than to any other." These included the former Arab slaves, the uprooted, the outcasts, many of whom had no idea from what village they came.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Handwritten texts on verso contact print reads, " Baluba."
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
In eastern Kasai, much of the population was dislocated and disorganized as a result of the Arab incursions and the subsequent campaigns against them. At a very early date, an uprooted class, no doubt including many Baluba but also many others, took refuge around the European posts. Visiting Lusambo, Kasai, in 1908, Hilton-Simpson, a member of the Torday expedition, reported an "enormous" African population. A number of separate ethnic villages were grouped around the post; however," in addition to these, there is a very large mixed population of natives belonging to no particular village, who are generally termed Baluba by the white men of the Kasai, but who in reality belong to that tribe no more than to any other." These included the former Arab slaves, the uprooted, the outcasts, many of whom had no idea from what village they came.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Handwritten texts on verso print reads, " 1st journey Jan'1910 - Jan'1912."
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
In eastern Kasai, much of the population was dislocated and disorganized as a result of the Arab incursions and the subsequent campaigns against them. At a very early date, an uprooted class, no doubt including many Baluba but also many others, took refuge around the European posts. Visiting Lusambo, Kasai, in 1908, Hilton-Simpson, a member of the Torday expedition, reported an "enormous" African population. A number of separate ethnic villages were grouped around the post; however," in addition to these, there is a very large mixed population of natives belonging to no particular village, who are generally termed Baluba by the white men of the Kasai, but who in reality belong to that tribe no more than to any other." These included the former Arab slaves, the uprooted, the outcasts, many of whom had no idea from what village they came.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
Among the Biin Kaniok, the traditional house, 'nzúbw áá cibèl', made of reeds and straw, is bee-hive shaped. Each house has its specific location into a larger enclosure, 'lúbànz' for the ordinary people, 'cihàng' for a chief. Chief's houses have a second wall and roof outside the first, forming in fact one house within the other.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Judge E. Gorlia's first journey in the Belgian Congo from December 1909 to January 1912.
Among the Biin Kaniok, the traditional house, 'nzúbw áá cibèl', made of reeds and straw, is bee-hive shaped. Each house has its specific location into a larger enclosure, 'lúbànz' for the ordinary people, 'cihàng' for a chief. Chief's houses have a second wall and roof outside the first, forming in fact one house within the other.
General:
Title source: Archives staff; title not provided by photographer.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
