Musée de l'art africain

[whatagain]

That museum clearly focuses on african art.
For those who missed it, our king Leopold 2 got for himself a big chunk of Africa that he called Zaire.

For the record, Zaire means river (the kind that goes into the sea, fleuve in french - stream ?) since Europeans asked locals the name of the country in front of the river and were so dumb not make themselves more clear.

The museum, located at Tervueren in splendid building ordered by ... Léopold 2 hosts some beauriful things, including what is still called 'art negre' or black african art i am told. 

We should not overlook that Leopold 2 is responsible, more for lack of concern than purely genocidal mind of hundreds of thousands of locals.

We Belgians start to recognize this and remove his statues a little bit everywhere.

So let us start a visit...

[whatagain]

The inside facade...



The same but viewed from the side.



The beautiful girl is Ms Whatagain the eldest. 

[whatagain]

Inside, the big rotunda.



One of the main alleys.

[whatagain]

A big animal from there.



I liked the presentation, the panther seems ready to jump.



There is a lot of stuff, but i am not good at taking pucs, and even worse inside museums.
Plus i was in a hurry, but i took a yearly ticket, allowing to reenter, with Ms Whatagain nr 2, the one who studies art...

Stay tuned, more to come. 

[whatagain]

This is contemporary art, in the temporary expo rooms.
There are several of this stule, i just loved them. 

[mickthecactus]

Your pucs are ok. As are your stules.

[kerouac2]

Actually, even though "nègre" all by itself is usually translated as nigger, "art nègre" changes the meaning to "black (African) art" without any derogatory connotation since nègre just means black.

It looks like a good museum in an exceptional building but I am even more thrilled to see whatagain posting pictures again. Even though I spend very little time on Facebook (which I still hate), I have seen quite a few of his photos there which I would have loved to also see here.

[bixaorellana]

Beautiful report, Whatagain (& beautiful daughter)!

Do you know anything about the museum building, which looks as though it was once a palace? It is a gorgeous setting.

The long aisle you show seems to be all taxidermy. I wonder if the elephant is also stuffed (), or a sculpture.

The contemporary piece is very striking. Is is metal or something like fiberglass, do you happen to know?

This place looks stuffed with treasures & I would love to see some of the older traditional African art. I hope you use the heck out of that year's membership!

[whatagain]

Hello

The building belongs to thecera Léopold 2.
The king was so rich he decided to build a lot of impressive buildings.
You must remember that at the time Belgium was full of money. It was about 1870-1900. We had our colony and that brought lots of cash, thanks to disregard of local workforce - blacks, you know those creatures who had no god, no soul, and we were developing fast and were among the richest on earth.

We were also in industrial revolution and had lots of coal, sand, steel and were producing glass steel etc. Our workers were skilled and nobody gave a toss if some died in coalmining accidents.
It is the time of Zola's books - l'assommoir, notably, a café where workers would drink into oblivion (being stunned, hammeted - assommés).

So our king meant to show our richness and built a lot of things.
I think it was from beginning meant to be a building of prestige but not for staying in. No kitchen, no nothing foressen.

[whatagain]

Elephant is a real one i am afraid. Again, it dates back to when alpha males took pride in killing as many as they could...

There is also a room with crocodiles...

Yes, sculptures are metallic. They are fantastic. I will take more pics.

And thete is a restaurant close by, in the entrance - a building made of glass. Can't be bad, can it ?

[whatagain]

Jun 24, 2021 13:19:32 GMT mickthecactus said:

Your pucs are ok. As are your stules.

😄😄

And if i correct my mistyping, nobody will understand.

[tod2]

Great start Whatagain! That enormous elephant must have taken the taxidermist some time to complete. It still looks alive which is credit to him. I notice the lion is spelled the same way as my maiden name - with a W at the end.
Beautiful ceilings and a bright airy interior.

[whatagain]

Jun 25, 2021 7:42:35 GMT tod2 said:

Great start Whatagain! That enormous elephant must have taken the taxidermist some time to complete. It still looks alive which is credit to him. I notice the lion is spelled the same way as my maiden name - with a W at the end.
Beautiful ceilings and a bright airy interior.

We even have a municipality called Sint Pieters Leeuw. Translation in french as Leeuw Saint Pierre... go figure !

[whatagain]

Have a close look at the sculpture, it is made of ... keys.



The other ones i posted pictures of were made if spoons and forks 

[whatagain]

That one is made from scissors :




And that one of spent cartridges - Kubrick would call them full metal jackeys.
I would say .50 cal... 

[whatagain]

I also had not paid enough attention first time.
The caban is made frim machettes.
I find it incredible. 

[whatagain]

I kept the best as last.

This cross is made of ... mouse traps.
You can easily think of what message the artist had in mind...
Whatever our opinions the idea behind is fantastic.
now we can of coyrse disagree. I am in awe.



The name of the artist is Tsimba.
He is a smith. 

[kerouac2]

That's a lot of machetes for the cabin, but it still looks like it would leak.

African artisans and artists are very well known for recycling everything that they can pick up.

[tod2]

Absolutely amazing artistry Whatagain! The things people create out of something that would never occur to us..... I mean they are all fantastic but the scissors one does it for me.