Palace Sculptures Of Aboney: History Told on Walls. (books).

PALACE SCULPTURES OF ABOMEY History Told on Walls

Francesca Pique and Leslie H. Rainer, with contributions by Jerome C. Alladaye, Rachida de Souza-Ayari, and Suzanne Preston Blier

Conservation and Cultural Heritage series 3. The Getty Conservation Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999. 116 pp., 18 b/w & 136 color illustrations, 4 maps. $24.95 paper.

In the early seventeenth century, Fon peoples (of the contemporary Republic of Benin) established a society that would be governed by a dynasty of rulers who created and expanded the Dahomey kingdom, building an extraordinary complex of palaces in the capital, Abomey, that became the heart of the kingdom's civic, social, and religious life. The mud walls of the palace were embellished with multicolored bas-reliefs that told many of Dahomey's famous legends and stories of military conquest while celebrating the reign and accomplishments of individual kings. In a culture historically without written language, these artworks have sustained much of the kingdom's past glory. Nondichao Bachalou, the official historian of the royal families of Abomey, states: "The bas-reliefs are our only remaining `written' history. They are history told on walls" (p.3).

Palace Sculpture of Abomey recounts the history of the kingdom through an in-depth exploration of its royal palace structures and these narrative sculptural scenes. The magnificent visual imagery (color photographs of the palace structure, bas-reliefs, applique arts, and rare nineteenth-century historical photographs and illustrations) is guided by a succinct and engaging text and explicit captions for each illustration. In addition, the book details the collaborative efforts of the Benin Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) to conserve the bas-reliefs.

The volume is divided into nine sections, including an introduction, followed by suggested readings and acknowledgments. The introduction lays out the general history and functions of Abomey's palace structures and bas-reliefs as "cultural memory" of Fon peoples, which by the late 1800s represented ten successive generations of Abomey kings. However, a casualty of time, nature, and humankind, the entire palace compound was included among the endangered sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1985, just forty years after the Historic Museum of Abomey, housed in these royal compounds, was established as the first national museum in west Africa. In 1988 the palace of King Glele, a nineteenth-century super-king, had to be rebuilt because of structural damage. Before this royal residence was demolished, however, its fifty-six bas-reliefs were cut out of the walls and stored throughout the palace. Enter the Getty Conservation Institute.

Following an initial assessment in 1991, the GCI undertook an intensive collaborative venture with the Republic of Benin's Ministry of Culture and Communication that lasted from 1993 to late 1997. The institute was to document the condition of the sculptures, investigate the sources of their retrogression, and prevent further deterioration. In tandem with this ambitious project, the GCI set up conservation training and a maintenance and monitoring program for members of Benin's Department of Cultural Heritage to ensure the long-term benefits of their shared conservation efforts. While local artists were hired to replicate the original bas-reliefs for the new palace facade being reconstructed by the Beninese government, the GCI's team of conservators and scientists focussed on repairing the original works. The great success of the project is today evident in the Historical Museum: a set of fifty conserved bas-reliefs are now integrated into the museum's exhibition spaces, allowing visitors to witness the continued glory of Dahomey's royal dynasty.

Accompanied by a useful timeline, the next section of the book, "The Kingdom of Dahomey," presents a deftly condensed history of the kingdom's famous "expansionist tradition" (p.9) through brief discussions of individual rulers renowned for their accomplishments in this regard: King Houegbaja (reigned ca. 1645-85), who founded the kingdom in the seventeenth century; King Agaja (r. ca. 1708-32), who subjugated the critical port town of Ouidah; King Guezo (r. 1818-58), who held the monopoly on the Ouidah slave trade; Guezo's son King Glele (r. 1858-89), who resisted European intervention in the highly lucrative slaving market. We are given details of Dahomey's last independent ruler, King Behanzin (r. 1889-94), who is distinguished as a great resistance fighter who attempted to safeguard his kingdom from French colonizers. Near the end of his reign, King Behanzin ordered his troops to burn the royal palaces rather than see them fall into French hands. Before he and his family went into French-imposed exile (illustrated on a 1905 French postcard on p.20), the king gave an address to his soldiers that to this day is taught to Beninese schoolchildren as one of the most important speeches in Fon history (reproduced on p.19). In 1897 the French appointed Behanzin's half-brother, Agoli-Agbo I, to stand as king (though stripped of his power) in the French-controlled colony of Dahomey, only to depose and exile him soon thereafter, and formally abolish Abomey's royal dynasty. Today's king, a descendant of Agoli-Agbo, is a delegate representative of the royal lineage who carries out fundamental ceremonial duties (pp.8-23).

When a Dahomean prince was enthroned, he would choose a royal name as well as a "name motto" to express particular attributes, such as strength, diplomacy, insight, or wisdom. He would also choose symbols to advocate his royal name and motto, warn his rivals and enemies, and celebrate his military victories (p.26). These symbols, depicted on bas-reliefs and colorful appliques, are highlighted in the next section of the book, "Warrior Kings." The symbols and mottos of the twelve Dahomean kings (plus King Adandozan, r. 1798-1818, who was removed from the dynastic list because of his controversial reign) are illustrated and clearly explained in terms of their contributions to Dahomean and world history. The following section, "The Royal Palaces," details the architecture, layout, and functions of the various areas of these royal compounds as they expanded exponentially by virtue of a king's pledge to leave behind more land than he inherited (pp. 35-36).

"Bas-Relief Art" introduces the tradition of palace wall decoration, which is credited to King Agaja in the early eighteenth century. Stemming from conceptual temple decorations, the earliest examples were abstract. However, three-dimensional figurative depictions soon predominated, with painted pictograms representing symbols, mottos, and accomplishments of kings (p.49). The first comprehensive documentation of these works was done in 1911 by E. G. Waterlot. He had molds made of thirty-six reliefs, and castings made from them, all of which are now housed at the Musee de l'Homme in Paris (pp. 53-54).

Together with old photographs and historical records, these castings provide important clues to "Reading the Walls," the next section of the book. Beautifully illustrated, this section helps the reader interpret the bas-reliefs as both symbols and allegories of the glory of the Dahomey kingdom. The first symbol addressed is King Guezo's "jar-of-unity," which has become the national symbol of the Republic of Benin. The corresponding motto is: "Our freedom can be compared to a jar with many holes which cannot hold water. If each one of you, the sons of this nation, can put his finger in one hole, the jar will hold water" (p.59). The illustrations here are a discerning selection of bas-reliefs before and after conservation, as well as some castings nicely juxtaposed with the restored originals.

"Conserving the Bas-Reliefs" details the four-year collaboration between the GCI and the Benin Ministry of Culture and Communication. The objective of this international team of conservators was not to restore the sculptures to their original condition but to repair major damage and inhibit additional degeneration. After researching the history of the bas-reliefs and the methods of production, they recorded the condition of each one. These very fragile but heavy works (over 650 pounds) offered the team a wide range of conservation challenges--ranging from structural damage to fractured support flames to chipped paint--necessitating local Beninese knowledge coupled with GCI conservation techniques. The GCI team strictly followed some basic conservation principles: "intervention should be minimal; new materials should be compatible with original materials; and all treatments should be reversible" (p.83). Photographs illustrate the collaborative procedure, from gathering earth from a local quarry to devising and implementing a system to transport the heavy reliefs, to using a small adhesive-filled syringe to fix flaked paint. Before-and-after photographs demonstrate the success of the project.

The next-to-last section of the book presents the "Historic Museum of Abomey" as a sacred and secular space where "history, culture, art, ritual and commerce intersect ... at a time when centuries-old art forms are being both preserved and reinvented" (p.103). In fact, the museum is a site of ongoing religious, civil, and royal ceremonies presided over by King Agoli-Agbo III who lives outside the royal compound-museum. The final section, "Living Tradition," shows the work of contemporary Abomean artists Cyprien Tokoudagba and Yves Pede, who continue the tradition of bas-relief though they now use cement and commercially available synthetic paint. The last image in the book is of the "Gate of No Return" from the city of Ouidah. This monument, covered in bas-relief and dedicated to the memory of Africans shipped into slavery, attests to the contemporary omnipresence of this art, once only for the kings and now for the everyone on both sides of the Atlantic.

Within the final section of the book is a two-page insert on "Voudou" (Vodun). Although nicely illustrated, this separate section marginalizes this religious system, suggesting that it is outside the daily goings on. Vodun actually played a critical role within the kingdom. In fact, illustrations earlier in the volume (pp. 48-54) document Vodun temples with bas-reliefs representing the important spirits of Legba, Gou, Dan, and others, as well as doth door-partitions (between a Vodun shrine and the outside world) covered with raffia fibers, animal bones, and other offerings. The authors missed a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the critical symbiotic relationship between Vodun and the Dahomey kingdom by integrating Vodun into the main text, rather than isolating it at the end.

Very unfortunately, the insert uses unacceptable terminology such as "conquered tribes," "fetish temple," and "hut" while also stressing stereotypes such as "ritualized worship of the spirits or fetishes [which] often involved blood, animal sacrifice, dance, and--perhaps most dramatically--trances in which a god is said to take possession of a devotee's body" (p.110). Yes, Vodun includes all of these "rituals," but we need a brief explanation of why. That is, we need to know the healing and communicative value of sacrifice and trance rather than the purely blood-and-guts shock value.

I couldn't help but wonder who wrote the Vodun section. An editorial note at the beginning of the book tells us: "The separate texts written by the authors and contributors in their respective areas of expertise have been merged into a single manuscript." This merging was most likely done in the interests of fluidity. Nonetheless, it would have been useful to know which parts were written by Rachida de Souza, former director of Benin's Department of Cultural Heritage, and which were written by Suzanne Blier, professor of art history at Harvard--two people with completely different backgrounds and most likely different perspectives on these topics.

Because I lived in Ouidah from 1994 to 1996, the book was also an enjoyable stroll down memory lane. Each time I visited the Historic Museum of Abomey, I was welcomed by Francesca Pique and Leslie Rainer from the GCI, who walked me through the ongoing progress of the project. I was also able to catch up with Beninese friends who were actively involved in conservation training as members of Benin's Department of Cultural Heritage. This is where I bring up my last (albeit personal) criticism. The section "Conserving the Bas-Reliefs" contains outstanding photographic documentation of the collaborative conservation effort. This was an opportunity to put names to the faces of those involved, American and Beninese. The Beninese participants were credited on the last page of the book as "trainees"; these "trainees" are also museum directors and curators who might have been better acknowledged and identified in the text. For example, I would have preferred that the unnamed man "sieving earth to use in treatments in the museum courtyard" on page 84 be identified as Dorothe Yadokoun Mizehoun. And on page 79, why couldn't Justin Alaro, sitting between Leslie Rainer and Francesca Pique, be identified? The same holds true for the three other Beninese participants.

Palace Sculpture of Abomey: History Told on Walls is the third volume in the Getty Conservation and Cultural Heritage series, "which aims to provide information in a popular format about selected culturally significant sites throughout the world." Thus, the book was clearly written for a general audience, but it may be even more useful to students and specialists of African art and history. The rich illustrations on every single page coupled with the well-written text and captions make the book an edifying visual feast for all these readers. I know that I will use it in teaching.

One question of mine, however, does remain. Without fail, each time I visited the Historic Museum of Abomey, I was assured that one of the critical ingredients used in constructing the walls of some of the royal compounds was the blood of enemies, which attested to the strength of the kingdom. Although I generally tend to look critically at everything, I never once questioned the "truth" of this assertion. Yet this component of the walls is not once mentioned in the book. Was I fully and credulously consumed by the ongoing myths and history told on these incredible walls? May the myths and history continue!

DANA RUSH is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in the Department of the History of Art and the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS).