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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Malagasy art in its contexts |
Author: | Mack, John |
Year: | 1988 |
Periodical: | Africa: rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione |
Volume: | 43 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 481-490 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Madagascar |
Subjects: | cemeteries carving |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/40760286 |
Abstract: | Figurative imagery is found in Madagascar in a number of diverse contexts. Small figures used to be made as personal protective charms or, more specifically, as war charms. Such traditions existed even where there was otherwise no carving tradition. The greater part of Malagasy carving, however, was intended for funerary contexts. This paper surveys these funerary sculptures in relation to the question of the possibility of a connection between Malagasy art and the art of East Africa. Malagasy funerary posts, with their representations of birds, have been compared with carving from Great Zimbabwe. In practice, however, this comparison comes down to little more than a perception of the vaguest of stylistic parallels. A second, and on stylistic grounds more credible comparison has been made between Mahafaly carving from Madagascar and the 'vigango' commemorative sculpture of the Mijikenda of Kenya. Bibliogr., note. |