Creative Mediations: The Figurative Ceramics of Voania (from) Muba

Abstract

Voania's productivity is apparent in the sheer number of objects now in museum collections. The earliest accessioned objects include Etienne's nine objects, sent to the Musée du Congo Belge in 1910, and purchase of a work at auction in October 1913 by the Henry Wellcome Collection in London. 3 In 1915, the American Museum of Natural History accessioned six sculptures collected by Herbert Lang during the museum's Congo Mission. The Swedish Ethnographic Museum purchased a piece in 1916. 4 Henri Pareyn donated seven objects to the Musée du Congo Belge in 1917. The Vleeshuis Museum, now known as the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp, purchased five more ceramics in 1920. Collections have steadily continued to accession Voania's works.Early archival records and analyses focus largely on the artist's distinct style, masterful techniques, and creation of works for European clients. For instance, a 1917 Musée du Congo Belge accession report describes one of Voania's ceramics as of "modern manufacture bearing the engraved mark of the native potter, piece is very interesting because of the art of the craftsman. " 5 These notes laud Voania's skillful artistry and, as I will discuss later, complement European attitudes regarding other figurative ceramics from western Congo produced in the early twentieth century. For example, in a 1939 article published by the Comité Provinciale des Amis de l' Art Indigène, the authors regret that the distinguished artist had died before the Comité's projects in Congo began. 6 In an attempt to revive the creation of figurative ceramics, the Comité