Lecture, The Astonishing Richness of Igbo Art: Beauties, Beasts, and Others

Herbert M. Cole, also known as the woodcarver Kofi Cole, holding a Mamy Wata sculpture that he carved for a shrine on Long Island, New York. Photo: Macduff Everton — Herbert M. Cole, also known as the woodcarver Kofi Cole, holding a *Mamy Wata* sculpture that he carved for a shrine on Long Island, New York. Photo: Macduff Everton

Igbo arts, made by the Igbo people of West Africa in more than 200 village groups that were never centralized, are enormously diverse in style and type. In this lecture, Herbert M. Cole, Professor Emeritus, University of Santa Barbara, California, addresses this variety—which is especially evident in masks—by exploring two of the common threads in masking traditions among many Igbo subgroups: the dynamic interplay of Beauties and Beasts. Thanks to the bequest of Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, the Yale University Art Gallery has a rich collection of Igbo art objects, some of which are addressed in the lecture. Followed by a reception. Generously sponsored by the Martin A. Ryerson Fund.