Creative Mediations - Am MIT spezialisierte KI-Forschung

Creative Mediations
The Figurative Ceramics of Voania (aus) Muba

Carlee S. Forbes

Boldly emblazoning his signature VOANIA

MUBA across the sides of his works, the potter
Voania,1 from the small town of Muba in the
west of present-day Democratic Republic of the
Congo, clearly claims his ceramics. The style of
his pots, with their naturalistic figures perched
upon almost spherical chambers, is immediately recognizable.
The figures’ faces are impressively uniform in style, with a plump,
round shape and almond-shaped eyes empty of any delineation of
an iris or pupil. Almost all of Voania’s works fit into five icono-
graphic themes: equestrians, seated figures, standing figures, cou-
ples, and heads—each categorized by the type of figure situated
atop the spherical base. More than 100 of his ceramics, dating from
the late nineteenth century until his death in 1928, can be found
in museums and private collections across Europe and the United
Zustände. Such a corpus of signed historical works by a single artist
is rare in the study of African art, and to date, Voania’s body of
works has yet to be fully described or analyzed. I seek to docu-
ment Voania’s ceramics, search for trends that elucidate his oeuvre,
and illuminate the artist’s creative mediations between multiple
stylistic influences.

Voania’s prominent signature sets his works apart from the
corpus of figurative ceramics made in western Congo at the turn
of the twentieth century. Variations in his signatures separate his
works into three style groups (Figs. 1-3), suggesting a rough time-
line for their creation that illuminates Voania’s innovations, welche
he may have used to appeal to foreign clients. The slim but sugges-
tive archival evidence highlights Voania’s innovations and eluci-
dates the impact of his interactions with Dr. Élie-Joseph Étienne, A
Belgian official working in Congo. In 1910, DR. Étienne sent three
shipments of ethnographic objects to the Musée du Congo Belge in
Tervuren, including a total of ten works by Voania, although only

Carlee S. Forbes is a PhD candidate in Art History at the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. csforbes@live.unc.edu

34 | african arts WINTER 2019 VOL. 52, NEIN. 4

nine were registered.2 He also promoted Voania’s work to European
and American collectors. While I will use a close reading of the ob-
jects to speculate on Voania’s innovations and his engagement with
European patrons, my analysis reveals how Voania’s works are also
connected to regional Congolese visual systems. By considering
the artist’s innovations and his interaction with Étienne, these ce-
ramic vessels illustrate the artist’s mediation of his own experience
and European influence.

ART OF DISTINCTION: SITUATING PAST
SCHOLARSHIP
Voania’s productivity is apparent in the sheer number of objects
now in museum collections. The earliest accessioned objects in-
clude 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. Der
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. Zum Beispiel, A 1917 Musée du Congo Belge ac-
cession report describes one of Voania’s ceramics as of “modern
manufacture bearing the engraved mark of the native potter, Stück
is very interesting because of the art of the craftsman.”5 These notes
laud Voania’s skillful artistry and, as I will discuss later, comple-
ment European attitudes regarding other figurative ceramics from
western Congo produced in the early twentieth century. Zum Beispiel-
reichlich, in einem 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

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1A, B, c Voania from Muba
Standing female and details
Ceramic; H: 44.3 cm
Collected by Dr. Étienne, 1910
EO.0.0.1690-1, collection RMCA Tervuren
Foto: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren

Group A signature group one: two-sided
surrounded by horizontal lines.

organized workshops and made images of Voania’s works available
to artists in Congo. In 1951, Albert Maesen, curator of ethnography
at the Musée du Congo Belge, published a short article on Voania’s
ceramics. Maesen studied about a dozen figures and refuted argu-
ments which seem to have started with Henri Schouteden, direk-
tor of the Musée du Congo Belge from 1927 Zu 1946 (Olbrechts
1939/1959: pl. 19). Schouteden claimed the volume of works pro-
duced indicated that Voania must have been working with a work-
shop. Maesen asserts, “The letters [of the signature] are always
drawn with the same and firm meticulousness, without any fan-
tasy,” and therefore could not be attributed to an apprentice (1951:
8). These early observations and analyses focused on the artistry,
Stil, and uniqueness of Voania’s works.

Zdenka Volavka’s 1977 African Arts article provides the most
comprehensive analysis of Voania’s biography and oeuvre. Volavka
conducted fieldwork from 1972 Zu 1975 in Muba, near the DRC
border with Cabinda. She drew from both her fieldwork, einschließlich
interviews with several elders in Muba, as well as archival research

to compile the artist’s biography. As Volavka states (and Mandela
Kaumba’s recent fieldwork supports), although there were other
male potters in the region and clay was readily available, Muba was
never a center of pottery production and relied upon women in
villages to the northeast of Muba for utilitarian pottery (Volavka
1977: 61).7 Volavka’s research indicates that Voania was Muba’s
chief and that he turned to pottery as an adult. Volavka also spoke
with Dumu Dioko, who identified himself as Voania’s youngest
nephew, successor as Muba’s chief, and his only assistant. Obwohl
Dumu Dioko mixed clay and prepared materials, he never created
his own works. Volavka’s emphasis on Voania’s lack of apprentices
and distinct style produces an image of the artist as exceptional
and distinct from any artists preceding or following him. To rec-
oncile the notion that cultural significance correlates to the volume
of Voania works in museum collections, Volavka cautions, “The
quantity of his preserved pottery does not reflect a predominant
position within the history of Kongo art, nor does it qualify him as
the most prolific Kongo sculptor” (1977: 62). For Volavka, the ob-
jects are still to be considered as an anomaly of artistic production,
not of any ethnographic value for understanding life in Congo nor
to be used in comparison with other Congo visual systems.

Volavka records Muba oral tradition about the nature of Voania’s
arbeiten. She recalls, “Voanya made his pottery solely for the mundele,
the white man, and not for the African clientele” (1977: 62). Sie
then cites this presumed mundele audience to distinguish between
Voania’s style and the other figurative art produced in the region,

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appeal to the tastes of a European audience (1977: 66). Zusätzlich,
none of the objects in museum or private collections show any ev-
idence of having served as a container. By stressing local reception,
modification of forms, and lack of proverbial meaning, Volavka
emphasizes Voania’s ability to appeal to his European clients.

While clearly distinguishing his ceramics from other local
Objekte, Volavka seems to ultimately appreciate Voania’s works
as successful creations for his new audience. She concludes
her arguments stating,

He seems to have chosen to elaborate his own visual, nonsymbolic
vocabulary. Voanya therefore did not make any effort to reach clients
of his own culture and concentrated during his entire artistic career
on the production of secular objects, which proved to be quite ef-
ficient in the cross-cultural visual dialogue to which he committed
himself (Volavka 1977: 66).

Since the publication of Volavka’s article, her arguments have
been cited and reused in several catalog entries and other pub-
lished references to Voania’s works. From Stössel (1984), to Darish
(1990), to Walker (2009), to Volper (2010), and Vanhee (2014A),
scholars have repeated Volavka’s assertions regarding the artist’s bi-
ography and his distance from regional visual culture (see Darish
1990; Stössel 1984: 343–44; Vanhee 2014: 232–33; Volper 2010:
192; Walker 2009: 268–88). Forkl, zu, emphasizes the artist’s inno-
vation: “After all, by no means did Voania profane the traditional
symbolic systems, but actually created its own new aesthetics
through his work for foreign customers” (2004: 117). Barley notes
that Voania’s figures do not seem to indicate any coded proverbial
Bedeutung, like those found on Woyo-style potlids, erklären:

The multiplicity of images cannot be reduced to a few well-known
verbal formulae. [Voania’s ceramics] are like proverbial images to
which no proverb is attached … In his catering for a foreign market,
his avoidance of local cultural allusions and his stress on individual
innovation and authorship, we can indeed assimilate Voania to the
notion of “airport artist” (1994: 146–47).

These scholars recognize Voania’s innovations and present the
works as interesting cases of creative expression. Jedoch, von
highlighting the presumed intended foreign audience, scholars
have obscured the connection between Voania’s ceramics and
other local products produced in early twentieth century Congo.

2A, b Voania from Muba
Couple, and detail
Ceramic; H: 53 cm
AE.0590; Unknown purchase, 1940, Collectie
MAS, Antwerp (Belgien)
Foto: Michel Wuyts; © Collectie MAS, Antwerp
(Belgien)

Group B signature: one side, surrounded by hori-
zontal lines or minimal décor.

noting: “Every Kwakongo and Kongo figurative terracotta sculp-
ture conveys a distinct message that is understandable to everyone
by a set of certain compositional, postural, gestural, and icono-
graphic features” (1977: 64–65). Volavka asserts the region’s figu-
rative art is characterized by frontal compositions, static postures,
and “an economy of gesture” (1982: 228). To illustrate Voania’s dis-
tinctiveness, Volavka showed photographs of his ceramics to local
people and asked them to comment on or interpret the works.
Participants described the objects as foreign or “not ours” (1977:
65). The inability to read the object, Volavka argues, stems from
Voania’s subtle modifications to the figures’ posture and gesture.
He created figures with slightly more dynamic poses, especially
evident in composition of the couples (Feige. 2). He also added an-
ecdotal details, such as the objects held by some figures (Figs. 1, 3,
8B). Volavka asserts these modifications reflect how “the absence
of symbolic structure seems to ensue from a mind concerned with
the incompatibility of the Kongo symbolic value system and the
European consumer” and demonstrate that Voania made works to

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3A, B, c Voania from Muba
Seated male, and details
Ceramic; H: 48.7 cm
AE.1942.0001.0003; purchased from Jacobs, 1942.
Collectie MAS, Antwerp (Belgien)
Foto: Michel Wuyts; © Collectie MAS, Antwerp
(Belgien)

Group C signature: one side, great amount of
added décor.

I seek to reexamine the artist’s biography, his ceramics, his in-
teraction with Étienne, and his reception in European collections
in order to both emphasize his innovations and to assert the rela-
tionship between his ceramics and other regional forms of visual
Ausdruck. My first goal is to analyze Étienne’s promotion, pref-
erences, and objectives in collecting Voania’s works. I argue that
DR. Étienne played a critical role to encourage Voania’s ceramic
üben. Étienne’s promotion of Voania cannot be separated from
the larger role collections served to support colonial efforts. Im
Congo Free State and later the Belgian Congo, collecting was inte-
gral to the support and perpetuation of colonialism (Van Beurden
2015: 25–40; Wastiau 2000b: 6). As Schildkrout and Keim assert,
objects “were a tangible means of showing penetration, conquest,
and domination,” and “accurate descriptions of the landscape and
people were seen as prerequisites to an array of colonial programs

including the extraction of resources, the spread of civilization and
political control, and the salvation of souls” (1998: 21–22). And
as Van Beurden argues, we must contextualize the individual col-
lectors’ motivations as “they become subsumed into increasingly
comprehensive systems of knowledge that organized the col-
lections and its displays” (2015: 31). As I will describe, Étienne’s
collection of Voania’s ceramics is integrally tied to his job as a co-
lonial official. And, no matter Étienne’s motivation for promoting
Voania’s ceramics, the objects acquired new meaning when acces-
sioned into museum collections.

My second argument concerns the ways in which Voania bal-
anced Congolese innovation and European patronage to produce
ceramics that drew from early twentieth century Congolese visual
culture to both carry local meaning and cater to European audi-
zen. Numerous scholars have defined, discussed, and compli-
cated views concerning tourist art (z.B., Ben-Amos 1977: 128–39;
Richter 1980; Phillips and Steiner 1999; Kasfir 2007). For this proj-
ect, I draw specifically from Ruth Phillips and Nichole Bridges’s
scholarship on souvenir arts. Phillips asserts that a key charac-
teristic of souvenir art is the communicative mode that she terms
“dual signification” (1998: 20). This dual significance, she argues,
favors the use of visual elements that are accessible to all consum-
ers. Likewise, Bridges argues that artists innovate to meet “souve-
nir standards” by creating objects capable of, as Paula Ben-Amos
describes, “bridging that gap [between buyers and sellers] Und
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4 Chief Nemlao receiving a visit from Dr.
Étienne. AP.0.0.54 collection RMCA Tervuren.
Foto: H.A. Shanu, s.d; ; © MRAC Tervuren

Étienne was affiliated with the Association Belge
de Photographie. Herzekiah Andrew Shanu,
a Nigerian photographer living in Boma, War
also a participating member of the Association
and appears to have had a connection with Dr.
Étienne. The two often provided images for the
Association’s exhibitions. Shanu photographed
Étienne seated in conversation with the chief of
Nemalo.

many ways, Étienne’s career is typical of early colonial administra-
tors in Congo (Feige. 4). He traveled to Congo seven times through-
out his career, usually staying only a few brief months in Belgium
before returning to Congo; In der Tat, he died in the coastal port town
of Banana in January 1920. While in Congo, he served as both a
doctor and administrator and helped develop infrastructure to
expand colonial influence over local populations. As part of their
duties, colonial officials were also tasked with documenting and
describing the colony, as well as collecting material to send back
to Belgium. These collections were part of efforts to build Belgian
support for colonial efforts and promote further actions (Van
Beurden 2015: 25–40; Wastiau 2000a: 24–25, 2000B: 6).

Étienne devoted much effort to documenting the west of Congo.
He made meticulous recordings of the weather patterns, inkl-
ing rain measurements, barometric pressure, temperature, Und
wind speeds (see Étienne 1892). He traveled around the region
east of Banana, recorded geographic notes, Standorte, descrip-
tionen, and demographic information for several towns between
Boma and Banana.9 His cipher-like notes, such as “industry =
creation of baskets and mats for houses,” indicate where products
were being made.10 Étienne also created visual representations of
the colony through photography. His photographs depict railway
construction, colonial towns, and students and missionaries at the
Moanda and Nemlao missions—visually representing progress
towards the building of colonial infrastructure in Congo.11 With
each of type of documentation, Étienne contributed to a growing
body of information recording all aspects of the landscape and
people of the colony.

Étienne also collected ethnographic items and scientific speci-
mens to send to Belgium. In addition to several cartons of insects,
Étienne sent three shipments of ethnographic material to the
Musée du Congo Belge. The ethnographic items included several
baskets, raffia mats, raffia caps, raw raffia material, farming im-
plements, figurative clay pipes, several ceramic pots, and objects
needed for pottery creation. Étienne recorded each object’s local
name and each tool’s use. These notes demonstrated that he had
some contact with locals, but he did not describe the nature of
their interactions. Étienne did not celebrate the items he collected
as innovative or particularly beautiful, nor did he describe them as
Kunst. Eher, the collection as a whole appears to have been part of
Étienne’s documentation of Congolese weather, Land, and people.
The Musée du Congo Belge accessioned their first ceramics
by Voania thanks to Étienne’s ethnographic collection. Étienne’s
description of Voania’s works provides more information than
notes accompanying other objects, suggesting his interest in

creating shared meanings” (Bridges 2009; Ben-Amos 1977: 129).
These souvenir standards include the expansion of motifs to in-
clude more outsider references, the standardization of motifs and
subject matter, and the reduction in semantic-level of classical
Formen. As Bridges demonstrates, nineteenth century Loango ivo-
ries retain aspects of Kongophone aesthetics such as spiral com-
Position, as well as some semantic significance via the depiction
of proverbs. Phillips and Bridges’s methods inform my interpreta-
tions of the composition, bilden, and iconography of Voania’s works
and consider how each element may have different significance de-
pending on the context. I seek to identify subtle characteristics that
hint at the transcultural complexities of the ceramics.

COLLECTING AND CLASSIFYING
DR. Étienne seems to have served as Voania’s first promoter and
facilitated the movement of Voania’s ceramics into European and
American collections of African material culture. As noted ear-
lier, Étienne sent ten ceramics to the Musée du Congo Belge in
1910. The nine ceramics registered at the museum were the first of
Voania’s works accessioned in Europe. In 1915, Étienne also helped
Lang procure another six objects for the American Museum of
Natural History in New York. As I will demonstrate, this promo-
tion seemed to play a role in shaping Voania’s innovations.

DR. Étienne spent almost the entirety of his adult life in Congo.
Born in Ligny, Belgium in 1855, he trained at the Université de
Louvain and received his diploma to practice medicine in 1880.8 In
38 | african arts WINTER 2019 VOL. 52, NEIN. 4

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5 A, B, c Artist unrecorded
a Male equestrian
Ceramic; H: 36 cm
RV-1032-1
b Head with stopper
Ceramic; H: 33.5 cm
RV-1032-2
c Vessel with incised cross
Ceramic; H: 31 cm
RV-1032-7
Gift from the Congo Free State Government, 1984
Foto: Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

ihnen. His first delivery, im Februar 1910, only contained Voania’s
Keramik. In his accompanying letter to Vice Gouverner General
Fuchs (who then sent the shipment to the Musée du Congo
Belge), Étienne wrote:

I have the honor of informing you that I have put on board the Wall
[a steamer ship] four indigenous ceramics from Muba, a village lo-
cated to the north and east of Cabinda. Der [chief] named Voania
and his son make ceramics. These here carry his signature. In some
days I will receive other various forms […] 12

Although Volavka has clarified the relationship between Voania
and his nephew, this note is a change from the mere lists Étienne
sent with his other shipments. He took the time to record the lo-
cation of Muba and provide a short description. Étienne further
demonstrates his interest by promising subsequent shipments. Der
first letter is the only time Étienne specifically mentions the artist
and his signature. His second and third letters simply describe the

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VOL. 52, NEIN. 4 WINTER 2019 afrikanische Kunst | 39

6 Artist unrecorded
Figurative ceramics from the RMCA Tervuren collection
(über)
a Standing male with rectangular object and star-shaped stopper; H: 32.1 cm
Banana, collected before 1896, EO.0.0.5175

b Female equestrian carrying child; H: 30.2 cm
Banana, collected before 1896, EO.0.0.5180

(below)
C Seated male; H: 30.4 cm
Banana, collected before 1897, EO.0.0.5181

d Head; H: 28.2 cm
Banana, collected before 1897, EO.0.0.5182
Photos: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren

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7A, b Artist unrecorded
Male reading book, and detail
Ceramic; H: 25.6 cm
Vor 1919; purchased from Francois
Leopold Michel, EO.0.0.23054, Sammlung
RMCA Tervuren
Foto: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren

figures: “a woman carrying a bottle,” “two equestrian figures,” or “a
man holding a small book.”13 As I will describe, Étienne could have
favored Voania’s ceramics over works by other artists. Yet it is also
possible Étienne may have seen the ceramics merely as another
avenue to document the colony. Nach 1910, Étienne’s shipments
to the Musée du Congo Belge focused largely on insects and con-
tained no more ceramics.

DR. Étienne might have encountered figurative ceramics by art-
ists other than Voania. In the late nineteenth century, many exam-
ples of figurative ceramics were sold in Banana, the coastal port
town that was Étienne’s home. Some of the earliest figurative ce-
ramics from western Congo recorded in Europe appeared in 1894
at the National Ethnographic Museum in Leiden as part of a large
donation from the Congo Free State Government.14 One work de-
picts a male equestrian figure, the second a head, and a third is
a vessel adorned with an incised cross (Feige. 5). Further examples
published in 1896 Und 1899 include an equestrian female figure
seated side-saddle and carrying a child, both perched on top of a

spherical chamber; a standing male carrying a rectangular object
with a star-shaped stopper at the top; a head; and a seated male
(“L’art congolais” 1896; Masui 1899: 23, pl. IV ) (Feige. 6). Ein anderer
figure of a mustached man seated on a long bench with his legs
tucked up as he reads a book was registered at the Musée du Congo
Belge in 1919 (Feige. 7).15 These ceramics are all very similar in form
and style. They feature figures with exaggerated proportions, elon-
gated necks, and disproportionately short legs surmounted on a
spherical base and made of red clay with white, black, or blue pig-
ments added post-firing. The faces and clothing are decorated only
with simple engravings to denote edges of jackets or the outline of
hair. None are signed, although some incorporate occasional addi-
tionen, such as an engraved cross (Feige. 5C) or an ambiguous shape
painted in black (Feige. 6D). Voania’s inclusion of his prominent sig-
nature sets his works apart from these other examples.

The objects with recorded provenances were all acquired in
Banana. Étienne’s official reports and personal letters indicate he
was involved in the life of the city and may have had opportuni-
ties to view many figurative ceramics.16 In his 1910 letter, Étienne
mentioned the signature as a key element of Voania’s ceramics. Es
is possible that the signature is what drove Étienne to select these
Objekte. Whatever the reason for his preference, Étienne’s partiality
for Voania’s ceramics is further demonstrated through his promo-
tion of Voania’s objects to Lang.

When accessioned

into museum collections, Voania’s
works were often categorized with other figurative ceramics.
Contemporaneous Belgian commentaries discuss figurative

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42 | african arts WINTER 2019 VOL. 52, NEIN. 4ceramics from Banana and reveal how the objects were received in museum collections: figurative ceramics are interpreted as separate, not connected to any local practice. Ein 1896 article in La Belgique Coloniale opens with two images of the figurative ceramics (Figs. 6a–b) and describes general concerns regarding the perceived loss of artistic heritage and connection to nature due to the changing world (“L’art congolais” 1896: 306). The author lauds the technique and style of Congolese ceramics but is dismissive of the figurative 8 a–d Voania from Mubaa–b Standing female with neck kerchief (über), and detail (below)Ceramic; H: 51.7 cmCollected by Dr. Étienne, 1910, collection RMCA Tervurenc–d Standing male holding book (über), and detail (below)Ceramic; H: 50.2 cmCollected by Dr. Étienne, 1910, collection RMCA Tervuren Photo: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren Minimal décor of kerchiefs and simple buttons added to figures in group A.forbes.indd 427/31/2019 1:48:55 PM

Voania from Muba

8e–f
Couple with child and dog; detail of cross necklace
Ceramic; H: 46.2 cm
AE.0588; Purchased from Henri Pareyn, 1920,
Collectie MAS, Antwerp (Belgien)
Foto: Michel Wuyts; ; © Collectie MAS, Antwerp
(Belgien)

Minimal décor of a cross-necklace added to a
figure in group A.

of ethnographic importance, the figurative pots receive no further
discussion and are distinguished from locally made, nonfigurative
ceramics.17 (It is worth noting that Voania did create two nonfigu-
rative vessels, which I describe later.)

These efforts to differentiate between figurative and nonfigu-
rative ceramics and the assertion that figurative works illustrate
a loss of artistic heritage demonstrates the impact of colonial
ideas on collecting. As Van Beurden describes, colonial collect-
ing policies sought to assign meaning to objects and to construct
“Congolese cultural authenticity as endangered” (2015: 24). Der
author of the 1896 article in La Belgique Coloniale predicts it will
only take a few short years “to make them forget the precious her-
itage of their fathers” (“L’art congolais” 1896: 306). Such assertions
show that certain practices were perceived to be in danger of disap-
pearing, and so museums justified further collecting missions and
other colonial efforts to protect and guard Congo. According to
the rhetoric of the day, although acknowledging the makers’ skill,
figurative ceramics were denigrated as a kind of infection, one that
threatened to taint objects considered more culturally authentic.
And thus, figurative ceramics were detached from any discussions
of regional practice.

Jedoch, while dismissed for their supposed lack of ethno-
graphic value, figurative ceramics were displayed in many colo-
nial exhibitions, featured as representatives of the colony’s cultural
Produkte. The colonial section of the 1897 Brusssels-Tervuren
Exposition Internationale included several of the figurative ceram-
ics already listed. The first evidence of Voania’s ceramics being ex-
hibited and discussed is in 1913 in the Salon d’honneur of the co-
lonial pavilion in the Exposition Universelle et Internationale, held
in Ghent. At least two of his works were displayed behind a bust
of the Belgian queen Elisabeth by Charles Samuel, in a room filled
with chryselephantine sculptures, ethnographic busts, and works
by Belgian artists. Voania’s ceramics were displayed with nonfig-
urative ceramic vessels. As explained in the exhibition guide, Die
objects in the salon were chosen from the Musée du Congo Belge
collections because they were beautiful specimens (beaux speci-
mens) (Catalogue-Guide 1913: 18). Hier, the objects’ ethnographic
interest appears to have been subsumed by the imperative to pres-
ent aesthetic objects and used in promotion of colonial successes.
No matter how the objects were received or used in museum
collections, DR. Étienne’s descriptions of Voania’s works, sowie
his promotion of the works to other collectors, seems to demon-
strates his preference for the artist’s ceramics. And as I will demon-
strate, Étienne’s preferences and promotion played a role in shap-
ing Voania’s oeuvre.

VOL. 52, NEIN. 4 WINTER 2019 afrikanische Kunst | 43

Bilder, since they “represent whites, horses, and things formerly
unknown to these peoples …” and claims Europeans introduced
Congo artists to figurative ceramics (“L’art congolais” 1896: 307).
The Annales du Congo Belge, a publication cataloging the Musée
du Congo Belge’s ethnographic collections, later describes the fan-
tastical ceramics from Banana, “These objects are hardly of eth-
nographic interest” because they are curious specimens that show
skilled labor and the maker’s “spirit of observation” (Masui 1899:
23, pl. 4). Other museum accession entries describe the objects’
shape or method of production. But because of their perceived lack

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9 Voania from Muba
a–b Male equestrian with line at edge of jacket (über), and detail (below)
Ceramic; H: 44 cm
Collected by Herbert Lang, 1915; 90.1/5081
Foto: by permission and © American Museum of Natural History
c–d Couple with lines at hem of female’s skirt (über), and detail (below)
Ceramic; H: 51.9 CM
Donated by Nicolas Arnold via Henry Pareyn, 1917 ; EO.0.0.20241-3, collec-
tion RMCA Tervuren
Foto: © J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren

Figurative ceramics with details characteristic of group B.

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VOANIA’S INNOVATIONS
The clear signature visible on each vessel is a hallmark of Voania’s
arbeiten. I have identified three variations in signature types (groups
A, B, and C) which serve as a starting point to discuss further inno-
vationen. In all variations, Voania inscribed his name in capital let-
ters, with “Voania” appearing smaller than “Muba.” In a narrative
that has become more fable than fact, Étienne may have suggested
that Voania sign his work and taught him to write his name. Henri
Schouteden, former director of the Musée du Congo Belge, seems
to be the origin of this claim, now accepted by the scholarship.18 Yet
even if Étienne provided the impetus to begin signing the works,
it appears Voania continued to refine and innovate the style of his
signature. The objects in group A have signatures split in two parts
that appear on opposing sides of the vessel’s otherwise unadorned
chamber. Several horizontal lines frame each element (Feige. 1). In
groups B and C, the text is condensed to just one side, und die Sig-
natures fall into groups based on the amount of elaboration around

44 | african arts WINTER 2019 VOL. 52, NEIN. 4

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ihnen. Group B surrounds the name with horizontal lines or frames
it with vertical boxes on either side (Feige. 2). Group C includes the
most elaborate signatures, adorned with chevrons, wavy lines, Und
patterns that extend around the spherical chamber (Feige. 3).

The enhancements of the signatures with flourishes and dec-
orative elements also corresponds to elaboration of the figures.
Vessels from group A, with two-sided signatures, feature figures
with relatively little adornment or added decorative elements
(Feige. 8). The male figures’ jackets have either no embellishment
or only simple buttons. The female figures wear unadorned wrap-
per skirts and shirts. The only added elements are kerchiefs, oder, als
in one example, a cross necklace. Works from group B, mit dem
simple one-sided signatures, have slightly more elaborate details
and decorative elements (Feige. 9). The jackets have not only buttons,

10 Voania from Muba
a–b Seated female with elaborate necklace (über), and detail (below)
Ceramic; H: 49.6 cm
Donated by J. de Porre, 1958 ; EO.1958.8.23, collection RMCA Tervuren
Foto: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren
c–d Seated male with incised epaulets (über), and detail (below)
Ceramic; H: 48.7 cm
AE.1942.0001.0003, Purchased from Jacobs, 1942 Collectie MAS, Antwerp
(Belgien)
Foto: Michel Wuyts; © Collectie MAS, Antwerp (Belgien)

Figurative ceramics with details characteristic of group C.

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11A, B, c Voania from Muba
Nonfigurative vase
Ceramic; H: 45 cm
Congo Basin Research Center, FX990584
Foto: by permission and © Congo Basin Research Center

but also button holes and incised lines around the jacket’s edges.
Female figures’ clothing also is decorated further, with incised
lines at the hems of shirts or skirts. The figures with elaborate one-
sided signatures are the most detailed (Feige. 10). The men’s jackets
include incised lines and even military epaulets on the shoulders.
Female figures in group C wear ornamented necklaces, bracelets,
and patterned skirts.

Records of the dates when the works were accessioned into
museum collections reflect the same groupings, thus suggesting
a chronology by which we might tentatively organize Voania’s
oeuvre. Although records provide no information about dates of
production, collection dates seem to align with gradual elaboration
of Voania’s works. Group A objects are the earliest objects to enter
collections, suggesting group A ceramics were the first Voania pro-
duziert. The ten objects accessioned earliest—including the 1910
group at the Musée du Congo Belge and the 1913 purchase for
Sir Henry Wellcome’s collection—all feature relatively unadorned
figures with one-sided signatures characteristic of group A. Aus
46 | african arts WINTER 2019 VOL. 52, NEIN. 4

1915 Zu 1920, nineteen more works entered collections, inkl-
ing a mixture of objects from groups A and B. The first sculpture
in group C does not appear until 1923, when it was added to the
Swedish Ethnographic Museum’s collection. Nach 1923, funktioniert
from all three groups appeared in collections. The dominance of
groups A and B in early collections seems to indicate that those
objects were created first. It may be that, as Voania began to export
more objects, changes in the signatures and the addition of details
might be read as indications of Voania’s response to his interac-
tions with European collectors.

SYNTHESIZING STYLES
I mobilize my chronology to highlight Voania’s innovations and
identify how he appears to have adapted his style for export. His
oeuvre of naturalistic figures includes a mixture of regional and
European-derived iconography. Such an amalgamation appears
to demonstrate Voania’s attempt to participate in the changing
visual systems used to represent status in Congo. Phillips’s con-
ception of dual signification and Bridges’s notion of souvenir stan-
dards help elucidate the various influences manifested in Voania’s
ceramics. Both argue that arts created for markets outside of the
maker’s community contain elements that are recognizable to both
local and European audiences. For Volavka, any departure from
regional representational modes “makes the sculpture meaning-
less and illegible in the customary context” (1982: 228). I argue
Das, while an object as a whole may have been unintelligible to
Volavka’s informants in the 1970s and seem to never have been

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(top, l–r)
12 Voania from Muba
a Hair indicated by checkerboard pattern with punctuated dots
Collected by Dr. Étienne, 1910; EO.0.0.1724-1 (detail), Sammlung
RMCA Tervuren
b Hair indicated by incised lines
EO.0.0.20241-3 (detail), collection RMCA Tervuren
Foto: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren

(bottom, l–r)
13a–b Voania from Muba
Standing man holding book, with detail
Ceramic; H: 47.2 cm
Donated by Nicolas Arnold via Henry Pareyn, 1917; EO.0.0.1690-2,
collection RMCA Tervuren
Foto: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren

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14a–b Voania from Muba
Atypical figurative ceramic and detail
Ceramic; H: 37.5 cm
Collected by Herbert Lang, 1915; 90.1/5083,
American Museum of Natural History
Foto: by permission and © American Museum of
Natural History

consumed by local markets, distinctive regional influences are still
present in Voania’s works. Jedoch, no simple dichotomy between
distinctly local and nonlocal visual elements is possible, especially
considering the region’s long history of transcultural exchange. In
speaking of wooden sculptures that depict Europeans made by
Kongo artists, Mirzoeff cautions, “At this distance, we should not
be drawn into the game of trying to determine their ‘real’ ethno-
graphic type. Eher [these figures] attest to the transcultural com-
plexities of the colonial Congo” (2009: 145.)

Considered as a whole, Voania’s ceramics fit within the broad
local genre of art used to display authority. In all three groups,
Voania represents seated and standing figures holding bottles. Das
style of representation was common on Kongo grave sculptures
and seems to be indicative of shifting iconographies. Obwohl
interactions with Europeans had long influenced local politics,
the radical shifts in trade structures and the imposition of colo-
nial rule at the turn of the twentieth century resulted in drastic

48 | african arts WINTER 2019 VOL. 52, NEIN. 4

changes to Congolese leadership structures (Martin 1972; Schrag
1985; Vos and Vanhee 2013: 78–87; Vos 2015). Some chiefs collab-
orated—to varying degrees—with Belgian officials, while in other
Bereiche, new chiefs were installed (Nzongola-Ntalaja 2003: 35–36;
Gondola 2002: 78–80). Leaders drew on both old and new status
symbols to redefine leadership for the new colonial context. Diese
negotiations of evolving power systems predate the colonial era.
Zum Beispiel, art historian Cécile Fromont explores the important
use of dress to define Kongo Christianity and assert elite status in
the sixteenth century. She states, “Kongo Christian elite creatively
mixed and seamlessly merged in their sartorial practices and in-
signia both local and foreign elements and transfigured them into
the new outfits and regalia of Kongo Christianity” (2014: 111).
Whether reinterpreting dances, myth, material status symbols, oder
Kleid, western Congo has a long history of negotiating status sym-
bols to fit new historical realities.

Moving into the twentieth century, historian Phyllis M. Martin
explores the important role clothing played to assert power:
“Porters, traders, hunters, farmers and artisans go about their
business dressed in imported pagnes and such ready-made items
as shirts, hats and jackets … military caps or top hats were espe-
cially popular among chiefs, interpreters and successful traders”
(Martin 1994: 404; see also Martin 1995: 155–65). In what histo-
rian Jelmer Vos describes as a “democratization of conspicuous
consumption,” access to formerly elite items of clothing and dress
became more accessible to “ambitious sons, nephews, and other
male upstarts” (2018: 247). The struggle to convey one’s author-
ity through dress and other status symbols also played out in the

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15 Luba ceramic “noted as being from Katanga”
RMCA EO.0.0.18331
Foto: Coart 1907

16 Voania from Muba (?)
Atypical figurative ceramic
Ceramic; H: 47.1 cm
Donated by Nicolas Arnold via Henry Pareyn, 1917; EO.0.0.20246, Sammlung
RMCA Tervuren
Foto: J. Van de Vyver; © MRAC Tervuren

funerary arts. Naturalistic wooden and stone funerary sculptures
represent deceased chiefs and allude to the many ways Congo
chiefs vied for power. Figures wear mpu raffia caps, hold coins,
wear new European-style clothing, and reference literacy (Vanhee
2014B: 205). Recall that Voania himself was a chief and thus was
likely familiar with these modes of self-presentation. It appears that
throughout his career, Voania tried to balance local and European
influences in his work. As I will demonstrate, changes to vessel
shapes and modifications to specific details may indicate a gradual
shift in Voania’s efforts to appeal largely to European buyers.

Over time, Voania seems to have removed some of the most
distinctly local features from his works, changes that may have
helped the works appeal more to his European patrons but dis-
tanced them from other regionally produced ceramics. For exam-
Bitte, Voania appears to have modified the vessels’ shape. His ceram-
ics seem to never have served a functional purpose. Noch, objects in
group A (Figs. 1, 8) show him sometimes gesturing to the visual
roots of functional ceramics by adding a small extension at the top
of each vessel. As illustrated in the Annales du Congo Belge, func-
tional ceramics from the twentieth century often included a flared
lip or spout. The ceramics from group A, with the exception of two
objects in the group of about forty vessels, all include a spout or a
spout disguised as a hat. In theory, these objects could have acted
as actual containers. For ceramics in groups B (Figs. 2, 9) and C
(Figs. 3, 10), Voania removed the spout and left only a small cir-
cular opening at the top of the head. Such a design is necessary to
facilitate the release of heat and protect the ceramic from cracking
during the firing process. Without the spout, the vessels in groups

B and C could never function as useful containers and are fur-
ther separated from other regional ceramics. Voania’s decision to
remove the spout helps the figures appear more naturalistic.

Voania also created nonfigurative vessels, represented by just
two known works, one held at the Congo River Basin Research
Center in Brussels (Feige. 11) and the other at the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of African Art. The stirrup-spout vessels are
clearly more functional than their figurative counterparts, und das
design is similar other local utilitarian vessels. These works seem
to indicate that Voania was experimenting with forms that might
have appealed more to local audiences. Both pieces are signed
with a group A-style signature, possibly indicating Voania created
these works earlier in his career. He adorned the signature with
etched foliage extending in a V around the text. Like the figura-
tive works, these objects show no sign of use. These two examples
seem to be Voania’s attempt to bridge local utilitarian forms with
his own decorative style.

In addition to changing the vessel’s shapes, Voania also appears
to have nuanced the style of his figures. In one example, he shifted
his style for depicting hair. For many of the works in group A,
Voania may have employed geometric patterns that are historically
ubiquitous across artworks from the Kongo Kingdom. He used a
gridlike, checkerboard pattern with punctuated dots that clearly
references a complex geometric interwoven design (Feige. 12A).
These same patterns appear on mpu raffia caps, a longstanding sign
of prestige among Kongo nobles, ivories, and baskets among other
mediums. Voania reworked this style for objects in groups B and
C. Instead of the textile pattern, he adopts either incised straight

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or wavy lines to depict hair (Feige. 12B). Daher, it appears that Voania
removed the local textile reference for his later figures.

Voania also modified the box-like object held by many of the
standing men (Figs. 8B, 13). DR. Étienne described these figures as
a “man holding in his hand a small book.”19 Yet, on at least three
of Voania’s works, the figure carries an object engraved with in-
terlocking geometric-patterns.20 The pattern may indicate that the
objects are actually baskets or boxes. Baskets decorated with ubiq-
uitous Kongo patterns are a common theme within historic de-
pictions of the Kongo court, and the creation of patterned baskets
persisted into the twentieth century. Perhaps not surprisingly, Die
two figures carrying patterned boxes belong to group A. In groups
B and C, the figures hold unadorned objects, which may be in-
tended as the books described by Étienne.

I interpret the increased prominence of the signature, added
decorative elements, removal of the spout, and shift towards
more European iconography as Voania’s response to his potential
markets. These changes all appear to correspond to the period of
Voania’s most extensive interaction with Étienne. The consistent
refinement and added ornamentation to the signature may indi-
cate the artist’s success selling works for export.

Two objects fail to fit into any of the three style groups and may
further illustrate Voania’s attempts to appeal to European audi-
zen. The first example was collected by Herbert Lang during
the 1909–1915 Congo Mission (Feige. 14). Although Lang did not
include Voania’s name, he did note that all the ceramics he col-
lected were by the same artist, recording “Eight decorative pots
from Banana made by an asonongo, procured through the kind
offices of Dr. Étienne.”21 The figure’s face includes Voania’s charac-
teristic almond-shaped eyes, full lips, and plump chin. Jedoch,
the shape of the chamber and the pattern for depicting the hair are
completely different from all of Voania’s other works. Zusätzlich,
he added a rectangular design on the chamber’s side and a pattern
on the woman’s back. The object matches almost exactly—from
the chamber, to the rectangular decorations, to the bust form of
the figure—with a Luba-style ceramic in the RMCA’s collection
(Feige. 15). Voania appears to have been testing a different style,
matching the compositional elements of the Luba-style object,
but adding distinct details, such as the crossed scarification on the

back, a reference to western Congo scarification patterns, to distin-
guish his own style. The second object has no resemblance to any
other works in the corpus, does not have a bottom chamber, und ist
not signed (Feige. 16). Yet the softness of the face, the eyes, und das
finish all seem to suggest that this is a work by Voania. It appears
to depict a balding bearded man who wears some kind of mili-
tary jacket. Although the arms are disproportionately small, Die
three-quarters view is European. A close reading of these objects
offers tantalizing hints about the nature of one Congolese artist’s
innovations in response to dramatically changing society.

CONCLUSION
Voania’s large oeuvre is a testament to the brief flourishing of
figurative ceramics in west-central Africa at the beginning of the
twentieth century. From their earliest reception in museum collec-
tionen, Voania’s works have been placed on the edge of art historical
discussions. Past scholarship focuses on Voania’s innovations and
his craftsmanship but separates his works from other aspects of
Congolese visual expression. Contextualizing Voania’s work within
the history of the twentieth century collecting appears to indicate
how Dr. Étienne encouraged and promoted Voania’s works as part
of his colonial collecting agenda. He may have chosen to work with
Voania on his inclusion of a signature and included Voania’s ceram-
ics among his shipments of other ethnographic items. Grouping
Voania’s works according to signature type reveals his ability to
vary his style and may suggest a rough timeline for the develop-
ment of his oeuvre. My reading of his work points to Voania’s cre-
ative mediations between local and nonlocal materials, Techniken,
and iconographies to produce works for to a European audience.
Although little documentation survives surrounding context in
which the objects were made, analysis of the ceramics’ changing
style and commentaries regarding their reception helps us to sit-
uate the works within the context of the early twentieth century
collecting and colonial systems. Understanding these figurative
ceramics as reflections of a process through which the artist adapts
local art forms and appeals to European audiences both highlights
the artists’ innovations and provides new insight for interpreting
cultural exchange and creative autonomy this period in Congo.

Notes
I would like to thank Victoria Rovine for inviting me to
participate in this special issue and for her many helpful
comments and questions on the material. I am grateful
to all of the curators, Archivare, librarians, professors,
and collectors who have graciously helped track down
so many of Voania’s ceramics. This article emerges from
research completed through generous funding from a
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
Fellowship and from University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill’s graduate school. Previous versions were
presented at the 2017 Arts Council of the African Studies
Association Triennial in Accra, Ghana, and at the 2018
African Studies Conference in Atlanta, GA. I would also
like to thank Dr. Christoph Brachmann for assistance
in translations from the German; translations from the
French are my own.
1
Also spelled “Voanya.” Because the works are all
signed “VOANIA” I have chosen to retain this spelling
for ease in connecting works to their artist. I have
chosen to remove “Muba” from mentions of the artist
in an effort to thwart conceptions of “Muba” as a family
name.
2 Royal Museum for Central Africa, Dossier Ethno-
graphique 114, 115, 123; Obwohl, only nine are regis-
tered in the museum’s collection today: EO.0.0.1690-1,

50 | african arts WINTER 2019 VOL. 52, NEIN. 4

Sir Henry Wellcome became extremely wealthy

EO.0.0.1690-2, EO.0.0.1690-3, EO.0.0.1724-1,
EO.0.0.1724-2, EO.0.0.1724-3, EO.0.0.1724-4,
EO.0.0.1991-1, and EO.0.0.1991-2.
3
through his work as a pharmaceutical entrepre-
neur. He and his agents collected well over 1 Million
Objekte. Since Wellcome’s death in 1936, many of the
ethnographic objects have been transferred to other
collections, while the medical history materials remain
at the Wellcome collection today. A large portion of
Wellcome’s ethnographic material, including nine pieces
by Voania, was later donated to the British Museum
4 Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, etnografisk avdelning
(National Museum of Natural History, ethnographic
department), became Statens etnografiska museum
(National Ethnographic Museum) In 1935, now Statens
museer för världskultur: Etnografiska museet (Zustand
Museums for World Culture: Ethnographic Museum)
5 Royal Museum for Central Africa, Dossier Ethno-
graphique 379, see entry number 20241.
6
en 1939.” Arts et métiers indigènes dans la Province de
Léopoldville, Januar 1939, S. 1-3. Frans Olbrechts’s
exhibition of Congo art in Antwerp in 1938 uses a more
cautious approach and seems to present the first men-
tion of Voania possibly working with a workshop and a

“Coup de l’oeil rétrospectif sur l’activité du Comité

State Archives of Belgium. DR. Étienne personnel

wariness of attributing his works.
I thank Mandela Kaumba for generously sharing
7
her fieldwork experience with me. See her synthesized
results in Kaumba 2018.
8
Dateien: SPA (44387) 27456; SPA 9195 K(1609); SPA 16033
(K 2621).
9 Notes and report in State Archives of Belgium
CART 426 (4082).
10 State Archives of Belgium CART 426 (4082). Diese
notes were eventually included in Droogman’s (1901)
large survey and map of Bas-Congo.
11 Étienne published many photographs in Congo
Illustré and Le Mouvement Geographique. His photo-
graphs were also reproduced in the Congo section of the
1897 Exposition Universelle in Tervuren. Both journals
were tied to efforts promoting colonial efforts to Belgian
audiences. For more see Brugailliere 1993: 23–35; Henry
2008.
12 DR. Elie Joseph Étienne. Letter to the Governor
Allgemein. Februar 26, 1910. Tervuren: Royal Museum
for Central Africa, Dossier Ethnographique 115.
13 Royal Museum for Central Africa. Dossier Ethno-
graphique 114, 115, Und 123.
14 Now the Museum Volkenkunde, part of the
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen. RV-1032-1,

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forbes.indd 50

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RV-1032-2, RV-103207
15 Further examples appear in European collections,
but often with little or no information regarding the
purchase date or provenance.
16 State Archives of Belgium files: SPA 16033 (K2621);
SPA (K4387) 27456; SPA 9195 K(1609)
17 The Annales do make a connection between Congo
figurative ceramics and Peruvian pottery; see Masui
1899: 23.
18 No sources provide actual documentation that
Étienne taught Voania to write his name. The idea seems
to come from Henri Schouteden, former museum
director who provided notes for Frans Olbrechts (1959),
and is also cited in Volavka 1977: fn. 1, 5, and in Volavka
Archiv 2009-063, Kasten 22, File 21-1-74, held in Clara
Thomas Archives and Special Collections at York Uni-
Vielseitigkeit. I thank the tireless efforts of many librarians and
archivists at the RMCA and York University for all their
help in the many attempts to locate this letter.
19 Royal Museum for Central Africa. Dossier Ethno-
graphique 123
20 RMCA EO.0.0.1690-2 and EO.0.0.1991-1
21 Herbert Lang. Field Notes. Congo Mission. Amer-
ican Museum of Natural History. Field No. 3740- 3747,
Figuren 90.1/ 5076 – 90.1/5083

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