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Galerie Ezakwantu |
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African Art Franschhoek South Africa Tribal Art |
Central and Southern African Tribal Art
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African Dolls - Fertility Dolls
Child Figures from Southern Africa
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Most dolls in Africa are used by children, primarily girls, to help them imagine their future roles as adult women, mothers and the primary caregivers in their communities.
Though used in play, the forms of many dolls encode important social and aesthetic concepts about appropriate demeanor and the links between physical and moral beauty.
Not surprisingly, dolls in different African societies emphasize in both form and decoration, aspects of ideal feminine beauty. They include elaborate coiffures, body ornamentation and physical features that underscore the importance of fertility.
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african dolls south african Ken Karner artefact vintage artifacts southern african artifact antique artefacts south african artifact southern africa southern african
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Tsonga - Shangaan Fertility Dolls
Shangaan women dressed in early 20th century attire.
Tsonga / Shangaan dolls were called nwana, which meant "child" and were dressed somewhat like their Tsonga Shangaan owners. Dolls were made by pubescent girls and later used in dances during their puberty ceremony called khomba or musubethu. When a girl married, she would take the doll with other items to her new home, where ultimately a real child replaced the doll.
These two dolls were the property of a private collector who obtained them in the later part of the 20th century. This example sports a beaded vale with alternating bead color in strands. It also has typically Lemba influenced stars, which are said to relate back to their Jewish origin.
This beaded skirt was made from Salempore fabric originating India. Salempore was brought into the area by traders from Delagoa Bay and is also known as "nwalukambu".
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Ndebele Dolls - South Africa
umndwana
Photographic records pre-date Ndebele dolls to their famous painted homesteads.
The Ndebele dressed their dolls much as they did their person.
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The Ndebele Ndzundza live in Mpumalanga South Africa and called their dolls "umndwana".
Adult women in traditional Ndebele dress.
Beaded Ndebele dolls are made for adolescent girls either by their mothers or by the girls themselves as beadwork samplers. Sometimes beaded rings encircle the dolls’ arms, patterned after the actual arm rings worn by Ndebele women.
Doll "C"
Ndebele dolls pre-date Ndebele decorated walls. Dolls were photographed by Duggun-Cronin around 1923, whereas simple wall decorations were first photographed by Constance Larrabee in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.
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Ntwane Initiation Dolls - South Africa
Gimwane
"Gimwane" dolls were made at the time of initiation.
The emphasis on the Ntwane women’s central role as wives and mothers is pervasive even before female initiation. It finds its most visible form in the gimwane or popenyane – a traditional fertility doll constructed from plaited grass, wool, and beads. The skills necessary for producing the gimwane are passed down from mother to daughter. Pre-initiate girls pretend the dolls are the progeny of their current boyfriends, who are invited to participate in a dance competition, the outcome of which determines the leader of the prepubescent group. The young boys usually congregate at the home of one of the girls, who place the gimwane in a line. The “fathers” and “mothers’ then form two rows on either side of the fertility dolls and proceed to dance with their partners.
Young girls at initiation. Tribal Peoples of Southern Africa Page 75
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Zulu Fertility Dolls
This doll dates to the 1960's.
These pictures were likely taken in the 1960's and would have been commissioned by the girls to send to their boyfriends who lived in the urban centers. The girls hold related dolls.
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