Tikar Bronze Figure 10″ – Cameroon

Tribe Information

About the Tikar People

“The grassland region, in south-west Cameroon, is a hilly and mountainous area covered by an equatorial forest in the south and a savannah in the north. Politically, the area is divided into numerous small independent kingdoms and chiefdoms, whose powers are counterbalanced by male and female societies. Since it’s colonization by the Germans in 1884, this entire region” (which includes the) “Tikar territories, has attracted the attention of Western scholars because of its artistic heritage.”
“The Tikar area is occupied by around 250,000 people who speak different languages, but yet claim common ancestors. It is divided into two main geographical sub-groups – the first includes village-dwelling people who live in round huts covered by conical roofs and whose artistic output is largely associated with 19th-century bronze pipes. The second sub-group occupies the north-west highlands and they predominantly carve statues and masks.”

Source:
Baquart, Jean-Baptiste. The Tribal Arts of Africa. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc. 1998. Print.