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Producer
Léon Louis Auguste Edouard Dardenne (°1865 - †1912)
Theme
dance/masked dance
Legend
Mbudye society is a secret society that plays a role in the political institutions in the luba area. Mbudye dancers performing a mnemonic dance to recall major events in their history. Léon Dardenne thought that this was a dance of death. Perhaps he was confusing it with the symbolic death of the initiation ceremony. Dances of the Mbudye were studied and photographed by Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts in the 1980s. The resemblance to the drawings of Léon Dardenne is striking. Description by Léon Dardenne: "(...) we went up to Kibelé belé (sic) where I wanted to study the area where the dancing was performed. While I was working, I saw a strange procession. First, a man carrying a bell and then a drum, then in Indian file, male and female dancers with white makeup, some yellow or red, and one of them also with red hair. First, endless lamentations on the subject of death. "They have drunk pombé and are reminded of it", a native told us. What a sad sight! A woman carrying a sort of wickerwork mat in a flat basket containing many strange items covered by a sheet. These are various dawas. These dancers are part of a sect. Another group consists only of those who have expressed the desire to eat human flesh. Both are of Urua origin (Gorissen). Then some of the dancers started to move. These are initiates, mingling with very old women. The others looked on. These are the young boys who are judged as not yet worthy of dancing. A single drum beat out the rhythm. Then a non-tattooed woman sat down and the others did a dance in front of her and then arranged themselves at her side. Then the offers arrived - pearls, necklaces and bracelets that the dancers gave to the woman who received it all in a Dawas wickerwork mat. Then a woman approached during this part of the dance, touched her on the chin, elbow against elbow one after another, after which the women quickly brought their offers and the procession of dancers crossed the square and disbanded. Gorissen promised to give me all the information on this subject that he could collect during his stay with the fathers in Urua. I went to fetch Michel so that he could take a photo but he arrived too late. However, the women agreed to come back" (Family archives of the artist, notebook 2, 17.3.1900, pp. 174-175).
Inscription
Dardenne Léon 3-1900 Danses de M'Bulejé (danse mortuaire), Kiwelé Welé. M'Pweto
Date of acquisition
1911
Dimensions
26,5 cm x 42,5 cm
Technique
graphic arts > mixed technique > charcoal - aquarelle
Inventory number
HO.0.1.219
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