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Producer
Léon Louis Auguste Edouard Dardenne (°1865 - †1912)
Theme
dance/masked dance
Legend
Léon Dardenne was interested in local cultures especially in the dancing. Contrary to Charles Buls or Louis Van Engelen who, during the same period, described the dances of the Lower Congo as "bacchanalian delirium" or "barbarous contortions", Léon Dardenne considered the dance as a means of expression structured by choreography. He described the dance he saw in Kiwelewele as follows: "First, there are only four men wearing a loincloth covered with animal hides, fastened with a belt. The dance is very rhythmic, the steps complicated and extremely elegant, the movements of the arms and body full of flexibility without any brutality. It is beautiful to behold, these brown torsos like admirably patina-finished bronzes, akin to the muscular torsos of athletes, the stomach muscles slightly soiled like you see in antiques" (Family archives of the artist, notebook 2, 16.3.1900, p.172-173, a copy of which is in the RMCA).
Inscription
Dardenne Léon Danse de M'Bulié à Kiwelé Welé. M'Pweto 3-1900
Date of acquisition
1911
Dimensions
26,5 cm x 42,5 cm
Technique
graphic arts > mixed technique > charcoal - gouache
Inventory number
HO.0.1.221
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