When European scholars first saw them, some refused to believe Africans had made them. The sculpted heads of Ile-Ife, the sacred Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria, are so lifelike that early writers invented theories about lost Greek influence. They were wrong. The heads are the work of Ife artists, made centuries ago at the height of the city’s power.
Ile-Ife
Ile-Ife is considered by the Yoruba to be the place where the world was created and the spiritual home of their people. The Ooni of Ife is one of the most important Yoruba rulers.
When they were made
Most of the famous heads date from roughly the twelfth to fifteenth centuries, a period when Ife was a major political and artistic centre.
Frobenius
In 1910, the German ethnologist Leo Frobenius visited Ife and acquired a bronze head known as the Olokun head. He suggested that the sculptures came from the lost civilisation of Atlantis, a claim that reflected racist assumptions of the time.
Wunmonije 1938
In 1938, workers digging foundations at the Wunmonije compound in Ife discovered a group of copper-alloy heads. The find drew international attention and proved the sophistication of Ife art.
The style
The heads show calm, idealised faces with fine features. Many have vertical lines across the face, which may represent scarification or beaded veils. Holes around the mouth and hairline may have held hair or beaded crowns.
Materials
The heads are made from copper alloys, often close to pure copper, using the lost-wax casting method. Ife artists also made terracotta heads in large numbers.
What they were for
Scholars believe the heads may have been used in funerary rituals or represented rulers. Their exact purpose is still debated.
Where they are
Many are held in Nigerian museums, including the National Museum in Lagos and the museum at Ife. Some are abroad, including in the British Museum.
Influence
The Ife heads helped change Western ideas about African art, showing a tradition of naturalistic sculpture.
Exhibitions
The Ife heads have travelled in major exhibitions, including Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, which toured museums in Europe and the United States from 2009. These shows introduced the sculptures to new audiences.
Early scholars searched for a foreign genius behind the Ife heads. The artists were Ife’s own, and their work is still one of the great achievements of world sculpture.
