During the first quarter of the twentieth century, northeastern Yorubaland experienced a social and cultural renaissance. The town of Efon-Alaiye became a great artistic center, following a succession of invasions that had devastated the region. Local leaders who were engaged in the area's resettlement established their authority by commissioning lavish palaces adorned with impressive architectural sculpture. A distinctive feature of Yoruba architectural design is a veranda enclosing an empluvium courtyard lined with figurative posts. The setting in which the king conducted important matters of state, these verandas displayed a program of allegorical representations that underscored the wealth and power of the kingdoms they glorified.
It was in this context that Ekiti carvers gave form to a new vision of Yoruba culture-a combination of two powerful icons. Local leaders adopted the image of the northern equestrian invaders of the last century and transformed it into an emblem of local power. In Yoruba culture women are honored as the source of human life, and representations of the female figure embody ideals of spiritual, political, and economic power. The composite image is a classic subject whose formal interrelationship is interpreted distinctively in works by Olowe and other Yoruba master sculptors.
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<P>During the first quarter of the twentieth century, northeastern Yorubaland experienced a social and cultural renaissance. The town of Efon-Alaiye became a great artistic center, following a succession of invasions that had devastated the region. Local leaders who were engaged in the area's resettlement established their authority by commissioning lavish palaces adorned with impressive architectural sculpture. A distinctive feature of Yoruba architectural design is a veranda enclosing an empluvium courtyard lined with figurative posts. The setting in which the king conducted important matters of state, these verandas displayed a program of allegorical representations that underscored the wealth and power of the kingdoms they glorified.</P> <P>It was in this context that Ekiti carvers gave form to a new vision of Yoruba culture-a combination of two powerful icons. Local leaders adopted the image of the northern equestrian invaders of the last century and transformed it into an emblem of local power. In Yoruba culture women are honored as the source of human life, and representations of the female figure embody ideals of spiritual, political, and economic power. The composite image is a classic subject whose formal interrelationship is interpreted distinctively in works by Olowe and other Yoruba master sculptors.</P>
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