By DCist contributor Willona M. Sloan
For the 20th century Senegalese women who wore gold jewelry from Wolof and Tukulor goldsmiths, it wasn’t just about donning beautiful works of art. The pieces also expressed culture, political affiliation, and economic status.
Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women, the new exhibition opening Wednesday at the National Museum of African Art, is the first major exhibition of Senegalese gold jewelry that focuses on the history of Senegal’s gold, and the complex ways that Senegalese women have used jewelry and fashion to present themselves.
“While most of the objects in the exhibition were made by men, the designs, styles, and names of such works are by women,” said guest curator Amanda Maples in a statement. “Good as Gold reveals the ways in which Senegalese women have historically used jewelry as a means of fashioning a cosmopolitan identity of power and prestige.”
Good as Gold includes gifts from Dr. Marian Ashby Johnson to the National Museum of African Art. Johnson, an art historian, donated more than 250 works of West African jewelry to the museum. She conducted research for several decades in Senegal, where she interviewed teuges, or jewelers.
“What [Johnson] discovered is that women, who are the clients, have an active creative role in fashioning these objects themselves,” says Kevin Dumouchelle, curator at the National Museum of African Art. These Senegalese clients offer feedback and revisions throughout the design process.
The collection features works from the 20th century, with the bulk being crafted in the 1960s-1980s. Many of the objects were handed down from mother to daughter and were re-melted and re-fashioned to reflect the trends of the time.
The museum’s conservation scientists studied the objects, conducting analysis to determine how much gold is used in the pieces, which in some cases are more gold-plated than pure gold, making the designs “as good as gold.”
Ashley Jehle, an objects conservator at the museum, says that the analysis also revealed just how finely crafted the pieces are, and showed that the majority of the pieces were handmade. The museum brought in an additional conservator who is also a jewelry maker to understand more about the fabrication process, called granulation.
“The goldsmiths had to twist and pull very thin wire, and shape and apply each piece individually,” Jehle says.
Granulation is a complicated technique that has been practiced by Senegalese craftsmen since at least the 12th century. A thin metal sheet is adorned with tiny spheres or “granules of metal” creating the effect of glittering gold. The granules are made from gold or silver wire, which when heated, form beads that are then adhered to the surface of the piece. The work is deliberate and painstaking. For the filigree technique, the goldsmith carefully places delicate wires in intricate designs such as twisted rope or lace-like patterns.
The fine skills of the goldsmiths can be seen on pieces such as the butterfly necklace pendant, where each strand of wire is twisted to create a sense of wings in motion, and a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant, which looks as though it were carefully woven with golden thread. Another particularly stunning pendant is constructed of a basket of golden flowers in bloom. On the back of the pendant, elegant stems are visible, giving the piece visual authenticity.
Some of the pieces of jewelry communicate political messages. For example, the bracelet referred to as “la loi de Lamine Gueye” was worn by supporters of the politician Lamine Guèye, a Senegalese diplomat in the French Parliament in the 1940s, who advocated for Senegalese women’s right to vote. “He was seen as a champion of women’s rights,” says Dumouchelle. “Women would wear [the bracelet] to show their political allegiance.”
The exhibit includes a new piece, too. The museum commissioned Oumou Sy, a prominent Senegalese fashion designer, to create a haute couture ensemble inspired by the “strength and savoir-faire of Senegalese women” for the museum’s collection. Sy designed a sumptuous crimson and gold dress and headdress, and commissioned jewelers to design and create the pieces that adorn the mannequin from head to toe.
“We wanted [visitors] to understand what it’s like to embody this jewelry. It becomes a little disassociated if it is all just floating in a gallery,” says Dumouchelle. “It was important for us to have a work by a living Senegalese artist to speak about the way in which this creative tradition is lived today in Senegal.”
Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women at the National Museum of African Art, is on view Wednesday through September 29, 2019.
