Cultural Event Report Antonio Coleman HUM 111 Dr. Andrew N Allphin 12/19/2012

I visited the Chrysler Museum of Art, on December 19th, 2012 this was my first time attending since I was a child. The Museum was free to tour and took donations. I was amazed by the beautiful sculptures as well as the paintings and how they can be well preserved for a very long time. One item that interested me came from the African art section of the museum. This item was the African drum; the drum was made of made of wood and hide, in the Cameroon Grasslands. Early- to mid-20th century Cameroon grassfields Cameroon Wood and hide Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2400 numerous independent kingdoms comprise the Cameroon grassfields, and language and customs vary from one village to the next. However, the architecture and symbols depicted on this royal drum appear commonly throughout the region. All of the scenes that appear on the drum in some way convey the king's power and wealth. The king's compound, a collection of buildings with steeply pitched roofs, appears prominently in the lower register of images. The band of animals encircling the bottom represents crocodiles and the presence of water near the king's home. Such sites have clear benefits for agriculture and would have been preferred for the elite. The pattern encircling the top of the drum represents spiders. Used for divination, spiders are also symbols of wisdom. Another piece of art that interested me is The Age of Bronze sculpture. This is a full size bronze statue of a nude male. His right hand rests on his head in a clenched fist. His left arm is raised, but bent at the elbow, also in a clenched fist. His face is turned slightly upward and his eyes are almost closed. He is in the contrapposto position, his left foot slightly ahead of his right. August