Lot 56: Prince Twins Seven-Seven (Nigerian, born 1944) 'Shango and his festival'

'Shango and his festival'
indistinctly inscribed and dated '1988' (lower left)
mixed media on panel
245.5 x 122.5cm (96 5/8 x 48 1/4in).

Shango (or Sango) is the Yoruba god of thunder. His annual festival lasts for approximately 20 days in July, during which sacrifices are made at his shrine. On the final day the Shango priest becomes possessed by the god and gains magical powers. A procession then follows him to the Oba's palace where there is feasting and dancing.

Prince often depicts Shango in his work. A comparable composition is seen in the batik Sango and Traditional Musicians, 1994 (illustrated in Glassie 2010, p.369):

"This is about Sango, god of thunder; that's him with the bata drummers...At the top of the pyramid, Sango raises his double-bitted axe of ambivalent, twinned power."

"Performing in Sango for a Nigerian audience, Prince pulled the figures toward realism, eliminated the startlingly strange, and made his piece an exhibit of excellent craft. In Western terms, though, it remains far from realism, and, conceptual in plan, it unfolds from Yoruba precepts and experiences."


BIBLIOGRAPHY:
H. Glassie, Prince Twins Seven-Seven: His Art, His Life in Nigeria, His Exile in America, (Bloomington, 2010), pp.368-9