Baham - The artists




The Baham museum



Permanent exhibition
Country and history
Secret societies and religion
Costumes and textile art
Musical instruments
Receptacles and other containers
Kings and dignitaries
The artists
The figures of justice
Maternity, fertility and war
Architecture
Itineraries of the collective memory



Information

The artists

The objects of the artistic heritage of Baham have been made with great aesthetic research and a command of materials by artists who are often known and highly respected in the kingdom (sometimes also from afar), working in different artistic ways: sculpture, architecture, painting, pottery, basketwork, embroidery, body art (tattooing, scarification), metal art, etc. The regional renown of Baham in the field of architecture, wooden sculpture, bead embroidery and decoration of fabrics comes from the quality of the works of great masters such as Kouam meukam Tabiegang, talom Biegaing, Kouam mafeu Tchuendem (in sculpture) and Tawadje (tattooing, scarification) for example. If more than 150 professional artists are still living and active in various fields (becoming more craftsmen than artists), others are deceased, including the great masters who has left us works of great value, some of which are in Baham whilst others are in museums and collections in the West.
		The artist of Baham Kouam meukam Tabiegaing

		The artist gaing ve is a person who has talent, skill and creative genius. A guardian of traditions, he is also to the fore in innovation. He has received a solid training and long apprenticeship (followed sometimes by initiation for the production of certain objects). Artists are covered with honours and wealth, according to their work, by the king, the notables and the secret societies.
Making a raffia panel

Those who make objects for worship are amongst the dignitaries of the kingdom. But some artists of a more modest situation lead difficult lives; others were even kept in secret during their work and sold as slaves by their masters.

If we obtained information on many of these specialists, producers of art objects of Baham from various sources, it must be noted that the identity of many others is totally unknown and may always be so.