Apprenticing to Cyprien Tokoudagba

Fall 2014

I completed these paintings for a class I took sophomore fall, called Introduction to African Studies. In one movie we watched for the class, we watched a painter named Cyprien Tokoudagba paint temples for gods called vodun. I have taken excerpts from my final essay on this project in order to explain the process and inspiration from these paintings, done with acrylics on canvas and small wooden boards. I included pictures during my process above. 

"I chose to paint one large canvas and two small wooden boards. On the large 22x28 canvas, I painted Da Zodji, the head of the Earth Pantheon and the first son of Mawu and Lisa. The two had 11 pairs of twins and sent one pair to each pantheon. Zodji and his twin sister were sent to Earth. I used Mawu and Lisa’s symbols, the moon and sun, respectively, as symbols on the shoulders of Zodji. Tokoudagba painted Zodji as the vodun for King Guezou. On Earth, Zodji maintained morality by giving small pox to those who broke the moral code.[1] The serpent is sometimes associated with Zodji because, like Zodji, he is also associated with the Earth. The rich patterns and colors used in the fabrics signify a high rank. I added a symbol representing myself, the paintbrush, to represent my study of Tokoudagba.

On the square Baltic birch boards, I painted a frog and a serpent. The frog represents reincarnation; people in Dahomey believed that a man could be reborn, but not in the same body.[2] A frog changes its figure, from a tadpole to an adult, in between the different stages of its life, which is similar to a human being reborn. One story about the frog is titled, “Strained friendship: Friend as hostage, why Frog is in the water and Tortoise gives fire.”[3] In this myth, Rabbit and Tortoise are friends, but Tortoise keeps stealing fire from Rabbit. Elephant captures both of them for their misbehavior, but both escape him. Elephant knows that Rabbit and Frog are friends, so Elephant visits Frog and demands to know where Rabbit escaped. Frog does not know, so Elephant takes him captive instead and makes the Frog dig holes for water. This folk tale praises the Frog for sacrificing for his friend and always being able to find water.[4]

The serpent was praised and feared in the folk tales. One story is called “Serpent as a head-rest for an overburdened earth.”[5] A serpent named Aido-Hwedo followed the Creator when the Creator was walking around Earth. The movement of the serpent around the globe describes the Earth’s shape: “It curves, it winds, it has high places, and low places.”[6] The Creator decided the Earth was too heavy with mountains and forests, so the Creator balanced the Earth on a coiled up serpent.[7] The people of Dahomey believed serpents could manifest themselves in any long, winding objects, anything from vines to umbilical cords. They were feared and unforgiving, but also praised.[8] The circular shape of the rainbow serpents represents the seasons and the path of the serpent around the globe.[9]

I followed the painting procedure of Tokoudagba to the best of my ability. I started by whitewashing the wooden boards and sketching my designs onto the canvas. I cleaned up the sketches with more white paint, and then began to outline all the figures in black acrylic paint. Using acrylic instead of enamel definitely gave a different texture, but I accomplished the shading by using a dry brush. The effect was less grainy than Tokoudagba’s style, but it accomplished the same effect of looking three-dimensional. I colored in the serpent’s tail and the fabric on Zodji in three primary colors: blue, mustard yellow, and red. I cleaned up all of the paintings with more white paint and black outlining. I tried to emulate Tokoudagba technique by kneeling on the ground while painting and mixing my paints with a thinner. My technique largely followed Tokoudagba, so my final work was as similar to his as possible for someone who had not seen him paint in person.

I was not able to fully accomplish Tokoudagba technique because I did not use the same materials. I painted on canvas and wood instead of a wall, but I think I still achieved the texture that Tokoudagba reached on the wall. He also painted for an audience and for a commission, but I painted alone and without pay. He spent time learning the meanings of the vodun, and although I did extensive research, I did not respect the vodun before I began painting, most likely because I lacked the religious meaning he implemented in his work. I did not perform any rituals, and I did not feed the vodun after. I only completed the aesthetic portion of the work, not the religious part. No one watched me paint; my final audience will be only the classroom and a small number of housemates that see my completed work when I hang it in my house.

There were a few holes in my research, which were research on the fabrics and research on the Fa verses. Although I read a multitude of sources from a variety of time periods, I could not find the meaning of the fabrics. I was looking for information on the patterns and colors he chose, but I found nothing. I left my aesthetic decisions to Tokoudagba, and I ended up copying his ideas in my initial sketches. I also could not find the original Fa verses that the symbolism comes from. The quotes from Herskovits do represent the oral tradition, however, and it is from these quotes that I painted the frog and serpent.

One major problem with my work was something I came across during my research: Tokoudagba did not want apprentices. Although this left me with a lot of guilt, I can only hope that my research and work did him justice. I studied his life, I studied his work, and I studied his content, only in the hopes of validating this project. Overall, I believe my work is aesthetically pleasing and represents the culture well. I feel satisfied knowing I brought back a culture and did my best to honor Cyprien Tokoudagba."

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[1] Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative A Cross Cultural Analysis. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1958.

[2] Ulli Beier, The Origin of Life and Death: African Creation Myths. East African Publishers, 1966. 56.

[3] Herskovits, 422.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Herskovits, 135.

[6] Herskovits, 135.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Eugene A. Nida and William A. Smalley, Introducing Animism. New York: Friendship Press, 1959. 17.

[9] Visona, 263.