Paris (AFP)

A blacksmith, a dangerous and essential profession, a quasi-divine gift conferring power and prestige: it is to this cultural and economic reality of Africa that a fascinating exhibition-investigation takes place at the Quai Branly in Paris, revealing unexpected uses of iron. .

Blacksmith himself, the American sculptor Tom Joyce has assured the police station. His physical knowledge of the iron trades gives the exhibition "Striking the Iron, the Art of African Blacksmiths" an ethnographic and artistic intensity.

"Iron was considered more valuable than gold or silver because of its usefulness in society," he told AFP.

229 pieces, the oldest of which date back to the 17th century, are presented from more than 15 countries, from public and private collections, selected from 7,000 from 196 collections.

It is 2,500 years ago that iron work made its appearance on the African continent, according to the American researcher. He points out, contrary to a widely held idea, that it is not only the Hittites who have been pioneers in this area.

Bellows and hammers made of basalt make it possible to forge white-hot iron faster: very advanced techniques, more effective than those used in the West, were used very early and are still used to model this metal.

"Visitors to the exhibition must see these objects as part of a living history and not the past," says Tom Joyce, which we see, in video media, alongside blacksmiths he met by dozens .

The smallest piece of metal included in a ritual object, a sculpture or a musical instrument, was supposed to give it increased strength. Iron pieces became amulets worn by women before giving birth. "To give birth was the same courage as handling the dangerous materials used by the blacksmith," says the Commissioner.

Iron objects were also used as trading coins and were offered for wedding ceremonies and all sorts of funeral and other rituals.

African blacksmiths also transformed iron ore into objects of emancipation and artistic expressiveness.

Witness a fine statue of Luba origin (DRC) representing a woman with a huge tongue as a blade: way to mean that "a wise word is like a sharp instrument," says Tom Joyce.

For the president of the museum, Stéphane Martin, "the work of iron, millennial art replaying the fury of the land, has in Africa among the most prestigious and the most refined, among the most organic too, the most physiological, both beat the pulse societies, the rhythm of their exchanges, the effort of their rituals "

--Frapper the iron, until March 26th - Musée du Quai Branly- Jacques Chirac

© 2019 AFP