Introduction (suite) 1

Camerounese art has the same vocation. Located in the center of the African continent, with a surface of 475 000 square kilometers, a population of seven and a half million inhabitants and around two hundred ethnic groups. Cameroun is not only a miniature of Africa, but is one of the most brilliant and the most ancient artistic sources and was part of the great age of NOK civilization (Nigeria) during thefirst millenary before our era.

From its geographical situation, its people, its language and history, Cameroun has from its origin a dynamic mixture of cultural sources. This country has always been the meeting point for numerous populations, who have brought their own creative genious. Men's presence and their cultural manifestations are very ancient in Cameroun. Just like everywhere in the African continent, préhistoric industries were discovered all over the country. Rock engravings of Bidzar in the northern part of the country, stone tools and statuettes, pottery figurines, and various sculplures are the most remote materializations of its civilization.

Generally the main characteristic of the traditional cultural patrimony of Cameroon is its religious nature. The artists and the artsmen give a deep artistic and spiritual dimension to the object created through their manipulation of the earths, wood, metals, beads, clay, bark fibers, nutshells, calebashes, leather and ivory. Authentic expression of humanist african philosophy the Camerounese art founds its inspirations in the variety of its populations, its languages and dialects, and its rites and rhythms.