Introduction (suite) 2

The artistic creation though being present in the whole country has more particularly been the promoted in the Foumban kingdom, in the chiefdoms of Bangwa and of Bandjoum for western part of the country, as well as in those of Babungo and Oku in the Northwest of Cameroun. This favourable climate has allowed the development of real art schools with common basis such as good techniques for modeling, good observation and even interpretation of everyday life scenaries.

Once again, Camerounese art, just like all other African arts, is essentially based on symbols. Very often it shows a whole cosmogony of the universe. Camerounese artists have always been shaping wood, metal, terra-cotta or sand, raffia or rattan, with great skill and a very acute sense of schematisation. There is always a humunist philosophy coming out of these creations. These art objects show the creative spirit of the populations, the dynamism of their technological concept, their aesthetic sense and their social organization.

The works we are presenting here are those of National Museum of Yaounde and of Benedictin's Museum of mount Febe. They represent a historical source showing through their own value, the power of the creative genius of Camerounese people. Our aim is to show the public the most remarkable specimen of the statuary and of the masks of the Camerounese museums collections. We shall start our presentation with the statuary and the masks of the National Museum and of the Benedictin's Museum of Mount Febe giving first the History of the collections and then a schematic presentation of the objects, more representative of aforesaid functional uses.