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Ibo
sculpture is subject to rather strict rules: the figures are generally
frontal, symmetrical, and upright, with legs slightly spread and arms
held away from the body. The Ibo
preserve numerous statues of the guardian divinities of the founding
ancestors in both their family sanctuaries and the initiation
association’s communal houses. Painted red, yellow and white, the
scarification marks and attributes
are an indication of the social rank of the person being represented.
Proportions are true to those of the human body, with the exception of
the neck, which is more elongated. Living mainly in the forested areas
of south-west Nigeria, the Igbo estimated population is ten million.
They are subdivided into thirty-three subgroups and are spread out in
approximately two hundred villages scattered through thick forests and
marshland.
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