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Figure for Ogun: Equestrian and his Chanter

Photo: Paul Macapia

Figure for Ogun: Equestrian and his Chanter

Nigerian

Yoruba

An unusual relationship exists between this warrior and a female sculpture in the museum's collection. Clues to their identities must be read in a Yoruba context. A long braid of hair (asiso) emerges from the top of his head and serves as an indication that he has been prepared for war. Asiso are grown to cover incisions made to receive vaccinations that are applied to render warriors fearless. She has a snake around her neck like a chain--indicating her role as a verbal artist. Chanters perform for mortals, especially warriors and hunters, but ultimately chant for Ogun, the god of war and iron.

Whenever sharp metal is used around soft flesh, Ogun is paid tribute. Blacksmiths, carvers, truck drivers, mechanics, and barbers honor his discovery of iron, which enabled tools to be made. At the same time, however, iron made it possible to create instruments of battle. In the Ogun cult, violence in human experience is considered. These sculptures may have stood as monuments recognizing Ogun's two-sided discovery.

Comments about Ogun:

"He is an Aeneas or a Robin Hood-like figure, who is good to the poor and needy, using the abundance of the rich to help those in want, and thus acting as a crusader against injustice....In Yoruba society, sharing is an important virtue and Ogun stands ready to see that justice, in terms of rectifying imbalances in wealth, is carried out. Indeed Ogun is a stickler for justice...Ogun is a warrior against injustice in his own society, just as he is a warrior in battles against outside enemies." (Adeboye Babalola, 1989)

Wood, camwood powder, indigo dye, beads, iron, and leather
26 1/4 x 6 5/8 x 8 3/4 in. (66.6 x 16.9 x 22.3 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.606
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, July 10 - Sept. 1, 1968 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Oct. 10 - Dec. 1, 1968). Text by William Fagg. Cat. no. 122 (as Horseman).

Los Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 74-75, reproduced pl. 102 (as horse and rider).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection, July 29 - Sept. 29, 1984 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 31, 1984 - Feb. 25, 1985; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Apr. 6 - May 19, 1985; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Sept. 7 - Nov. 25, 1985; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mar. 8 - Apr. 20, 1986). Text by Pamela McClusky. Cat. no. 9, pp. 26-27, reproduced (with 82.124; as Equestrian and female figures).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., p. 40, reproduced. pl. 15 (as Horse and rider).
Published ReferencesLawal, Babatunde, Visions of Yoruba, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012, published by 5 Continents, ill. 19

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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