Human form is rearranged to become furniture fit for a chief. Observe how this woman's hands, feet, shoulders and torso are conceived of as flat rectangles. In contrast, her arms and legs swell in prominent curves. Her pose of concentrated calm-elbows on knees and hands on head-is one that is associated with wise elders, or people deep in thought.
Wood and brass
13 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 11 1/2 in. (33.6 x 26 x 29.2 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.914
Not currently on view
Resources
Exhibition HistorySeattle, 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. 3, pp. 14-15, reproduced.
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. 100-01, reproduced pl. 137.
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.
