Mercedes Benz coffin

Date1991

Maker Kane Quaye Ghanaian, 1922 - 1992

Label TextFor southern Ghanaian observers, this coffin is not art. Coffins are a necessity, provided to honor the deceased and assist them in their transition into the next life. Coffins are ordered from a workshop when a member of a wealthy family is nearing death. The deceased person's profession or role in the community often determines the image. Kane Quaye, the innovator of the custom coffin, was born in 1922. In the late 1940s he began working for a master carpenter whose workshop was known for making palanquins in the shapes of eagles and cocoa pods. While part of this workshop, Quaye made a coffin in the form of an airplane for his grandmother, who had always dreamed of riding in a plane. He opened his own carpentry business in 1951. Custom-made coffins became his specialty. Choosing a proper coffin in Ghana requires matching the image with the status of the deceased. The Mercedes is ordered for few people, as it remains a symbol of great success, reserved for someone with enough money to buy Western imports. Funerals with a Mercedes coffin are said to be unusually somber and aligned with Christian services conducted outside the dead person's house. This coffin was commissioned to serve as a sculpture for display, not as a vehicle for the dead. A funeral object transformed into sculpture is seen as an odd choice for contemporary art by some African observers. Made by carpenters for clients who expect the coffin to be seen only for a short time, it has an awkward air of unfulfilled purpose. In America the coffin suggests that other cultures openly accept what here has become a hidden conclusion to life.

Why is a car replica in an art museum? Is the artist making a critical comment about luxury cars? Or is he paying homage to an icon of the late twentieth century?

At nine feet long (sliced horizontally), this replica of a Mercedes Benz is basically a large box. Slide the top off and inside is an upholstered interior with a pillow, where a person's body can be laid to rest. The license plate on the back tells us exactly what the replica is and who made it. Presenting this coffin as a sculpture raises curiosity and concerns about the ways that art helps people cope with death. Visit the other pages about the Mercedes Benz coffin to view other types of coffins, explore ways artists around the world depict death, and learn how the custom-coffin business in Ghana functions today.

Object number93.163

ProvenanceThe artist; [Bill Wright Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Dr. Oliver E. Cobb and Mark Groudine, Seattle, Washington, 1993; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1993

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

All a dead person owns is his own coffin.

Kane Quaye, 1992

Exhibition HistorySeattle, 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., pp. 244-5, reproduced pl. 97.Published ReferencesIshikawa, Chiyo et al., Seattle Art Museum Downtown, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 31, illus. Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures, London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, pp. 36-37

Credit LineGift of Dr. Oliver E. and Pamela F. Cobb and Mark Groudine and Cynthia Putnam in honor of Pam McClusky

Dimensions25 x 35 x 101 in. (63 x 88.9 x 256.5 cm)

MediumWood and paint