Male Farming Animal headdress (Ci Wara)

Roan antelopes live in the harsh fields of the savannah. Large and stately, with powerful curving horns, these antelopes epitomize the strength required of male farmers. Like the antelope which is elusive and moves quickly, the farmer must also be aware of the waves of drought and flooding that affect the savannah. Male and female headdresses perform to inspire young men to be champion farmers. Since breaking the soil with a hoe and forming it into mounds to receive seeds has male and female analogies, the supervision of both sexes is required to ensure ideal cultivation.

Wood

37 1/2 × 15 × 2 1/4 in. (95.3 × 38.1 × 5.7 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.24

Provenance: [Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1961; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

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. 9 (as Antelope Headdress).

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., p. 101, reproduced fig. F-6 (as "chi wara").

New York, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Genesis: Origins in African Sculpture, Oct. 20, 2002 - July 4, 2003.

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]).

Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. African Art: From Crocodiles to Convertibles in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1987; p. 4, reproduced (as Male antelope headdress).

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