Skip to main content
Collections Menu
SAM'S collection
Image Not Available for Male figure
Male figure
Image Not Available for Male figure

Male figure

Date20th century
Maker Baule
Label TextClothes now cover modern Baule carvings of men and women. She wears high-heeled shoes and a watch, he wears a uniform and has a fashionable hairstyle. Following past preferences, their clothes closely fit bodies of erect being and bulging muscles. They are definitely not a couple, but stand for the evolving individuality engendered by city life. Their real life counterparts can be seen on the streets of a city like Abidjan, a city of two million people with a high standard for fashion. Such carvings represent men and women inhabiting another world parallel to this one, where one may have a spirit wife or husband. These spirit spouses can cause misfortune, especially in the domains of marriage and sexual matters. Diviners assist clients with such troubles and recommend that a carving be offered for the spirit spouse to visit. Maintaining good relations with a spirit spouse may require nights alone and offerings of food, perfume, jewelry, and coins.
Object number81.17.238
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Documents International: Reflections in the Mirror: A World of Identity, April 23, 1998 - June 20, 1999Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. African Art: From Crocodiles to Convertibles in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1987; cat. no. 8, pp. 16-17, reproduced.
Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
Dimensions12 3/16 x 3 1/8 x 3 1/16 in. (31 x 7.9 x 7.8 cm)
MediumWood, paint
Photo: Paul Macapia
Ivorian
20th century
Object number: 81.17.225.1
Seated male figure
Ivorian
Object number: 81.17.232
Photo: Paul Macapia
Ivorian
Object number: 81.17.233
Ivorian
20th century
Object number: 81.17.237
Photo: Paul Macapia
Ivorian
20th century
Object number: 81.17.225.2
Mother and Child
Ivorian
Object number: 81.17.234
Male figure
Baule
Object number: 81.17.1
Mask (Goli Gulin)
Ivorian
20th century
Object number: 81.17.228
Photo: Paul Macapia
Ivorian
late 19th-early 20th century
Object number: 81.17.235
Elephant mask for Dye ensemble
Ivorian
Object number: 81.17.252
Gu mask
Ivorian
Object number: 81.17.253
Zamble mask
Ivorian
Object number: 81.17.254