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Image Coming Soon

Male figure

Image Coming Soon

Male figure

20th century

Ivorian

Baule

Clothes 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.
Wood, paint
12 3/16 x 3 1/8 x 3 1/16 in. (31 x 7.9 x 7.8 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.238
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Documents International: Reflections in the Mirror: A World of Identity, April 23, 1998 - June 20, 1999
Published 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.

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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