Female Figure (Akuaba)

Bearing children is an essential goal for Akan women. A woman who has difficulty conceiving, or who wishes to ensure her baby’s well being, commissions an akua ba from a woodcarver at the advice of a priest. The broad head, neck rings and high forehead are indications of an ideal appearance. Throughout the pregnancy, the akua ba is treated well and after birth, it remains one of the woman’s most cherished possessions.

Wood, beads, and polychrome

9 7/8 x 4 7/16 x 1 5/16 in. (25.1 x 11.2 x 3.4 cm)

Overall h.: 10 1/8 in.

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.329

Provenance: [George Jeurgens, New York]; sold to Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1967; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Photo: Paul Macapia

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos 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. 52, reproduced pl. 57 (as "akuaba").

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]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., pp. 33-34, reproduced pl. 9.

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.

Learn more about Equity at SAM