A deer with long horns expresses the proverb "It is always too late to say 'had I known'," and relates to a story summarized by Daniel Koo Nimo Amponsah (2001): "A deer had long protruding horns but decided that they were making life inconvenient, so he asked friends to push them-unfortunately, it was too much, so he lost his power. 'Had I known' always comes at last."
Cast brass (cire perdue)
1 3/8 x 2 15/16 x 11/16 in. (3.5 x 7.5 x 1.8 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.396
Photo: Paul Macapia
Now on view at the
Seattle Art Museum
Resources
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. 82-83, reproduced pl. 49.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Lessons from the Institute of Empathy, Mar. 31, 2018 - ongoing.
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.
