Images(2)

Crocodile headdress

Label Text"From a water-woven land come creatures of convoluted imagination. They know where the power lies--in essences of female and reptile." (Katherine White, 1979) Water flows through the Cross River area, which is the second largest delta system on earth. A crocodile guarding these waters can become a "familiar" for a woman, adding to her abilities and insights. Persons with unusual inclinations were often likely to attribute their actions to the persuasive force of an animal or reptile who sought them out. Women who cultivated this alliance with a familiar could use it to be helpful, or let it become destructive.

Object number81.17.507

Provenance[Alan Brandt, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1978; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection, July 29 - Sept. 29, 1984 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 31, 1984 - Feb. 25, 1985; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Apr. 6 - May 19, 1985; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Sept. 7 - Nov. 25, 1985; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mar. 8 - Apr. 20, 1986). Text by Pamela McClusky. Cat. no. 48, pp. 104-5, reproduced.Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. "Art of Africa." In Selected Works, pp. 35-52. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 52, reproduced. Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures, London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 48

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions29 x 38 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. (73.6 x 97.8 x 22.2 cm)

MediumWood, skin, basketry