Figure (ekpu)

ca. 18th century - 19th century

The tall dim body rises in a procession of slow parentheses: the strong belly of a king, the fly whisk of government, the narrow manicured beard of a patriarch. The face is cool, the crack only steepens his concentration . . . He is a monument, a time marker, pacing an entire generation. Each clan had its own tall crowd of Ekpu figures representing nine, twelve, sometimes fourteen steps into the past.

Wood

37 11/16 x 5 7/8 x 4 15/16 in. (95.8 x 15 x 12.5 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.515

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

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. 12, pp. 32-33, 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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