Ugonachomma (The eagle seeks out beauty) Display Figure

Young lady, you are:
A mirror that must not go out in the sun
A child that must not be touched by dew
One that is dressed up in hair
A lamp with which people find their way
An eagle feather worn by a husband
A straight line drawn by God

(Egudu and Mwoga, 1973)

This young woman is a beacon of cosmetic artistry. Her hair is molded into an intricate composition of braided fringe and mirrors. Her face is painted white as a sign of poise. Using a stain derived from indigo (uli), assistants have covered her body with minutely detailed body painting. Rows, or rectangular marks cut into the skin of a young woman before marriage, lead down her torso. She holds a mirror that suits the Western notion of cosmetics-from the neck up-while her entire body has become a cavalcade of cosmetology. This Igbo woman served as a centerpiece in a competitive dance display.

Wood, pigment, and mirror

50 x 14 3/16 x 10 in. (127 x 36 x 25.4 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.525

Photo: Paul Macapia

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. 20, pp. 48-49, reproduced (as Female figure).

New York, New York, American Museum of Natural History, Body Art: Masks of Identity, Nov. 16, 1999 - May 29, 2000.

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, 35, reproduced pl. 10.

Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. "Art of Africa." In Selected Works, pp. 35-52. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 45, reproduced.

Ottenberg, Simon. Sources and Themes in the art of Obiora Udechukwu, in African Arts, vol. 35, no. 2 (Summer 2002): pp. 30-43, 91-92, image 7 (detail) p. 34.

Blackmun Visona, Monica; Poyner, Robin, Cole, Herbert M., A History of Art of Africa, 2008, p. 296.

Petridis, Constantine. The Language of Beauty in African Art. Exh. Cat. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2021; p. 292, reproduced fig. 1 [not in exhibition].

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