Axe

Label TextWhenever sharp metal and skin connect in the line of duty, Ogun is paid tribute. Blacksmiths, truck drivers, mechanics, barbers and warriors all honor his discovery of iron, which enabled tools like this axe to be made. However, iron also made weapons possible-Ogun worshippers wave axes as they explore the role of violence in human experience.

Object number81.17.603

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., pp. 96-97, reproduced pl. 132 (as "shango" axe).

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions19 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (49.5 x 6.4 x 8.9 cm)

MediumWood, iron