Figure

19th-20th century

Naturalism meets its exact opposite in this perplexing physique. A head is evident, as eyes are set into a sphere. Beneath it is a face with three projections--but are they a nose and ears, or hair? An attenuated torso takes up most of the figure's height, with arms twisting in jagged segments. Short notched legs repeat the rippling of the arms. The head turns right, but the torso twists and the figure's anatomy undulates.

Mumuye figures were used by both diviners and healers to greet a rainmaker's clients, guard houses, and serve as an owner's confidant. This figure might have served in any of these diverse yet often overlapping roles.

Wood, pigment, twine

63 x 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (160 x 21.6 x 16.5 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.709

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Not currently on view

Resources

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. 64-65, reproduced pl. 88 (as standing figure).

Seattle, 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. 8, pp. 24-25, reproduced.

Los Angeles, California, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley, Feb. 13 - July 24, 2011 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Sept. 14 - Feb. 12, 2012; Stanford, California, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, May 16 - Sept. 2, 2012).

Published ReferencesBerns, Marla C.; Richard Fardon, Sidney Littleton Kasfir, editors, Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Plate 14.2, pg. 12 and pg. 271

Herreman, Frank. Mumuye Sculpture from Nigeria: The Human Figure Reinvented. Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2016; p. 98, reproduced pl. 31.

de Grunne, Bernard. Mumuye. Brussells: Bernard de Grunne, 2023: pp. 100-101, reproduced pp. 101.

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