Images(3)

Standing figure (Nkondi)

Label TextOnce falsely typecast as "fetishes," nkondi served as a form of moral intimidation with many subtle roles. The massive mane of nails and blades on this man's torso are driven into the nkondi at the conclusion of a legal debate, healing session or treaty. Hundreds of nails attest to many people relying on the figure's disciplined judgment. This figure's alert posture, known as pakalala, indicates he is ready and waiting to render complicated decisions.

One stereotype of a fetish clouds our recognition of what this figure once was. The sight of nails being pounded into a human figure is a frequent image in Christianity (representing the Crucifixion), but when an unknown African does it, the figure is called a fetish and is often subjected to flagrantly false accounts of how it was used. To remedy this misunderstanding, the museum consulted with a renowned philosopher from the Kongo, who explains the words and ideas that the nkondi generates.

Object number81.17.836

Provenance[Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1968; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

It is we who have constructed the world of the fetish, not the original makers.

John Mack, 1995

Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, July 10 - Sept. 1, 1968 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Oct. 10 - Dec. 1, 1968). Not in catalogue. Los 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. 56-57, reproduced pl. 63 (as nail fetish, "konde"). 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. 11, pp. 30-31, reproduced (as Oath-taking and healing image (nkondi)). San Francisco, California, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Kongo Power Figures, Nov. 15, 1989 - Jan. 21, 1990. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas, organized by the Museum for African Art, New York, Feb. 17 - Apr. 17, 1994. 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. 144-5, 156-7, reproduced pl. 75.Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. "Art of Africa." In Selected Works, pp. 35-52. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 47, reproduced (as Power Figure). Mellor, Stephen P. "The Exhibition and Conservation of African Objects: Considering the Nontangible." In Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, vol. 31, no. 1 (Spring 1992): pp. 3-16, reproduced figs. 5, 6. Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures, London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 63. LeBaron, Michelle; Susan Noyes Platt; Tacoma Art Museum, Loud Bones: The Jewelry of Nancy Worden, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009, p. 49.

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions31 11/16 x 13 3/8 x 8 11/16 in. (80.5 x 34 x 22 cm)

MediumWood, iron, fiber, beads, string, glass, feathers, and chalk