Images(3)

Stool

Label TextRobert Farris Thompson (1999) observes that different viewers will see slightly different features in a single piece of sculpture. He asked three Africans from different cultures to comment on this stool: Ejagham (Nigeria and Cameroon): "They seem to carry something for an important person. The way they carry it is beautiful. They hold it with both hands. The load can never fall." Banyang (Cameroon): "This is a heavy load which cannot be carried without both hands, to reduce the weight." Suku (Democratic Republic of the Congo): "Our ancestors carried things like that. This pleases me because I have seen my own mother carry things like that, with both hands, taking care that the water in the vessel did not spill."

Object number81.17.907

Provenance[Furman Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1966; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

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). Text by William Fagg. Cat. no. 264, reproduced (as Chief's Stool). 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. 84-85, 116, reproduced pls. 112, III (color). 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. 48-49, reproduced pl. 25.

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions19 15/16 x 11 1/2 x 11 3/8 in. (50.6 x 29.2 x 28.9 cm)

MediumWood, metal, pigment, and glass