Baule Male Figure
Male Figure
Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.
Purported to be the earliest surviving work by a Baule carver who art historians have dubbed the “Totokro Master,” this Male Figure typically comes as a pair of male and female sculptures, and serves as a bridge between the spirit (asye usu) and human worlds in the hand of Baule diviners. Representing idealized humans in their prime, the diviners consider them suitable forms used to cast out disruptive spirits. It is featured here without the female example. The African Art Sponsors—a group of donors associated with Cleveland’s Karamu House, the oldest African American theater group in the country—purchased this Baule male figure in 1929 and donated it to the museum in 1931.
Catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art as “Male Figure”, dated by 1931. Harvested from the museum’s open-access record; every field below is copied from that record and none of it has been inferred.
Record
| People / culture | Baule |
|---|---|
| Country | Côte d'Ivoire |
| Common name | Male Figure |
| Materials | wood |
| Dimensions | Overall: 44.8 x 9.3 x 7.7 cm (17 5/8 x 3 11/16 x 3 1/16 in.) |
Provenance
(Paul Guillaume, Paris, sold to African Art Sponsors of Karamu House, Cleveland, OH) (1929)
African Art Sponsors of Karamu House, Cleveland, OH (1929-1931)
African Art Sponsors of Karamu House, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art (1931)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1931-)
| Collection | Cleveland Museum of Art |
|---|---|
| Accession number | 1931.204 |
Source
https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.204
This record is a catalogue entry, not an appraisal, valuation or legal determination. Nothing here should be read as evidence that an object was lawfully acquired or exported.