A male Baule sculpture, Ivory Coast, sitting on a stool placed on an oval base, both hands are resting on the knees, the genitals are covered by fabric, his slender torso is standing upright, mounted by a thick cylindric neck who carries a large oval head, the features are calm, relaxed, emphasized by the half closed eyes staring in front of him, covered by the eyebrows and a long nose, the small mouth underneath of which is a goatee, the hair is pulled back in a upwards style. The stomach, back and face are marked with scarifications that are a sign of beauty and status in Baule culture; some wear throughout the sculpture, signs of ritual use, cracks at the base.

“To articulate historians, the most consistent features of Baule art is a kind of peaceful containment. Faces tend to have downcast eyes and figures most often hold their ams against the body. […] Among their abundant art forms, the Baule people continue to place the greatest value on masks and figure sculptures, which remain the only sculptural art still widely used in Baule villages. While there is a difference between the Baule view of their objects and that of Western connoisseurs, there are points of agreement. Aesthetic appreciation is one: Baule artist, and individual owners of objects, certainly sometimes enjoy the beauty of these objects and the skill it took coproduce them. […]

Ornaments above the face are chosen for their beauty and have no iconographic significance” p.141

Lit: Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. Susan M.Vogel 1997.

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Height: 48 cm
Weight: 1,36 kg