Wood
Senufo People, Cote d’Ivoire, Early 20th Century
Exhibited: Schomburg Center, New York Public Library, December 2001-March 2002; Museo del Hombre Dominicano, July-November 2007
Literature: "Die Kunst der Senufo, Elfenbeinküste", by Koloss (Hans-Joachim), Berlin: SMPK, 1990; Glaze, Anita J. “Art and Death of a Senufo Village”, 1982; Goldwater, Robert “Senufo Sculpture from West Africa”, Museum for Primitive Art, 1964; "Maternity Figure [Senufo peoples; Côte d'Ivoire]" (1981.397) In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000; Rheims-Laurin, Paris, "Arts Primitifs", 12 May 1971
Dimensions (length x width x height): 58 x 11 x 10 in. (147.3 x 27.9 x 25.4 cm)
Good condition
Provenance: A Pre-WWII Collection, South France; Michel Gaud, Saint Tropez, France; Bernard Dulon, Paris 1990; Private Collection, New York

An impressive, stylized representation depicting a zoomorphic composition of mother and infant, topped with the sacred hornbill (believed to be the mythological founder of the Senufo people, the hornbill features prominently in imagery by the Lo and Poro society as symbols of fertility and loyalty).

Figures such as this, however, were associated with the Tyekpa society, which functioned in Senufo culture primarily as a funerary society. A dance ceremony would have taken place, complete with full song and dance, paying homage and honoring the memory of an elder Tyekpa mother. During the ceremonies, Tyekpa members danced with various figurative sculptures such as this mother and child pairing raised high above their heads. Senufo maternity figures are known to be sometimes be as tall as three and four feet due to their importance and prominent display during the proceedings.

It is this prominence and radical change in form that inspired so many Western artists of the early 20th century. The 1913 Armory Show served as African Art’s debut into New York art circles. ‘Primitivism’ erupted as a means for artists to interpret these exciting new forms, and the people surrounding their creation. Masterpieces such as Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon’, Henry Moore's 'Standing Figure, 1950' and Klee’s 1921 ‘Comedy’ serve as lasting reminders.

Literature contains a few similar objects for comparison. The first, bearing a nearly identical head, torso scarification, patination and size was first exhibited at the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin in 1990 as part of the exhibition "Die Kunst der Senufo, Elfenbeinküste." That same figure was then featured in the Musee Dapper’s “Femmes dans les arts d'Afrique” in 2008. Another similar example, this one without infant, was auctioned by Rheims-Laurin, Paris ("Arts Primitifs", 12 May 1971, lot 55).

This is a splendid work and it is rare that examples of this size and pedigree enter the secondary market. The Senufo maternity figure is a potentially influential part of the rich artistic heritage of classical African art and Western art that was inspired by it.