Female Figure

between 1850 and 1950

Baule, African

On View

African: Journey of Life, Level 1, North Wing

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About the Artwork

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Provenance

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

The Baule people of West Africa believe every man or woman has a “spouse” in the spirit world — an individual with a name revealed through divination. The first act to nurture a fruitful bond with one’s otherworld mate is to commission a wooden “portrait” such as this one to serve as the spirit’s physical abode.

Images of spirit wives often include a naturalistic face, firm breasts, and a nicely arranged coiffure. Raised scars on the forehead and behind the neck are considered beautiful in Baule culture. Regular handling—cleaning, rubbing with oil, wiping with kaolin, re-dyeing, or painting—explains this sculpture’s beautiful patina.

Interestingly, spirit spouses may enjoy greater privileges, including sexual matters, than real-world mates. Indeed, if an unmarried woman has a prior relationship with a spirit spouse, a formal public ritual transfers the otherworld partner’s sexual rights to her future flesh-and-blood husband before marriage. For a woman, the idea of an otherworld mate who desires her can be empowering, as she can maintain an identity separate from her husband’s.

Title Female Figure

Artwork Date between 1850 and 1950

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. African

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Baule

Medium Wood

Dimensions Overall: 12 1/4 × 3 1/4 × 3 1/4 inches (31.1 × 8.3 × 8.3 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department African Art

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 79.19

Markings

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Provenance

(Alan Brandt, Inc., New York, New York, USA);
1979-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Trowell, M. Classical African Sculpture. New York, 1970.

Perspectives: Angles on African Art. Exh. cat., Center for African Art. New York, 1987.

African Masterworks In The Detroit Institute of Arts. Washington and London, 1995, cat. no. 16.

Quarcoopome, Nii. “Akan Wood Sculpture.” Bulletin of the DIA 91, no. 1/4 (2017): p. 102 (fig. 5.24).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Baule, African, Female Figure, between 1850 and 1950, wood. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art, 79.19.