Artwork Page for Male Figure

Details / Information for Male Figure

Male Figure

by 1931
maker

Totokro Master

Culture
Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Baule peoples
Medium
wood
Measurements
Overall: 44.8 x 9.3 x 7.7 cm (17 5/8 x 3 11/16 x 3 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the African Art Sponsors of Karamu House 1931.204
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

In Baule society, the name of the artist who made a sculpture is not always public knowledge. In 1999, art historian Susan Vogel gave the sculptor of this work and others similar in style the nickname "Totokro Master" for the geographic region they came from.

Description

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.
A dark brown wood sculpture with orange undertones depicts a figure holding their hands over their stomach. Carved half-circles suggest closed eyes on the face. Raised bumps of wood appear between the eyebrows, on either side of the mouth, circling the chest and across the abdomen. Wood carved in rows of bumps creates a beard under the figure's chin.

Male Figure

by 1931

Totokro Master

Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Baule peoples

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