A Baule statue

A Baule statue, Didieville region, Ivory Coast.

This Baule figurine depicts a standing woman, carved from dark wood. Her body is long and slender, with sturdy, slightly bent legs. She stands on a small rectangular base. Her arms hang down along her body and then meet in front of her stomach. In her hands, she holds a small oval-shaped vessel. A necklace of red beads encircles her neck, adding a splash of color to the piece. The head is large in proportion to the body. The face is serene, with large, round eyes, a slender nose, and a small, open mouth. The hair is carved with numerous even lines and forms a rounded style at the back of the head. There are also engraved patterns on the temples, neck, back, and belly. The surface of the wood shows signs of wear, dust, and a glossy patina in places.

“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. […] ” p.141

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

Some of the information is generated by artificial intelligence and is based on published sources from the fields of ethnography, archaeology, and art history.

Informant: Bakari

Inv. No. MAZ17909

Height: 45 cm
Weight: 1,4 kg