Baule Seated Male Diviner, 19th Century CE - 20th Century CE
10.2 x 38.1 x 8.9 cm
4 x 15 x 3 1/2 in
4 x 15 x 3 1/2 in
JL.011
Since the first publication of several Baule sculptures in Carl Einstein's seminal book Negerplastik in 1915, Baule art has been at the core of Western appreciation of African art. The...
Since the first publication of several Baule sculptures in Carl Einstein's seminal book Negerplastik in 1915, Baule art has been at the core of Western appreciation of African art. The Baule style is seen as one of the canonic African art traditions and its art historical significance is rivalled only by few other cultures such as the Fang (Gabon), Senufo (Ivory Coast), Kongo (Western DRC) or Luba/Hemba (Eastern DRC).
Baulé statuettes can either represent the spirits of the forest (asie usu) or the “spouses of the afterlife” (blolo bian and blolo bla). Asie usu spirits can possess persons entering their bodies and sending them into a trance. When possessed, some people acquire the power to tell the future and share this power with the community. Often barren women consult male or female diviners (komien), who become possessed by a spirit or by an Mbra (deity) during the divining ritual. To welcome the spirits and, thus, encourage them to speak, diviners beautify shrine rooms with decorations and sculptures. In contrast to Senufo practice, Baule clients may not look at these figures, which are usually concealed under white cloths - this may explain the remarkable condition of so many pieces remain in today. Yet, seen or not, the presence of the sculptures denotes a special relationship between the diviner and the gods and spirits.
Because carving styles for spirit figures-whether they represent nature spirits or spirit spouses-are similar, it is difficult to ascertain a sculpture's original function unless it has been seen in situ. This male figure is presumed to have been owned by a Baule diviner because of its seated pose and gesture. Divination display figures typically depict a male, seated on a stool, holding his long three-braided beard with his left hand and pressing his abdomen with his right. In this case the diviner holds a bowl - another common theme. Despite his muscular buttocks and bulbous calves, the sitter appears to be elderly man, as indicated by his beard. The sculpture's carefully groomed hair, scarification marks denote he has been initiated into adult society, short fingernails and toenails, and contemplative expression indicate he also represents a civilized Baule man. It can be assumed that this figure was once clothed, as indicated by the lighter color of the wood in the area of his loins and a hole which has been carved between the buttocks and stool to hold a loincloth in place. A similar, less intricately carved, figure can be found in the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art
In the early part of the 20th Century, Baule statues reached Europe and caused a stir in the art world. The innovative artists of the time-- Picasso, Vlaminck, Brancusi, who were already deep in the throes of their own artistic revolution--felt an immediate and profound appreciation for the refinement and economy of line and form typified by Baule statues. The awe inspiring influence of one on the other is clearly visible, and constitutes one of the most interesting periods in modern art history.
In particular Baule sculpture is widely acknowledged as a principal inciting force that reinvigorated the sculptural practices of Amedeo’ Modigliani and Alberto Giacometti. Modigliani is recorded to have first seen Baule sculptures alongside the Congolese fetish objects at the Musée du Trocadéro and his subsequent carvings patently appropriate the Baule mask forms. In the posthumously published Likeness and Nearness The Intentionality Of The Head in Baule Art Philip L. Ravenhill, then chief curator of the National Museum of African Art, explored the connection between Baule sculptures and the work of Alberto Giacometti and saw that beyond mere formal appropriation the operation of the gaze in both sets of masterpieces is often read to exert a sort of relational agency - that is the “viewer similarly recognises personhood and an inherent potential for interaction and speech. The figures composure and stillness convey and intense alertness and a capacity for engagement, making it possible to believe that the otherworld mate can be recognised, addressed, and talked with. […] A mutuality of gaze is established.”
In her survey Baule: African Art, Western Art Susan Vogel writes that “While the relative naturalism and consummate workmanship of Baule objects were praised at the outset, today these objects are appreciated for their subtle rhythms and a beauty that stops short of sweetness. To the Western eye, an essence of Baule style is a balanced asymmetry that enlivens while suggesting stability and calm. [...] To an art historian, the most consistent feature of Baule art, and one expressed across the wide variety of Baule object types, is a kind of peaceful containment. Faces tend to have downcast eyes and figures often hold their arms against the body, so that Westerners might feel that the mood of much classical Baule art is introspective."
Baulé statuettes can either represent the spirits of the forest (asie usu) or the “spouses of the afterlife” (blolo bian and blolo bla). Asie usu spirits can possess persons entering their bodies and sending them into a trance. When possessed, some people acquire the power to tell the future and share this power with the community. Often barren women consult male or female diviners (komien), who become possessed by a spirit or by an Mbra (deity) during the divining ritual. To welcome the spirits and, thus, encourage them to speak, diviners beautify shrine rooms with decorations and sculptures. In contrast to Senufo practice, Baule clients may not look at these figures, which are usually concealed under white cloths - this may explain the remarkable condition of so many pieces remain in today. Yet, seen or not, the presence of the sculptures denotes a special relationship between the diviner and the gods and spirits.
Because carving styles for spirit figures-whether they represent nature spirits or spirit spouses-are similar, it is difficult to ascertain a sculpture's original function unless it has been seen in situ. This male figure is presumed to have been owned by a Baule diviner because of its seated pose and gesture. Divination display figures typically depict a male, seated on a stool, holding his long three-braided beard with his left hand and pressing his abdomen with his right. In this case the diviner holds a bowl - another common theme. Despite his muscular buttocks and bulbous calves, the sitter appears to be elderly man, as indicated by his beard. The sculpture's carefully groomed hair, scarification marks denote he has been initiated into adult society, short fingernails and toenails, and contemplative expression indicate he also represents a civilized Baule man. It can be assumed that this figure was once clothed, as indicated by the lighter color of the wood in the area of his loins and a hole which has been carved between the buttocks and stool to hold a loincloth in place. A similar, less intricately carved, figure can be found in the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art
In the early part of the 20th Century, Baule statues reached Europe and caused a stir in the art world. The innovative artists of the time-- Picasso, Vlaminck, Brancusi, who were already deep in the throes of their own artistic revolution--felt an immediate and profound appreciation for the refinement and economy of line and form typified by Baule statues. The awe inspiring influence of one on the other is clearly visible, and constitutes one of the most interesting periods in modern art history.
In particular Baule sculpture is widely acknowledged as a principal inciting force that reinvigorated the sculptural practices of Amedeo’ Modigliani and Alberto Giacometti. Modigliani is recorded to have first seen Baule sculptures alongside the Congolese fetish objects at the Musée du Trocadéro and his subsequent carvings patently appropriate the Baule mask forms. In the posthumously published Likeness and Nearness The Intentionality Of The Head in Baule Art Philip L. Ravenhill, then chief curator of the National Museum of African Art, explored the connection between Baule sculptures and the work of Alberto Giacometti and saw that beyond mere formal appropriation the operation of the gaze in both sets of masterpieces is often read to exert a sort of relational agency - that is the “viewer similarly recognises personhood and an inherent potential for interaction and speech. The figures composure and stillness convey and intense alertness and a capacity for engagement, making it possible to believe that the otherworld mate can be recognised, addressed, and talked with. […] A mutuality of gaze is established.”
In her survey Baule: African Art, Western Art Susan Vogel writes that “While the relative naturalism and consummate workmanship of Baule objects were praised at the outset, today these objects are appreciated for their subtle rhythms and a beauty that stops short of sweetness. To the Western eye, an essence of Baule style is a balanced asymmetry that enlivens while suggesting stability and calm. [...] To an art historian, the most consistent feature of Baule art, and one expressed across the wide variety of Baule object types, is a kind of peaceful containment. Faces tend to have downcast eyes and figures often hold their arms against the body, so that Westerners might feel that the mood of much classical Baule art is introspective."