Anonymous Mumuye artist
Early 20th century
Wood
height 20 7/8 in
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The statues of the Mumuye are one of the most innovative sculptural traditions from Nigeria’s Benue River Valley. The elegance of their elongated torsos embodies a quality of dynamism through a slight asymmetry. This striking inherent sense of motion gives them a most contemporary feeling. Mumuye artists’ abstract interpretation of the human body does recall the approach to anatomy by artists of the Cubist and Expressionist movements. The high degree of stylistic diversity, testifying to their makers’ creativity and inventiveness, is paralleled by the variety of their ritual functions. Ethnologists who have studied Mumuye figures since the middle of the 20th century report the multiple roles they could fulfill. Used by healers and diviners, they could have a therapeutic or divinatory function. In the possession of an important male elder, they would reinforce his status and prestige within a community. One figure could have several functions and a particular function cannot be correlated with size, style or other formal attributes. What remains are their sweeping volumes that continue to inspire.
Provenance
Acquired by Philippe Guimiot in Duala,
Cameroon, 1968-1969 (P.G.-57)
Possibly Jacques Kerchache, Paris, France
Private Collection, Sweden
Stockholms Auktionsverk, Stockholm, 31 May 2023, lot 2817418
Duende Art Projects, Antwerp, Belgium, 2023
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