Figure, Couple

Asie Usu

unidentified Ivorian

Ivorian

The Baule carve two important types of anthropomorphic figures: "spirit spouses" represent the ³spouse² that everyone had in the other world before he or she was born into this one," and may be either male or female. "Other figures, less numerous that these, are carved for nature spirits ( asie usu ) that posess or follow a person and disrupt his or her life until a shrine has been made and a private cult established...Baule informants felt that figures carved for nature spirits were more varied than those carved for spirit spouses"(Vogel 1981:73). Susan Vogel carried a photograph of this object to Ivory Coast and showed it to informants during her last research trip. The Baule agreed that these must represent nature spirits, and that in such cases it is quite the norm for the female figure to be larger than the male. The male and female figures are seated side-by-side on Akan style stools, their arms draped around each other's torsos so that, when viewed from the front, they initially appear to have too many hands. Their bodies are quite still and formal, but at the same time supple and sensuous. The elegant lines of the heart-shaped faces, turned just slightly away from each other, are most striking when seen in profile, emphasizing the sharp details of the elaborate hairstyles. -- Professor Christopher Roy, School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa

Guinea Coast
Africa
Côte d'Ivoire

Baule

Height: 16 3/4 inches
Width: 4 1/2 inches

Wood

The Stanley Collection

University of Iowa. Stanley Museum of Art

x1986_527

U.S. and international copyright laws protect this digital image. Commercial use or distribution of the image is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder. For permission to use the digital image, please complete an image request form http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/forms/uima or contact the University of Iowa Museum of Art.

Contact the Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa: https://stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu/about/contact/

wood (plant material)

183425165

Kept on shrine

Religion
Spirit
Abundance

Represents nature spirits