Details

Title

Seated Figure

Artist/Maker

Lobi Artist, Burkina Faso

Date

Late nineteenth–early twentieth century

Medium

Wood

Dimensions

Contact the museum for more information

Credit

Purchase with funds from Jane Fahey and Emmet Bondurant in memory of Alan Brandt

Accession #

2003.35

Location

Currently not on view

A miniature masterpiece, this sculpture might be seen as the Lobi version of Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker. Its contemplative posture and the despairing gesture of its large hands give it emotional weight. Known by the Lobi people as bateba, sculptures like this one were carved to act as intermediaries between people and protective sprits called thila. The sculptures are considered animate, carrying out the orders of thila, protecting individuals and communities from harm.

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