Importante statue, Lobi, Burkina Faso

collects ée par Georges Vidal dans les années 1960
Ancienne collects ion André Schoeller, Paris

Very good condition overall. Wear consistent with age and use within the culture.
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"Attachées aux lignages, aux rites d'initiation et à la vie sociale", la grande statuaire Lobi - rare comparée au très large corpus des figurines liées à la divination -, personnifie la puissance des ancêtres fondateurs de villages ou des grands guérisseurs d'autrefois (Gottschalk, 1999 : 124 et 116).

Selon Bognolo (2007 : 52-53), seuls les maîtres-sculpteurs sont autorisés à réaliser ces effigies d'ancêtres, nommées thilkotina. Elles reflètent donc la quintessence du "style archétypal" propre à chaque groupe culturel Lobi, de même que le talent individuel de leurs auteurs.

Ici, le corps s'étire en légères modulations de plans, les épaules rejetées en arrière pour ne pas rompre la puissante dynamique des lignes. A l'élan vertical des volumes corporels résumés à l'essentiel s'oppose la prégnance du visage aux traits projetés en haut relief - l'intensité de l'expression accentuée par la légère asymétrie.   

Ajoutée au talent individuel du maître-sculpteur, la vitalité de la conception plastique "vouée à représenter l'essentiel, à laquelle se rattache une schématisation des volumes", permet d'attribuer vraisemblablement cette grande et belle statue aux groupes situés dans la partie septentrionale du pays Lobi (Bognolo, idem : 55).  Enfin la patine profonde du bois dur, croûteuse sur la tête, atteste l'ancienneté de son usage dans un contexte cultuel.

An important Lobi figure, Burkina Faso

'Important objects for family lineages, initiation rites, and village life', large scale Lobi sculpture (which is rare in comparison with the large corpus of small divination figures), personifies the power of the ancestral founders of villages and great warriors of the past (Gottschalk, 1999: 124 and 116).

According to Bognolo (2007: 52–53), only master-carvers were allowed to create these ancestor effigies, known as thilkotina. They thus reflect both the essence of the 'archetypal style' of each Lobi group, as well as the individual talent of their carvers.

Here the body stretches out in slightly varied planes, the shoulders thrown back so as not to break the powerful dynamism of the lines. The vertical momentum of the body's volumes, reduced to their essence, is contrasted by the pregnant appearance of the face, its intense expression accentuated by the slight asymmetry of the features.

In addition to the talent of the master-carver, the vitality of the plastic conception 'devoted to representing the essential, symbolised in its schematic volumes', allow one to attribute this large and fine figure to one of the groups who live in the northern part of the Lobi country (Bognolo, ibid. 55). Finally, the deep patina, encrusted on the head, attests to the considerable length of t.mes that the figure must have been used in a ritual context.