Statue, Lobi, Burkina Faso

collects ée par Franz Burkard
collects ion Thomas G.B. Wheelock, New York

Expositions:
Museum Rietberg, Zürich, Kunst und Religion der Lobi, 1981
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Art and Oracle, African Art and Rituals of Divination, 25 avril - 30 juillet 2000

Publications:
Meyer, Kunst und Religion der Lobi, 1981 : 116, n° 141
LaGamma, Art and Oracle, African Art and Rituals of Divination, 2000 : 77
Roy & Wheelock, Land of Flying Masks, 2007, n° 214

Good condition overall; wear consistent with age and use within the culture. Some damage to the proper left wing, just visible in the catalogue illustration, feet missing, as visible in the catalogue illustration. Some losses to the end of the tail. Exceptional thickly encrusted patina.
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Les grandes sculptures animalières – rares – relèvent chez les Lobi du culte des ancêtres révérés comme grands chasseurs. Trouvant leur place dans les petits autels familiaux, « ces puissants esprits tutélaires assurant la pérennité du groupe et envisagés comme des avatars de l'ancêtre [...] rappellent l'origine de la puissance singulière de l'aïeul qui y est honoré » (Bognolo, 2007 : 34). Supports privilégiés de son esprit, ces représentations allient, comme ici remarquablement, les traits de l'animal emblématique à l'allure d'un humain. La géométrisation des volumes, accentuée par l'épaisse patine sacrificielle, permet de la rattacher au style des Lobi Dagara.

Lobi figure, Burkina Faso

 

These rare large animal figures are revered as great hunters within the Lobi system of ancestor worship. Placed on small family altars, 'these powerful guardian spirits assured the continued existence of the group and were viewed as avatars of the ancestor [...] recalling the power of the forebear they honoured' (Bognolo, 2007: 34). These remarkable representations of the ancestor's spirit combine the traits of the emblematic animal with a certain human allure. The geometric volumes of the offered figure, which are greatly enhanced by the thickly encrusted patina, suggest that the figure is of Lobi Dagara origin.