Anonymous Baule artist
Early 20th century
Wood
height 13 in
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A ‘wife from the other world’ (blolo bla). Every Baule lived with such a spirit spouse; his was blolo bla, hers blolo bian (male). When diviners suspected the spirit spouse of causing personal problems (often sexual), the affected individual had to commission a statue for the jealous spirit. That figure needed to be beautiful to avoid further offence; hence, the classic ideal of Baule beauty of these statues: smooth skin; long neck; sophisticated coiffure; raised scarifications on the temples, the neck, the back and the chest; and a torso well-proportioned to the muscular calves and buttocks. Although similar in facture, statues of spirit spouses are generally smaller than those of the equally anthropomorphic asye usu, owned by Baule diviners.
Provenance
Private Collection, 1978
Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, 6 May 1978. Lot 157.
Private Collection, 1979
Christie’s, London, “Tribal Art”, 3 April 1979. Lot 145.
Arcade Gallery/Wengraf, London, UK, 1979
Private collection, Belgium, 2011
Bernaerts, Antwerp, 20 October 2011. Lot 62.
Private Collection, Antwerp, Belgium
Publications
Claessens (Bruno) & Danis (Jean-Louis), “Baule Monkeys”,
Brussels, Fonds Mercator, 2016, p. 114, fig.70