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Figure: Female

19th - early 20th century (before 1913)

Not on view

Early photographs of this work show that, while it has since lost its original earring loops, its most important and distinctive traits have survived: the amalgam of powerful matter packed at the top of its head, enhanced by an animal claw inserted at back; and the delicate motifs drawn with white pigment on the surface of the face. It was displayed in 1913 in the exhibition of Charles Vignier’s collection at the Galerie Levesque in Paris, famous for being the first exhibition in France to have featured African objects in an artistic setting. Like the adjacent figure in this case, it was among the works illustrated in Carl Einstein’s seminal publication Negerplastik, the first essay.

Figure: Female, Wood with glass, white pigment, and animal claw, Beembe peoples — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Figure: Female

Date: 19th - early 20th century (before 1913)

Geography: Republic of the Congo

Culture: Beembe peoples

Medium: Wood with glass, white pigment, and animal claw

Dimensions: H. x W. x D.: 23 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (60.2 x 14 x 11.5 cm)

Classification: Wood-Sculpture

Credit Line: The University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia

Accession Number: Armory-Museums-07

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.