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African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting
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Female Figure
Southern Burkina Faso, Léo region; Nuna peoples, 19th century
Wood; H. 32 5/8 in. (83 cm)
Provenance: Collected in southern Burkina Faso by Henri Kamer in 1970; Barbier-Mueller collection, since 1974
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Exceptional for its aesthetic qualities and its rarity, this female figure is the outstanding creation of a Nuna master sculptor. The only comparable example of this monumental and relatively naturalistic figurative genre is in the collection of the Musée du quai Branly, Paris (inventory no. 70.1998.6.1). With their impressive scale, elongated silhouette, interplay of fluid lines and strongly defined forms, and complex incised motifs on their chest and back, these female representations are unique in the corpus of southern Burkina Faso statuary. Although the use of these singular sculptures is not known, their exceptional artistry suggests that they played a critical role in Nuna communities. Such works were kept hidden in houses of ritual specialists of the oracular vura association. The elders were credited with control of certain bush spirits personified through the sculpture.
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