Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Seated Female Figure with Child (pfemba)
Not on view
At the end of the 1920s, this delicate Yombe maternity figure was featured repeatedly in publications related to the Blondiau-Theatre Arts Collection. Underscoring the universality of mother-and-child iconography, it was described as a "Primitive variant of [a] Madonna statuette." Such figures in fact hold complex meanings related to statements of spiritual power supporting society, the importance of fertility, and the promise of future generations.
After its exhibition in New York, the figure was acquired by Edith Isaac, an ardent promoter of black performing and visual arts and the dynamic editor of Theatre Arts Monthly, the publication responsible for bringing the entire Blondiau collection to America. Justifying the magazine’s involvement with this collection, she simply stated, "When you see the dancers’ costumes, the masks, the articles of adornment that share this collection with fetishes and sculptured cups and hunting horns and arms, you will know why."
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