The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Female Figure from a Pair (asye usu)

Female Figure from a Pair (asye usu)

late 1800s–early 1900s

Did You Know?

Baule artists looked to the world around them to capture contemporary ideas and ideals of beauty; this figure's hairstyle would have been worn when the sculpture was carved.

Description

Baule figures carved as pairs usually represent untamed spirits of the wilderness called asye usu. These spirits may intervene in the lives of individuals by taking possession of them. If this possession does not result in madness, it can lead to the human host’s becoming a diviner who can enter into a trance to reveal the causes of ailments and other misfortunes. People who feel their lives are being interrupted by the asye usu commission carvings representing idealized male and female forms whose grace and beauty in both anatomy and adornment will seduce the spirits and compel them to use the sculptures as their temporary homes.
  • ?-1971
    Katherine C. White (aka Katherine Merkel, Katherine Reswick)
  • Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.
  • African Master Carvers: Known and Famous. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-July 16, 2017).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (3/26/2017-7/16/2017); “African Master Carvers: Known and Famous”.
    Object in Focus: Male and Female Spirit Spouse Figures. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 7-March 9, 2003).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; January 7- March 9, 2003. " Object in Focus: Male (blolo bian) and Female (blolo bla) Spirit Partner Figures, Africa, Ivory Coast, Baule, c. 1930s [wood; 1971.297.1-2]"
    CMA 1973: "Year in Review 1972," CMA Bulletin LX (March, 1973), p. 107, no. 38, repr. p. 105.
    CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 85, repr.
  • {{cite web|title=Female Figure from a Pair (asye usu)|url=false|author=|year=late 1800s–early 1900s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.297.2