African Arts Gallery

The "doubles inverted" in the African art sculptures of the Baule
A sixty ethnic groups populate Côte d'Ivoire, including the Baoulé, in the center, Akans from Ghana, people of the savannah, practicing hunting and agriculture while like the Gouro from which they borrowed ritual cults and carved masks. Two types of statues are produced by the Baoulé , Baulé , in the ritual framework: The statues Waka-Sona , " be wood " in baoulé, evoke a asssou oussou , be of the earth. They are part of a type of statues intended to be used as a medium tool by the komien soothsayers, the latter being selected by the spirits asye usu in order to communicate the revelations of the afterlife. The second type of statues are the ", the "of the afterlife, male, the Blolo bian or feminine, the blolo bia , which are akin to a quest for fullness by seeking homage to its idealized sexual opposite. With her arms attached to the bust, her hands directed towards the umbilical area, she highlights the protruding, gesture of protection and respect for lineage. Its tegumentary ornaments reveal the concept of beauty of the Baoulé, through the numerous checkered scarifications and the neat headdress. Dark brown satin patina.