African Arts Gallery

French collection of African art .



These anthopomorphic figures, set on large digital feet, offer a stocky anatomy. Their faces recall the masks dan by the protrusion of the wide lips. Granular residues remain, following the rites that benefited the subjects. Matt black patina.
Gifts of women, food, festive ceremonies and honorable status once rewarded the dan sculptors to whom this talent was bestowed during a dream. The latter was the means of communication of Du, the invisible spiritual power, with men. The statuary, rare, held a prestigious role with its holder. They are mainly effigies of wives, lü mä human beings made of wood. They are not spirit incarnations or effigies of ancestors, but prestige figures representing living people, often commissioned by the chiefs, whose statues will bear the names. They are placed in miniature boxes built for this purpose.