© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University

ClassificationsAfrican Art

Male Figure

Possible OriginCameroon, Africa

Possible OriginNigeria, Africa

CultureWidekum (?)

Date20th Century

MediumWood, pigment

Credit LineEx coll. William S. Arnett

Dimensions28 3/8 x 7 5/16 x 8 1/16 in. (72 x 18.5 x 20.5 cm)

Object number1994.004.689

Label TextThis figure exhibits the general geometric body shape, raised geometric facial features, and domed head shape common to the masks and figures of the Widekum sculptural tradition. The top of the head, badly weathered and insect-damaged, may have had a crest like those found on many Widekum masks. This figure is probably from an ancestral shrine.
Exhibition HistoryCameroon: An Exhibition of African Art from the Collection of William and Robert Arnett, Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 16 - March 20, 1977
Three Rivers of Nigeria: Art of the Lower Niger, Cross, and Benue from the Collection of William and Robert Arnett, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 1978
Art of Nigeria from the William S. Arnett Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, October 15, 1994 - January 2, 1995
The Art of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Michael C. Carlos Museum, November 8, 1997 - January 4, 1998
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, Rotation 3, September 26, 1998 - Spring 2003
Published ReferencesMarcilene K. Wittmer, Cameroon: An Exhibition of African Art from the Collection of William and Robert Arnett (Charlotte, NC: Mint Museum, 1977), 55, number 92.
Marcilene K. Wittmer and William Arnett, Three Rivers of Nigeria: Art of the Lower Niger, Cross and Benue (Atlanta: The High Museum of Art, 1978), 80-81, number 190.

ProvenanceEx coll. William S. Arnett (1939-2020), Atlanta, Georgia, by 1977.

Status

Not on view

Collections