In Metoko societies, paired male and female figures representing husband and wife were used in initiation rites to confer the status of kasimbi, one of the highest ranks within the association called Bukota, whose membership included both men and women. The paired figures provided behavioral models, encouraged healing, and promoted peace. The Richmans have made […]
Male and female pairs such as these two sculptures are placed on altars to secure ancestral blessings. The paired figures also recall the primordial couple described in Dogon oral histories and creation myths from whom all subsequent generations descended. The rather severe, abstract forms of these two figures echo one another. The proportions of their […]
These two sculptures were carved as commemorative portraits. As was common all across sub-Saharan Africa for centuries, sculptors memorialized eminent men and women with figurative sculptures. The subjects of commemorative portraits are often idealized and their figures are carved according to local aesthetic formulations to reflect fundamental cultural values. The heads of both of these […]
