mother with children figure, unrecorded Oyo artist

Artwork Overview

unrecorded Oyo artist, mother with children figure
unrecorded Oyo artist, mother with children figure
unrecorded Oyo artist
mother with children figure
mid 1900s
unrecorded Oyo artist, artist
mother with children figure, mid 1900s
Where object was made: Central Oyo, Nigeria
Material/technique: carving; wood; paint
Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 54 x 21 x 32 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 21 1/4 x 8 1/4 x 12 5/8 in
Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. Kenneth Palmer
Accession number: 2007.3220
Not on display
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Label texts

Motherhood constitutes an important and popular subject for artistic expression in many African communities. Women and children are often the subjects of sculptures carved by the Oyo peoples for worship in household shrines. The nursing mother depicted in this example wears her hair in an elaborately styled coiffure and bears evidence of facial scarification on each cheek—details that suggest a personal portrait of a unique individual woman and her child, rather than an idealized symbol. Graphic and personal depictions of motherhood are echoed on the carved chair rung, which depicts a Chokwe woman in the throes of childbirth. The birth scene would have connected the owner of the chair—likely a sacred throne—to notions of fertility and the continuation of the Chokwe peoples.

Exhibitions

Inventing Childhood
Cassandra Mesick Braun, curator
2016–2017