ETHAF 039135

sculpture anthropomorphe

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039135
Blolo bian mystic spouse
Ivory Coast
Baule. Late 19th - early 20th century
Wood, patina
Gift of Edgar Aubert de la Rüe in 1977; collected in 1926
MEG Inv. ETHAF 039135
La définition de la statuaire classique baule se lit dans chacun des traits de cette figure masculine : Le corps musclé au long torse campé sur des jambes puissantes, le raffinement de la haute coiffure coquée, la délicatesse des scarifications et de la barbiche torsadée, la patine luisante. Il s’agit d’offrir à son conjoint mystique une représentation idéale, la quintessence de la beauté.

Aujourd’hui recouvertes de peintures industrielles inaltérables et criardes, les statuettes de conjoints mystiques participent toujours de la vie sentimentale des hommes et les femmes baule jusqu’à leur décès. Alors, leur image sculptée perd sa valeur sacrée, elle n’est plus honorée et peut être gardée en souvenir du défunt, abandonnée ou cédée.

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Registres d'inventaires historiques

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Inventaire original MEG. Registres tapuscrits, volumes 19 à 59
Registres_tapuscrits/39135 - C.I. 18.pdf

 

West Africa

Deprived of their costumes, adornments, torchlight and rhythmic movements, the "masks" are no longer what they were when they danced in their original context; in the museum they become mere fragments. But they escape from their dry ethnic classification to conjure up some of the great cults of sub-Saharan Africa which have existed alongside Islam since the eleventh century.

Sculpting the Invisible to Make It Tangible

Like the carved masks, the anthropomorphic statues of the great Baule country evoke invisible powers, divinities and the spirits of nature, which influence human life. Other spiritual beings, such as the ancestors, never take on a human appearance.

In the blolo, a universe parallel to the world of the living, beings are joined to Baule men and women in an indissoluble marriage that takes precedence over their earthly unions. These "mystic spouses" are represented by statuettes with idealised features, which are showered with presents and attentions in the hope of satisfying the blolo bla (blolo woman) or the blolo bian (blolo man) and escaping their jealousy.

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