Male Ancestor Figure

CultureHemba peoples

Date19th century

MediumWood and stain

DimensionsOverall: 31 3/4 × 9 1/4 × 7 3/4 inches (80.65 × 23.5 × 19.69 cm)

Credit LineGift of Estelle and Morton Sosland in honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Object number81-53

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

African Art

Terms

Exhibition History

A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977–1987, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 14–December 6, 1987, no. 7.

Gallery Label

This dignified bearded figure, once dressed in a cloth wrapper, is a stylized representation of a departed lineage leader. It would have been housed in a clan shrine with other ancestral figures to receive regular offerings and prayers to maintain communication between the living and dead. Ancestor figures of the Hemba, a matrilineal people who trace descent through the maternal line, are primarily male. Yet their characteristic stance, seen here in this figure-hands upon a protruding belly with a prominent navel-symbolizes continuity of the matrilineal bond uniting mothers and sons.

Provenance

With Martial Bronsin, Brussels, Belgium, ca. 1972 [1];

With J. J. Klejman, New York, NY, by June 1973;

Purchased from J. J. Klejman by Estelle (1925-2021) and Morton (1925-2019) Sosland, Kansas City, MO, June 10, 1973-1981;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1981.

NOTES:

[1] According to the African Heritage Documentation and Research Centre database, www.ahdrc.eu, object no. 153672. According to François Neyt, La Grande Statuaire Hemba de Zaïre (Louvain-La-Neuve, Institut Supérieur d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Art, 1977), 108-109, this figure was formerly in a French private collection, but the source of this information and the identity of this French collection is currently unknown.

Published References

François Neyt, La Grande Statuaire Hemba de Zaïre (Louvain-La-Neuve, Institut Supérieur d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Art, 1977), 108-109, (repro.).

Roger Ward, ed., A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977-1987, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1987), 30-31, (repro.).

Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 456-57, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 85, (repro.).

Ellen R. Goheen, The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), 233, (repro.).

Joyce M. Youmans, “African Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,” African Arts 33, no. 4 (Winter 2000), 48, 50-51 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 246-47, (repro.).

Julian Zugazagoitia and Laura Spencer. Director's Highlights: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Celebrating 90 Years, ed. Kaitlyn Bunch (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), 117, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.