Skip to main content

Kneeling Figure of a Woman

CultureVili
Date19th century
MediumWood, iron, brass tacks, glass, textile, fiber, symbolic substances, tukula, kaolin, black pigment
DimensionsOverall: 8 × 3 × 3 inches (20.32 × 7.62 × 7.62 cm)
Credit LineGift of Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg Jr.
Object number2013.42.27
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionThe kneeling figure of a woman with the hands resting on the knees. The head and body are red with tukula. Four-lobed blackened coiffure above a realistic face with glass eyes. A piece of cloth is stuck in the mouth, another one between the legs. Iron ring around the neck. Wide shoulders, round breasts, a geometrical pattern on the abdomen whitened with kaolin. Several carved bangles on each wrist, plus loose bracelets of braided fiber and of cloth containing magico-symbolic substances. Brass tacks in the legs and around the square base.Provenance

Leo M. W. van Oosterom (1937-1987), The Hague and Amsterdam, Netherlands, by 1984 [1];

With Marc Leo Félix, Brussels, Belgium, stock no. FX981026, by November 13, 1998 [2];

Purchased from Félix by Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr., Mission Hills, KS, 1998-2013;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2013.

NOTES:

[1] According to Marc Leo Félix, in documentation provided at the time of the object’s purchase, NAMA curatorial files. In “La collection Karin & Leo van Oosterom,” Arts d'Afrique Noire, 49 (Spring 1984), p. 31, Raoul Lehuard writes that Leo van Oosterom started collecting African art in 1965.

[2] Félix's stock number is written on the back of the object's base.

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.


Mask
early 20th century
2006.25
Male Fetish Figure
20th century
66-47/7
Fan Dance
Patti Warashina
2017
2023.40.95
Fan Dance
Patti Warashina
2017
2024.9.221
Fan Dance
Patti Warashina
2017
2024.9.220
Emma
Dorothea Tanning
1970
2006.27
Mukudj (Mask)
19th century
2025.33.1
recto overall
end of 19th century
2013.42.25
overall PR side oblique
12th-16th century
2000.31
Daily Prayer
Tip Toland
2010
2014.14
Magician
Nicholas "Nick" Bubash
1998
2023.40.5
Magician
Nicholas "Nick" Bubash
1995
2024.9.10