Ashanti
Artist
Robert C. Turner
(American, 1913 - 2005)
Date1975
MediumStoneware with glaze
DimensionsOverall: 12 × 16 inches (30.48 × 40.64 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Lennie and Jerry Berkowitz Collection
Object number2002.19.1 A,B
SignedSigned on base: "Turner"
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionCovered stoneware wheel-thrown pot with large flared lip and applied decoration on body and top; two circles interlinked for finial; whole covered in thick gunmetal glazeGallery LabelRobert Turner describes his Ashanti pieces, named after a culture in Ghana, as works that reflect his African travels: "It's how you bring your experience into your hands and find where it comes out." For Turner, what resulted were vessels combining his recollections of solidly built earth huts with conical roofs and ceremonial pots with looped handles. The object's incised marks and applied designs refer to the African tradition of scarification patterns, unspecific symbolic motifs and the practice of repairing pots with strips of clay, considered an enhancement to a pot.
Copyright© Estate of Robert Chapman Turner / Rosalind Turner Zuses
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