Figural Staff

Public Domain

Probably late 19th century

Baule
Côte d’Ivoire
Coastal West Africa

Until the 1950s, along the eastern edge of the Baule region carved staffs like this example were made to honor important ancestors. That practice has given way to rituals focusing on stools and gold inherited from deceased family members. In the example displayed here an idealized male figure is seated on a stool, with three faces below him that may symbolize wealth in the form of wives. The drum carved farther down likely alludes to success in battle.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Baule
Title: Figural Staff
Place: Côte d'Ivoire (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1875–1900
Medium: Wood and iron
Dimensions: H.: 160 cm (63 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Bernice Hirsch, William Hartmann, and Mr. and Mrs. Herbert R. Molner in memory of Milton Hirsch; African and Amerindian Art Purchase Fund
Reference Number: 1985.62
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/103909/manifest.json

Susan M. Vogel. Baule: African Art/Western Eyes, exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery, 1997, pg. 202 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 28, pp. 86-87 (ill.).

New Haven, Conn., Yale University Art Gallery, Baule: African Art/Western Eyes, Aug. 30, 1997–Jan. 4, 1998; traveled to Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 14–May 10, 1998, New York, Museum for African Art, Sept. 11, 1998–Jan. 3, 1999, Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Feb. 9–May 16, 1999, pp. 202-203 (ill.).

Milton and Bernice Hirsch, Chicago, Ill, by 1970 [on loan to the AIC as 170.1970 from July 1970 through July 1973 documented in curatorial file; acquisition justification by R. Townsend, 1985; undated photographic documentation of work]; consigned to Robert Barry, Chicago, IL [shipping order documented in curatorial file]. Michael Wyman Gallery, Chicago, Ill., by 1985 [acquisition documentation in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1985.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.