Female Figure

Arts of Africa

Early 20th century

Nyamwezi
Sikonge, Tanzania
Eastern and Southern Africa

The commanding size of this elongated figure differentiates it from other Nyamwezi figures in museum collections. It was made in seven pieces that can be assembled easily into an asymmetrical and off-balanced pose. Some hallmarks of Nyamwezi art are expressed in this sculpture, including unsettling references to crippling infirmity in the form of a goiter (an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid near the throat), awkwardly bent legs, knobby joints, and blocky feet.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Nyamwezi
Title: Female Figure
Place: Tanzania (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.: 1900–1950
Medium: Wood and metal
Dimensions: 166.4 × 79.4 × 14 cm (65 1/2 × 31 1/4 × 5 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Helen and Sam Zell
Reference Number: 2012.496

Gary van Wyk, “The Nyamwezi in the Context of the Art of Western Tanzania, in Shangaa: Art of Tanzania, exh. cat., Gary van Wyk, ed. (Queens Community College Art Gallery Press, 2013), pp. 256-257 (ill.).

Unnamed owner, Fundikira family, late 19th to early 20th century; by descent to Chief Abdallahi Saidi Fundikira III (died 2007), Tanzania, by 2007; by descent to his family, 2007. Sold to Christopher McKesson, Tanzania and East Lansing, Mich., 2008; consigned to Axis Gallery, West Orange, N.J. and Brooklyn, N.Y., by 2010; sold to unnamed owner, 2010 [as promised gift to the museum]; given to the Art Institute, 2012.

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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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