Half Figure (Nlo Byeri)

Arts of Africa

Late 19th-early 20th century

Fang
Gabon
Central Africa

Among the Fang people, figures that serve as guardians of ancestral remains often conflate features of infants and the elderly, combining the wide-eyed stare and rounded arms and hands of a child with the sunken cheeks and drawn mouth of an old man. These visual oppositions infuse a figure with the vitality and animation that are crucial to its ongoing role as an intermediary with the ancestors.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Fang
Title: Half Figure (Nlo Byeri)
Place: Gabon (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.: 1875–1925
Medium: Wood with oil
Dimensions: 50.2 × 14.6 × 14.9 cm (19 3/4 × 5 3/4 × 5 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wielgus
Reference Number: 1958.302

Ladislas Segy, African Sculpture Speaks (New York: A.A. Weyn, Inc. 1952), p. 192, figs. 80 and 81.
Lasislas Segy. “African Names and Sulpture,” Acta Tropica X, 4 (1953), pp. 19-309, fig. 3a and 3b.
Alan R. Sawyer, African Art: Collection of Raymond Wielgus, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1957), n. pag., cat. 31.
Allan Frumkin, African Sculpture: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wielgus, exh. cat, (Milwaukee, WI.: Layton School of Art, 1957), cat. 33.
Allen Wardwell, Primitive Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1965), n. pag., pl. 55.
Ladislas Segy, African Sculpture Speaks, 3rd edition (New York: Hill and Wang, 1969), pp. 102 and 220, fig. 75.
African Art, exh. cat. (Purdue University Department of Creative Arts, 1970), n. pag., cat. 56.
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” African Arts 32, 4 (Winter 1999), pp. 26-27, fig. 11.
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 52, pp. 136-137 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, African Art: Collection of Raymond Wielgus, April 13–June 16, 1957, cat. 31.
Milwaukee, Wis., Layton School of Art, African Sculpture: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wielgus, Jan. 3-Feb. 9, 1957, cat. 33.
Denver Art Museum, Art of Africa, March 22-May 17, 1964 (no cat.).
West Lafayette, Ind., Purdue University Department of Creative Arts, African Art, April 6-28, 1970, cat. 56.

Ladislas Segy (L. Szecsi; died 1988), Segy Art Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1952 [published in Segy 1952, fig. no. 80 and documented in Affinities of Form, 1996, p. 216]; sold to Raymond Wielgus (died 2010) and Laura Wielgus (died 2003), Chicago, Ill., from 1955 [Affinities of Form, 1996, pg. 216]; given to the Art Institute, 1958.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Suggested Terms

Currently Off View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Culture

Title

Place

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.

Medium

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Provenance

Share

Explore Further

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share