Horn

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Late 19th-early 20th century

Kuba
Kasai region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

Drinking horns and cups are among the many insignia that have denoted status in the highly hierarchical Kuba society since the kingdom’s foundation in the 17th century. This wooden sculpture—decorated with raised geometric and figural designs—imitates the horn of a buffalo, an animal that stands for the powerful, untamed wilderness and is therefore associated with both rulers and warriors.

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

Culture: Kuba
Title: Horn
Place: Democratic Republic of the Congo (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.: 1850–1899
Medium: Wood, copper alloy, and iron
Dimensions: 39.4 × 44.5 × 11.4 cm (15 1/2 × 17 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of George F. Harding
Reference Number: 1928.173
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/88689/manifest.json

Alain Locke. Blondiau-Theatre Arts Collection of Primitive African Art (introduction), exh. cat. (New York: The New Art Circle/Theater Arts Monthly, 1927), cat. no. 156.
Alain Locke. “A Collection of Congo Art” in The Arts 11, 2 (1927), pp. 61-70 (ill.).
Harlem Museum of African Art, The Negro in Art Week: Nov. 16 -23, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1927), cat. 3 (ill.).
Helen F. MacKenzie. “A Group of Primitive Carvings in Wood and Horn,” in Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 24, 1 (Jan. 1930.) p. 8-9, 6 (object mentioned, illustrated p. 16).
Richard F. Townsend and Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “The Art Institute of Chicago New Galleries for African Art and Indian Art of the Americas,” in Tribal Arts XVI:1, 62 (Winter 2011), p. 60, fig. 3.
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “Changing Place, Changing Face: A History of African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display, ed. Katheleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke (University of Washington Press, 2010), pp. 150-167 (ill. fig 7.3).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 58, pp. 144-145 (ill.).

New York, The New Art Circle, Bondiau-Theatre Arts Collection of Primitive African, Feb. 7-March 5, 1927, cat. no. 156 (not illustrated).
Children’s Museum at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Negro in Art Week: Primitive and Modern, lent by Harlem Museum of African Art [Blondiau Collection of African Art], Nov. 16-Dec. 1, 1927, cat. 3 (ill.); traveled to Rochester, N.Y., the Memorial Art Gallery.
Iowa, Junior Art Museum of Des Moines, Baga to Batabwo: Safari in Art, Oct. 19–Dec. 9, 1958.
West Lafayette, Ind., Purdue University Department of Creative Arts, African Art, April 6-28, 1970.

Raoul Blondiau, Brussels, Belgium, by 1925 [acquired between 1900 to 1925 according to Blondiau-Theatre Arts Collection, exh. cat., 1927]; sold to Theatre Arts, Inc. (Theatre Arts Monthly), New York, N.Y., Nov. 1926 [according to Blondiau-Theatre Arts Collection, exh. cat.1927; Deacon 1981]; sold to the Art Institute, 1928.

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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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