Baule Male Figure, Côte d'Ivoire

The present figure stands solidly, hands joined, with a serene expression. His eyes appear to gaze downwards, in what could be interpreted as a sign of introspection. The smooth, finely patinated surface of this figure along with the detailed coiffure and delicate ornamentations carefully carved on the figure’s chest and proper left arm indicate health, productivity, and the desire to please. In short, he represents an exemplary member of and contributor to Baule society. 

LaGamma explains: "From a Baule perspective, human experience evolves out of and remains inextricably tied to the ancestral world (blolo) - referred to as 'the village of truth' - which controls and determines the fate of the living. Blolo affects the quality of harvests or the availability of game as well as the physical well-being and fertility of members of the community. The underlying causes and solutions to collective and individual difficulties that arise are relayed by diviners. This information [was believed to be revealed to the diviners] by the omniscient gods and ancestors within blolo through various methods, such as dreams, dances performed while in trance, and several divinatory instruments [...]. Diviners commission[ed] figurative works as a means of attracting [the attention of bush sprits, called asye usu] and bringing them out of the bush and into the village. The sculpture is described as asye usu's 'stool,' because the spirit uses it as a resting point. Such works represent idealized male or female figures in their prime, which the asye usu consider desirable forms to inhabit." Artists commissioned with the creation of sculptures used in divination had to closely follow the instructions of the diviners who might have been told certain details about the figure's required physical appearance, posture, scarification marks, jewelry and hairstyle by the asye usu bush spirit itself, often during a dream. (Alisa LaGamma, Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination, New York, 2000, p. 23).