Fang
Gabon
Central Africa
Half Figure (Nlo Byeri)
INV-8027
Fang
Gabon
Central AfricaLate 19th-early 20th century
Half Figure (Nlo Byeri)
Fang Gabon Central Africa →fangArts of Africaafrican ArtCentral Africasculpturewood
Date
Late 19th-early 20th century
Medium
Wood with oil
Dimensions
50.2 × 14.6 × 14.9 cm (19 3/4 × 5 3/4 × 5 7/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wielgus
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.
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