FIGURE D’ANCÊTRE HEMBA, NIEMBO DE LA LUIKA,... - Lot 62 - Binoche et Giquello

Hemba ancester figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo
H. 24 in - L. 7,5 in
Provenance:
- American private collection
- Jean-Claude Bellier, Paris
- Pierre Dartevelle, Bruxelles
Exhibition:
- The Inner Eye: Vision and Transcendence in African Arts: LACMA, 26 février-9 juillet 2017
- Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 19 septembre 2011-29 janvier 2012
- Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic
Sculptures, Rietberg Museum, Zurich, 26 février-3 juin 2012
Publication:
-Alisa LaGamma, Helden Afrikas: Ein neuer Blick auf die Kunst, Zurich, Rietberg Musuem, 2012, p. 260-261, fig. 222
-Alisa LaGamma, Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011, pp. 260-261, fig 222
Bibliography:
Close to the Ancestor Figure of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from the former Luciano Lanfranchi's collection.
The Hemba sculptors' famous ancestor effigies have granted them their reputation.
Few of them exist, and they uniquely express the spirit of the great royal families who left the forest areas to settle in the vast plains of the eastern part of Congo, Maniema and northern Katanga. A handful of southern Niembo workshops achieved an unmatched level of perfection and balance. The sculpture shown here is among the major works from these workshops.
The standing effigy is carved from medium-heavy wood, probably Chlorophora excelsa. With its 61 cm high and 19 cm wide, the statue is covered with a dark, shiny and very old patina. The oval-shaped face with full, rounded features, highlights a smooth forehead rising to the top of the skull. This stylistic element symbolises wisdom and authority. The almond-shaped eye cavities are carved in relief, the eyes are half-closed, slightly slanted, and with upper eyelid is more protuberant. In what that has been called the art of sleep, the expression brings out the vigilance of the ancestor, looking towards another world and attentive to his people. The bridge of the nose is slender and curved like an eagle's beak. Below the nose, the mouth seems to be closed, with well-shaped, slightly fleshy lips. The chin is rounded. The ear is circular with a round piece in the center. The four-lobed headdress is tilted towards the rear in a style characteristic of the Luika workshops. It is tied in two double braids in a semi-circle passing under two horizontal braids. The horizontal braids are set across the rear lobe of the headdress.
According to tradition, the heroes of these princely families kept seeds to be planted there during the short migratory periods in the dry season. The headdress was common throughout the region in an infinite variety of shapes and positions. Under the cylindrical neck with its protruding Adam's apple, the shoulders have been gently carved and joined to the thorax area, which is split on the left-hand side. The thorax is separated from the rounded belly, tapered below the arms. The arms are harmoniously parted to protect the sides of the navel area, recalling how much the clan hero watches over his people, like a mother watching over the child in her womb. Diagonal markings decorate the abdomen, a sign of the ancestral effigies from the Luika workshops. The back is smooth and curved, the spine is hollowed out, the shoulder blades well shaped. The buttocks are outlined in a circle. The legs, with the lower part now missing, are firm and curved around a valiant and circumcised penis.
Isometric rhythm highlights the stable character of this peaceful and serene posture. Artistic harmony is especially noticeable in the proportions given to the torso, growing smaller near the arms, bigger near the belly and creating the overall effect of the curved movement of a Greek amphora.
This masterful sculpture is linked to the Luika workshop by several similar works. Among them, we can mention the effigy at the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Congo (IMNC), collected in the Mbulula area; the work in the Art Institute of Chicago, collected near Kongolo; the effigy at the Kunsthaus in Zurich, acquired in 1940 from the Hans Coray collection, originally from the northern area of Niembo, and the work at the Vranken-Hoet in Brussels. In this group, this particular ancestral figure is exceptional and probably dates from the early 20th century.
François Neyt