Male Figure
Totokro Master
by 1931
Medium
wood
Dimensions
44.8 × 9.3 × 7.7 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the African Art Sponsors of Karamu House
Accession Number
1931.204
Tags
male
About this artwork
Purported to be the earliest surviving work by a Baule carver who art historians have dubbed the "Totokro Master," this Male Figure typically comes as a pair of male and female sculptures, and serves as a bridge between the spirit (asye usu) and human worlds in the hand of Baule diviners. Representing idealized humans in their prime, the diviners consider them suitable forms used to cast out disruptive spirits. It is featured here without the female example. The African Art Sponsors—a group of d...