Asie usu Baule statue, Ivory Coast Wood H. 36.5... Lot 38

Asie usu Baule statue, Ivory Coast Wood H. 36.5 cm Provenance : Private collection, France Bibliography : Vogel Susan Mullin, "People of Wood: Baule Figure Sculpture", Art Journal, vol. 33, no. 1, 1973, pp. 23-26. To appease the often indomitable and mischievous temperament of the bush spirits, statuettes, whose remarkable beauty activated their effectiveness, were fashioned. The Komyen diviner-healers, having acquired their status through possession by these genies, communicate with these higher forces during divination sessions. Carved in the image of Man, asie usu statuettes constitute a tangible link between the terrestrial world and celestial entities. As receptacles for these tormented spirits, they must, like our effigy, assume the highest aesthetic and moral qualities, with archetypal features expressing beauty, wealth and power. The female figure is depicted standing in a conventional pose, her stability assured by wide feet and firm, shapely legs, her well-fingered hands placed around the prominent umbilicus beneath her generous, drooping bosom. While the facial features are somewhat blurred by the thick, crusty sacrificial patina covering the effigy - almost blending in with the raised keloids on the face and neck - it does not detract from the expression of dignity contained in the half-closed eyes and pursed-lipped mouth. Behind the apparent beauty of these statuettes lies a masked and tamed ugliness, in keeping with the principle of balanced duality that governs the Baule universe, and it is in this ambivalence that the fascination of the sculptures from asie usu ultimately lies.