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ART on View 98 spring. Mbembe mother and child figures present an array of inspired interpretations of that formal dynamic. These works portray their subjects as reflective, physically imposing, and regal women posed with straight back, bent elbows and knees, and arms extended so that each hand rests on its corresponding knee. Within that overarching figurative structure, sculptors explored a variety of different approaches through which the child is formally integrated into the composition. In each of these maternal pairings, the somewhat detached mother gazes forward. In one especially monumental example, the vertical form of her powerful torso with squared shoulders is counterbalanced by the horizontal remnants of the drum base and the body of the child that extends across her lap (fig. 11). The child’s head rests on the mother’s left forearm and it grasps and draws sustenance from her left breast. Its legs, bent at the knees, hang over the side of the mother’s right thigh. In another striking variation on the integration of the two figures as vertical and horizontal elements, the child is minimally supported so that it appears to float across the center of the composition (fig. 12). Yet another arrangement positions the child vertically so that it is at once integrated into the negative contours of the mother’s body while echoing her overall form and posture (fig. 13). FIG. 16 (far right top): Seated female figure. Mbembe, Ewayon River region, Cross River Province, Nigeria. 17th–18th century. Provenance: O. Traoré, Lomé, Togo; Hélène Kamer, Paris, 1973– 1974; François Kerbourc’h, Paris, 1974–1994; Michel and Liliane Durand-Dessert, since 1994. Wood. H: 77 cm. Collection Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris. Photo: © Hughes Dubois. FIG. 17 (far right bottom): Seated female figure. Mbembe, Ewayon River region, Cross River Province, Nigeria. 17th–18th century. Provenance: O. Traoré, Lomé, Togo; Hélène Kamer, Paris, 1973– early 1980s; purchased by lender’s family in the early 1980s. Wood. H: 75 cm. Private collection, Paris. Photo: © Dominique Cohas. FIG. 14 (near right top): Seated female figure. Mbembe, Ewayon River region, Cross River Province, Nigeria. 17th–18th century. Provenance: O. Traoré, Lomé, Togo; Hélène Kamer, Paris, 1973– 1974; Count Baudouin de Grunne, Brussels; private collection, France; Entwistle Gallery, London. Wood. H: 82.1 cm. Private collection. Photo: Roger Asselberghs (Studio Dehaen), courtesy of the Bernard de Grunne Archive. FIG. 15 (near right bottom): Seated female figure. Mbembe, Ewayon River region, Cross River Province, Nigeria. 17th–18th century. Provenance: O. Traoré, Lomé, Togo; Hélène Kamer, Paris, 1973– 1974; Patricia Withofs, before 1993; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, since 1993. Wood. H: 82 cm. Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Collection. Photo: Robert Bayer, Basel. FIG. 13: Maternity group: seated mother and child. Mbembe, Ewayon River region, Cross River Province, Nigeria. 17th– 18th century. Provenance: O. Traoré, Lomé, Togo; Hélène Kamer, Paris, 1973. Wood. H: 94 cm. Private collection, Paris. Photo: © Hughes Dubois.


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