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MUMUYE SCULPTURE 133 In doing so, the complexity, heterogeneity, and pluralism of Mumuye culture and its diverse art become all the more apparent. The way in which Mumuye sculptors represent a human fi gure is based on formal conventions that probably not only differ from group to group but even within each group, as the depiction of the internal proportions of body parts can vary. Some fi gures thus show proportions that more or less correspond with actual human anatomy, while other sculptors purposely altered the scale of the various components. In most African carving, attention is typically devoted to the representation of the head, but Mumuye statues differ in that many have a relatively small head. The torso and arms make up the bulk of the statue, not only in terms of their size but also in the way they are fi nished. Some exceptions notwithstanding, the legs tend to be short in relation to the torso and arms and are often sculpted with less detail. Mumuye carvers devote great care to the rendering of the arms. Most fi gures have long arms that more or less encapsulate or wrap the torso, though the hands typically do not touch the torso or belly. The proportions and shape of the arms vary greatly. Some are rendered relatively realistically, while others are more abstract with fl attened sides, making them appear wing-like. The shaping of the arms often provides a sense of motion, although at times they are reduced to rigid lozenges Mumuye artists build up their fi gures in an architectural manner. The shape of the various body parts is abstracted, and the overall form is clearly more important than the details. The volumes of the extremities of the torso, the shoulders, and the hips often form an hourglass shape, since they are almost mirror images of each other. By superimposing related formal volumes in a repetitive manner, the carver realizes a remarkable sculptural rhythm. The combination of this rhythm with the elliptical profi le of the arms and the negative space between the upper limbs and the torso creates a unique and inventive way to represent the human fi gure. The use of negative space between the arms and the torso represents the most important sculptural feature of a Mumuye fi gure. Tall, narrow statues have a smaller space between the arms and the


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