OBJECT HISTORY
65
efficacy as objects that bring the power of the ancestors
to bear on their living descendants.
This exhibition offers African art lovers a
unique opportunity for close looking at an extraordinary
group of artworks that, for the most
part, have never before been exhibited. Much as
Dahomey art scholar Gaëlle Beaujean-Baltzer addressed
the unique artist styles of Dahomey court
arts in her 2009 work, Artistes d’Abomey: Dialogue
sur un royaume africain, so too here we see
the unique ways in which each artist addresses
works in this genre and the stunning ways that
they individually handle iron, a notably difficult
material to fashion.
Asen: Mémoires forgés à fer dans l’Art Vodun du Dahomey
November 21, 2018–May 19, 2019
Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva
www.barbier-mueller.ch
FIG. 12 (above): Asen by the Master of the Long Tunic.
Ouidah, Republic of Benin. Late 19th–early 20th century.
Iron and cuprous alloy. H: 114 cm.
Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva, inv. 1010-54.
A man in a long tunic sits on a wide-armed stool holding a staff. In front is a
twisted cord, a reference to family filiation. On one side is a blacksmith’s anvil
and on the other is a snake grasping a frog. A Maltese-form cross stands at the
rear.
FIG. 11 (above): Stool,
katake. Dahomey, Republic
of Benin.
Wood. H: 19 cm.
Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva,
inv. 1010-17.
Stools of this type were used by
queens, queen mothers, chiefs,
priests, and diviners.
FIG. 10 (left): Royal
djandemen throne.
Dahomey, Republic of
Benin.
Wood. H: 76 cm.
Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva,
inv. 1010-19.
Stools of this type were used by
kings and elite ministers.
/www.barbier-mueller.ch