Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Can you Identify this beautiful African wood carving?

From now through November 15th, my vintage wood carvings, as well as everything else in the shop, are discounted 10%.  I have three wood carvings which are Balinese in origin, and one which is African. At least, I believe it is African in origin, but I know little about it. See below:
If you can offer any ideas as to the characteristics which place it in a certain locale, kindly let me know? I think this is a beautiful work of art. I've had it for over thirty-five years and have always wondered.

UPDATE: I looked and looked on the internet. It's really difficult to find information using images only. (That's one thing about technology that I hope gets solved soon.) I found what I believe to be the most that I'll learn (until someone discovers this post who can add more information) about this beautiful wood carving. I found an image of a bookcover and there it was in uncanny similarity, a traditional coiffure of the Fulani people in West and Central Africa, with their trademark cornrows and raised extensions top of head and back of neck...just like the carving! Click on the above link to my etsy shop...you'll get a glimpse of the book "Hair in African Art and Culture" published by the Museum for African Art, New York. I can  finally draw a conclusion based on a cover photo, that the artist who created this carving used a real life woman as a model, and that the origin, the location,is West/Central Africa. After so many decades, I'm so happy to know where this model comes from. 


1 comment:

  1. I found a book, Hair in African Art and Culture,that contains the best information leading to the origin of the African carving of a young woman. Read the UPDATE in the post and see what I mean. I'm stoked!

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