Cleveland Museum of Art

Male Figure from a Pair (asye usu)

Date

late 1800s–early 1900s

Medium

Wood, resin, glass beads, plant fiber, and metal

Culture

Africa, West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Baule-style carver

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Baule figures carved as pairs usually represent untamed spirits of the wilderness called asye usu. These spirits may intervene in the lives of individuals by taking possession of them. If this possession does not result in madness, it can lead to the human host’s becoming a diviner who can enter into a trance to reveal the causes of ailments and other misfortunes. People who feel their lives are being interrupted by the asye usu commission carvings representing idealized male and female forms whose grace and beauty in both anatomy and adornment will seduce the spirits and compel them to use the sculptures as their temporary homes. Baule artists looked to the world around them to capture contemporary ideas and ideals of beauty; this figure's hairstyle would have been worn when the sculpture was carved.

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