Figure féminine debout "blolo bla" ou "asie usu"

Description

wood, miniature glass beads, pigment residues, inventory no. “2”, sacrificial traces, missing part, base

We suspect that this figure may have come from the property of Paul Guillaume (1891-1934). The base and the somewhat lax nomenclature would seem to support this. Guillaume gave many African works on commission to Francis Valentine Dudensing (1892-1967), who exhibited them together with important works of modern art in his gallery in New York (from 1927 Valentine Gallery), which opened in 1926.

“Blolo bla” (female partner from the afterlife) are individual protective figures who are kept favourably disposed by sacrificial offerings. The “asie usu” belong to the property of a fortune teller who has to handle them with care in order to get their support. They are displayed between the fortune teller and the client during a public performance. They act as intermediaries between man and bush spirits.