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Source Description
Baule figures carved as pairs usually represent untamed spirits of the wilderness called <em>asye usu.</em> 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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
146110
label
Figure Pair (asye usu)
core
obj
dtoType
sculpture
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
146110
contentType
sculpture
title
Figure Pair (asye usu)
description
Baule figures carved as pairs usually represent untamed spirits of the wilderness called <em>asye usu.</em> 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.
date
late 1800s–early 1900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60779160
genreSpecific
Sculpture
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Part 1: 49.5 x 9.1 x 13 cm (19 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 5 1/8 in.); Part 2: 47.7 x 10 x 11 cm (18 3/4 x 3 15/16 x 4 5/16 in.)
cul
Africa, West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Baule-style carver
accession
1971.297
Source extras
tec
Wood, resin, glass beads, plant fiber, and metal
tombstone
Figure Pair (asye usu), late 1800s–early 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Baule-style carver. Wood, resin, glass beads, plant fiber, and metal; part 1: 49.5 x 9.1 x 13 cm (19 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 5 1/8 in.); part 2: 47.7 x 10 x 11 cm (18 3/4 x 3 15/16 x 4 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1971.297
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
Baule artists looked to the world around them to capture contemporary ideas and ideals of beauty; these figures have hairstyles that would have been worn when the sculptures were carved.
citations
citation
Fagg, William, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 1968. <em>African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, no. 85.
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>1972 Year in Review</em>. Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3, cat. 38.
citation
Drewal, Henry John. African Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1989, fig.15.
citation
Petridis, Constantijn. <em>South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. 17, p. 64 - 65
citation
“A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 12
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide.</em> [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 14
creditline
Gift of Katherine C. White
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:29:42.895000
sourceId
146110
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Wood, resin, glass beads, plant fiber, and metal
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
9b75320e7ea8a649