Double-Figure (Primary Title)
Soompa, Chamba, active 1920s - 1940s (Artist)
As the works in this case illustrate, sculptors in eastern Nigeria are noted for creating expressive and abstract figures and masks. Chamba figures, which represent individual ancestors or the collective dead, tend to be stiff and columnar in style. Some unite male and female by carving a forked tree branch. The carver Soompa broke from this older mode and created more dynamic figures. His most distinctive works depict a man and woman joined at the waist standing on a pair of common legs, while their arms capture the animation of dance. Only eight or nine double figures by Soompa are known to exist. His style was emulated by other artists, but their works lack the vitality of those by Soompa’s own hand.
Gift of Robert and Nancy Nooter
Nigeria, Arts de la vallee de la Benoule. Musee du quai Branly. November 12, 2012 - January 27, 2013.
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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