Statue, Lobi, Burkina Faso

Collecté par Maurice Piault  (qui avait accompagné les Pères Clamens et Convers à Lataha), vers 1950
Collection Michel Gaud, Saint-Tropez
Bernard Dulon, Paris
Collection Nathalie Chaboche et Guy Porré

Dulon, West Dream, 2003, n° 28

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Pour Daniela Bognolo (2007, p. 52-53), en pays Lobi, seuls les maîtres-sculpteurs sont autorisés à réaliser les effigies d'ancêtres, nommées thilkotina. Ces dernières reflètent donc la quintessence du "style archétypal" propre à chaque groupe culturel Lobi, de même que le talent individuel de leurs auteurs. Ici, les critères fondamentaux de la statuaire Lobi sont interprétés avec une personnalité et une maîtrise telles qu'ils dénotent la "main" d'un sculpteur remarquable, que l'on retrouve dans la célèbre statue féminine de l'ancienne collection Jacques Kerchache (cf. Kerchache, Paudrat, Stephan, 1988, p. 86, n° 40).

Selon l'auteur à propos de la sculpture Kerchache (2007, p. 130, n° 4), « chez les Dagara (dont cette statue présente la conception formelle), la figuration anthropomorphe est étroitement associée à des cultes privés et personnels. Caractérisée par une certaine géométrisation des volumes, elle se distingue par le creusement plus ou moins prononcé de la face, souligné par l'avancée de la petite bouche et du menton pointu. Chaque sculpteur adapte ces traits formels à sa manière d'interpréter la figure humaine en fonction de l'influence de la zone où il pratique ».

A la souplesse de la pose et à la fluidité des membres répond ici la saisissante prégnance du visage, dont la force des traits stylisés - face radicalement épannelée, profondément creusée et aboutissant à la petite bouche tout juste signifiée, larges yeux aux paupières baissées - semble entièrement dédiée à l'expression de l'intériorité.

Quelques sculpteurs renommés ont marqué de leur main la - rare - statuaire du groupe Dagara, dont Mahire Somé (ca 1800 - ca 1880), maître du style dit de "zéon" (Bognolo, idem, p. 58). Si l'auteur de l'étroit corpus auquel se rattachent cette sculpture et celle de l'ancienne collection Jacques Kerchache demeure inconnu, la profonde patine du bois dur et l'aspect de la patine sacrificielle témoignent d'une époque similaire.

Lobi figure, Burkina Faso

According to Daniela Bognolo (2007, p. 52-53), throughout Lobi country only master-sculptors were allowed to create the ancestor effigies known as thilkotina. Therefore the latter are quintessential specimens of the "archetypal style" of each Lobi community, as well as of the talent of their creators. In this piece the essential characteristics of the Lobi statuary are interpreted with such singularity and command that they denote the "hand" of a remarkable sculptor, which can also be seen in the famous female figure from the former Jacques Kerchache collection (cf. Kerchache, Paudrat, Stephan, 1988, p. 86, n° 40).

According to Bognolo - writing about the Kerchache statue -  (2007, p. 130, n° 4), " for the Dagara (whose formal design principles are exemplified in this figure) anthropomorphic figuration is closely associated with private and personal worship. Its distinctive features are its predominantly geometric volumes and the more or less pronounced hollow of the face emphasised by the small pouting mouth and the pointed chin. Each sculptor adapts these formal features depending on the way he depicts the human figure, in accordance with the area where he works."

In this piece, the liveliness of the stance and the lithe limbs provide a strong base for the striking power of the face, whose forceful stylised features - a radically shaped, deeply hollowed face leading down to a small, barely carved mouth and up to large downcast eyes - seem entirely dedicated to the expression of interiority.

Certain sculptors have had an impact on the rare body of Dagara statuary. Mahire Somé (ca. 1800 – ca. 1880) is one of them: a master of the so-called "zeon" style (Bognolo, ibid, p. 58). Although the creator of the restricted corpus from which this sculpture and the example from the Jacques Kerchache collection originate remains unknown, the deep patina of the hard wood and the appearance of the sacrificial patina are both proof that they were carved during the same period.