Bamana Zoomorphic Headdress (chiwara, sogoni koun), Mali

Ladislas and Helena Segy, New York, by 1957

Ladislas Segy, "Plastic Aspects of African Sculpture: The Theory of Tension", Etc., Vol. XIV, No. 3, Spring 1957, p. 197, Fig. 4
Ladislas Segy, African Sculpture, New York, 1958, p. 38, fig. 2
Ladislas Segy, African Sculpture Speaks, New York, 1969, p. 149, fig 104
Ladislas Segy, African Sculpture Speaks, New York, 1975, p. 149, fig 104
Dominique Zahan, Antilopes du soleil: arts et rites agraires d'Afrique noire, Vienna, 1980, pl. 49, no. II 5

Good condition for an object of this type and age. Shallow surface erosion throughout. Minor age cracks, marks, nicks, scratches, abrasions and small chips. Fixed to modern wood base with two screws.
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In a characteristically thorough analysis, Ladislas Segy (1957: 198) described the forms of the present sculpture: "In this Bambara [Bamana] antelope there are some naturalistic forms: the body of the anteater, the horn and the ears of the antelope, and an abstraction of the antelope itslef.  But on the body of the antelope there are three straight spines which represent something new - unnecessary from the anatomical point of view, since they do not represent anything.  They are essential parts, however, from the point of view of plastic unity.  If they were eliminated or covered up, there would be only the horn jutting into the air; and the space occupied by these three lines would appear to be empty, as if something were missing.  The sculptor added these three lines to balance the horn and ears, which are at one end of the sculpture and created in this way a wonderful unity of the shapes."