A superb Songe male power figure

standing on hemispherical feet with defined ankles, the overall compact body with muscular bent legs, the pendant phallus beneath a swollen abdomen with blackened navel and three brass nails,  framed by the bent arms held to the sides, the thick neck supporting the spherical head with prognathus jaw, delicate bow-shaped lips and philtrum beneath the flaring nostrils and cowrie shell eyes inset into carved sockets, the ears pierced, the cap-like coiffure pierced transversely with a duiker horn inserted at the crown; old label 'LS 1218 Congo Basonge' on the underside; varied medium reddish brown patina overall.

Georges Braque, Paris
Acquired from Henri L. Schouten, Amsterdam, December 30, 1968

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Museum, Selections from The William W. Brill Colllection of African Art, May 5 - August 31, 1969 (see bibliography for additional venues)

The dialogue between African art and the Modern Art movement at the beginning of the 20th century is well-documented. The Brill Songe figure, once in the collection of Georges Braque, the founder together with Pablo Picasso of the Cubist movement, provides a tangible link to this historic convergence of artistic styles.

As described by Rubin (1984: 307): 'Though Braque is rarely mentioned in connection with "art nègre", primarily because none of the forms in his pictorial vocabulary recall tribal art, even obliquely, Braque was nevertheless an avid collector in his early years and did not mince words in regard to African art's importance for him: "African masks...opened a new horizon to me. They made it possible for me to make contact with instinctive things, with uninhibited feeling that went against the false tradition [late Western illusionism] which I hated".'

It is no surprise that this Songe figure would attract the artist's attention through the directness of its expression and purity of its compressed form. This personal mankishi compares with another, (Sotheby's New York, May 15, 2003, lot 87)  with inset cowrie shell eyes and a honey-brown patina. A specific regional style for the Brill Songe is difficult to pinpoint due to the multiplicity of chiefdoms and particular requirements for each sculpture. However, the inclusion of cowrie shell eyes, a horn and copper nails at the navel, all precious materials, suggests the alliance of a chief, smith and a hunter and further indicates that this figure was created for a person of high rank (Hersak 1985: 131).

One of his first and most prized acquisitions Brill took special notice of this Songe figure in a 1969 television interview held in conjunction with the exhibition of his collection in Duluth, Minnesota.