A superb and rare Baga male figure, Republic of Guinea

D'mba, of highly stylized form, the bowed legs cradling the ovoid torso with pendant phallus, the looped arms leading to the narrow head with minimalist features, C-shaped ears and a single crest; blackened partially crusty patina with residue.

John J. Klejman, New York
Acquired from the above in 1977

Very good condition overall; minor abrasions, wear and tear; surface patina on the abdomen smoothened, possibly resulting from a previous attempt to clean the surface; permanently mounted on base.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The Baga people live along Africa's western Atlantic coast in what is today the Republic of Guinea. Oral traditions recall how the ancestors of the Baga were driven out of their homeland in the highlands of the mountainous Fouta Djallon region in the interior of Guinea. According to this tradition, the Baga were expelled by the Islamic Fulbe people because of their refusal to convert to Islam, and also because their farming lifestyle was incompatible with the destructive cattle-herding practices of the intruders. Written history and archaeology confirm the historic validity of these accounts and place the beginning of the Baga diaspora sometime before the 15th century. See Lamp (1996: 49 et seq.) for further discussion.

According to Lamp (loc. cit.: 155), the arrival of the Baga people on the Atlantic coast meant a "reinvention of themselves as a people and a culture." In their establishment of a new society, they created a "new and revolutionary art form," the most famous expression of which are the D'mba headdresses (ibid.). For two famous examples see Sweeney (1935: pl. 40, formerly in the collection of Georges Salles, Paris) and Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (accession no. 'MNAN'67.3.1', formerly in the collection of the Musée des Arts Africains et Océaniens, Paris).

D'mba headdresses feature the bust of an elderly woman who has given birth to many children, a fact to which the large pendulent breasts attest, surmounted by a voluminous head of cubist features. The full shapes, salient nose, and prominent breasts of classic D'mba headdresses might well have provided an inspirational source to Pablo Picasso during his work on a series of large bronze sculptures generally associated with his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter in 1931-32. As Rubin (1984: 326 et seq.) notes, Picasso had acquired a D'mba headdress in 1925 right after the inception of his relationship with Marie-Thérèse, and the formal analogies between his shoulder mask and works such as Head of a Woman are indeed striking.

D'mba is an image of the quintessential woman. However, D'mba represents neither a deity, nor an ancestor, nor a spiritual being. Instead, it has been described as an "idea" representing "beauty, comportment, righteousness, dignity, and social duty" (Lamp, loc. cit.: 158-159 with 155 bottom). The iconography has been interpreted as giving testimony to the fact of cultural re-invention of the Baga in the diaspora, for "the female often stands in this region as a metaphor for the establishment of culture" (loc. cit.: 155). The existence of both female and male D'mba figures supports this interpretation, "suggesting that the ideal that D'mba represents crosses gender lines" (loc. cit.: 160, text to fig. 142). D'mba, in fact, "represented the unattainable. The beauty, goodness, and high comportment that were epitomized was beyond what any woman - or man - could be" (loc. cit.: 180).

The function of anthropomorphic figures such as the Rosenthal D'mba figure is still subject to research, as very few are known. Based on their iconography, however, one can assume that they stood in close proximity to the ideal incorporated in D'mba headdresses. The earliest of these figures to arrive in Europe was collected in 1884 by Lt. Coffinières de Norveck and is today in the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (accession no. '78.3.1'). This figure, of similar size as the Rosenthal figure, has an oily soothing surface, suggesting it was subjected to repeated application of oil. Similar treatments are known from other Baga statuary, e.g., shrine objects such as the a-Tshool/Nach/Elek, which received ritual offerings (see Sotheby's, New York, May 16, 2008, lot 53 for an example from the Dinhofer Collection). The dark brown, partially encrusted patina of the Rosenthal figure suggests that it formerly had a similar oily patina, on top of which accumulated a layer of dust and soot.

For comparision see the following examples with early collecting history: a female figure in Einstein (1915: pl. 45); a male and female figure formerly in the collection of Pablo Picasso (by 1918, see Stepan 2006: 50, figs. 10 and 11, cats. 37 and 38); a male and female couple in the Fred and Rita Richman Collection (Lamp, loc. cit.: 181, fig. 171); and a female figure formerly in the collection of the British sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein (Bassani and McLeod 1989: 80, no. 9).