Songye Male Power Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo

painted in white with inventory number (from Antwerp 1937): "807 / RR 17"

Robert Reisdorff (1885-1949), Brussels, former Director General of the Ministerie van Koloniën, 1930s or earlier
Private Belgian Collection, by descent from the above
Marc Leo Felix, Brussels, acquired from the above
Myron Kunin, Minneapolis, acquired from the above on April 10, 1989

Stadsfeestzaal, Antwerp, Tentoonstelling van Kongo-Kunst, December 24, 1937 - January 16, 1938

Frans M. Olbrechts, Tentoonstelling van Kongo-Kunst, Antwerp, 1937, p. 55, no. 807
Dunja Hersak, Songye Masks and Figure Sculpture, London, 1985, p. 156, pl. 111

Good condition for an object of this type and age. Marks, nicks, scratches, abrasions, dents, small chips, and wear consistent with age and ritual handling. Shallow losses (insect damage to back proper left side of head and neck. Age cracks extending from top of head into proper right side of the head, and down the center of the spine. Erosion to underside of integrally-carved base, with an opening between the heels; a segment behind this opening has been broken and glued. Attachments are dry, fragile, fraying, and with losses, as expected with such materials. Cowrie eyes replaced. Exceptionally fine rubbed dark brown glossy patina.
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In 1937, the Belgian art historian Frans Olbrechts arranged an exhibition of Congolese art at the City Festival Hall in Antwerp.  As Els de Palmanaer notes: “In the 1937-38 exhibition of Congolese art [at Antwerp] sixty-five objects were assembled which even then were representative of the various artistic traditions of the Songye peoples, who live in East Kasayi and bordering parts of Katanga and Kivu. […] Although Olbrechts […] distributed Songye works throughout the entire exhibition, it was nonetheless his intention to allow the visitor of 1937 to get to know one of the most interesting ‘transitional stylistic areas’ of the Belgian Congo.  The majority of the works from the Songye stylistic area ended up ‘as a bridge between the Kuba and the Luba peoples’, in the section of the Luba complex, which to Olbrechts meant ‘the stylistic area between the Great Lakes of the east and the Lomami in the west.’  Because he could not place the exact boundaries with certainty, Olbrechts included the peripheral Songye stylistic area in the core area of the Luba style – a division he regarded as temporary, for it was clear to him that in the future the Songye style would come to be identified as a separate entity.  […]  Most strongly represented were the male standing figures (mankishi)."

The present figure was owned, and probably collected in situ, by the Belgian Robert Reisdorff, who held a number of different colonial posts in the Congo. Previously district administrator of Kand-Kand, and judge and governor of Katanga, he was by 1937 Director General of the Ministry of Colonies, and loaned a number of Songye figures to the 1937 exhibition. The Reisdorff figure relates to a group of sculptures which based upon their morphological similarities can be attributed to a single Songye sculptor or workshop, including a female statue recorded in the collection of Gaston Heenen by 1925 (see Neyt 2004: 183, fig. 148).  These sculptures are characterized by an unusually naturalistic, fleshy face with a plank chin, stocky overall proportions, rounded bodies, and finely rounded stylized rings making up the neck.  The presence of rounded forms suggests that this sculptor was close to, or influenced by, the related Luba peoples.  The deep aged patina of the present figure, as well as the extensive wear and insect cavities, suggest that it was of significant age when it reached Europe in the 1930s or earlier.