Tambaran Gallery's fall 2022 exhibition reflects the vast carving styles, attributes, and beauty depicting women across Africa Continent. On view from September 15 to October 29, 2022.
"Woman Sublime" follows Tambaran Gallery's first exhibit and publication, "Woman Eternal," in October 1991, with the assistance of friends and collaborator Alfred Sheinberg and Allen Wardwell as a continued pursuit of African female sculpture added to Zarember's collection.
Woman
Sublime
The exhibition was conceived initially years ago from Tambaran gallery founder and director Maureen Zarember's love of Baule female figures. Over the years, her appreciation widened to include all African women sculptures across the Nation.
The numerous and varied body scarification, facial expression, coiffure, jewelry, stance, and posture are all from the imagination of brilliant African male carvers who have created these women for us to admire.
Provenance
Africa - Democratic Republic of the Congo
Yombe Seated Maternity Figure Holding a Child in Her Lap (Phemba), 19th Century 13Woodinches (height)
Description
Ex Private Collection, New York
Ex Frieda and Milton Rosenthal Collection, New York
Ex Germaine Rodier Collection, Paris
This elegant light-colored wood sculpture shows fine carved scarifications on the body of the woman and filed teeth as sign of beauty.
Ex John J. Klejman Collection, New York (1975)
Ex Gauthard Family Collection, France, acquired in 1968
Attié Maternity Figure, Abstract Face and Body, Late 19th Century-Early 20th Century Wood, koalin, and beads
Description
A light-colored wood sculpture with a fine overall patina. The seated figure is adorned with multi strands of trade beads at her neck and waist. She is seated on a raised stool and her carved braid hangs down her back. There are traces of white koalin powder, which would have covered the figure through libation. The sculpture is from the Ivory Coast of Africa from the Attié people int he Lagoons area
Provenance
Africa - Ivory Coast
18 in x 5 ½ inches
Ex Private Collection, New York
Africa - Ivory Coast
Attié Large Seated Female, Holding A Drum / Basket On Her Head, Early 20th Century-Early 20th Century 30Woodinches (height)
Provenance
Africa - Democratic Republic of the Congo
Vili Seated Female Aristocratic Woman Ritually Sacrificing a Fowl, 19th Century 9Woodinches (height)
The hole in the shoulder is for magic bundle attachments that are now missing.
Publications
Ex Liberman Collection
Provenance
"Women Eternal" Tambaran Gallery, New York, 1991, page 28 #11
Ex S. Hollander Collection, St. Louis, Missouri
Ex S.Thomas Alexander Collection, St. Louis, Missouri
Dogon Standing Maternity Figure With a Baby on Her Back, 18th Century N'duleri Style-Mali (Bandiagara Palateau, Center-North) Hard wood, grey-beige patina, (dry, old surface) 18 inches (height)
Ex Private Collection, Europe
Exhibitions:
Ex Private Collection, New York
Africa - Mali
Ex Klejman Collection, New York
Provenance
“4000 ANS d'Art Africain” Musée Territorial du Wall Hause, Saint Barthelemy, Curated by Destinee Ross Sutton, 2022
Africa - Mali
Ex Dr. Wally Zollman Collection, Indiana
Provenance:
Ex Pace Gallery Collection, New York
African Spirit Images and Identities, Bryce Holcombe / Leon Siroto, NY, 1976 Exhibited at Pace Primitive and Ancient art, April-May 1976. Art of the Dogon, Tambaran Gallery New York, NY 2003.
Ex Roland de Montique Collection, New York
Dogon Standing Maternity Figure With a Baby on Her Back, Tintam Style, 18th Century Hard wood, grey-beige patina Carbon tested by University of Arizona. 1485-1645 AD (15TH-17TH Century) 49 inches (height)
Published And Exhibited
Baule Sakasou Seated Maternity Figure With a Baby on Her Back 1st Quarter of the 20th Century Hardwood Lustrous Black Patina, Beads 20 inches (height)
Exceptionally large figure with her baby attached to her back (Mothers carried their babies in a textile sling on their back). Her numerous facial, neck, and body scarifications indicate her prestigious status. Her waist is adorned with multi-strands of red trade beads Her overall dark patina is from a blackberry stain used by the Baule
Collected in Sakasou area in the Ivory Coast of Africa Ex Gadjigo Collection, Paris, France and Mali, Africa
Provenance
Africa - Ivory Coast
Description
Baule Standing Small Figure of a Young Girl, 19th Century 13Woodinches (height)
Ex Gadjigo Collection, Paris, France and Mali, Africa
Provenance
Africa - Ivory Coast
Ex Private Collection, New York
17 inches (height)
Baule Standing Figure of a Young Woman, 19th Century Wood, Beads
Africa - Ivory Coast
Provenance
Ex Private Collection, New York
Published And Exhibited
Description
Ex Private Collection, Belgium
The Koro figure is very special. A similar piece was sold at Sotheby's Paris in 2017 for $307,500. This visually inventive sculpture brilliantly illustrates one of the littlest known corpora in the world of African art. It unmistakable comes from a region between the Middle Benoue and the Cross River and was made by a Koro sculptor. Here, the talent of the artist is evident in the spectacular reinvention of the human figure. The boldness of the lithe structure is echoed in the purity of the sculptural gesture, which only details the features of the face and the feminine attributes and comes to life in the nuances of the deep patina. The contrast between the modernity of the design and the delicacy of its elaboration, particularly visible in the refined articulation of the knees, reveals a powerful artistic expression capable of surpassing traditional canons to achieve a universal aesthetic. Sculptures like these were kept away from view, they received regular offerings to protect their owners and were exhibited only when important guests arrived.
41WoodCenturyinches(height)
Koro Large Standing Figure Elongated Neck Extended to a Tiny Head and Face 19th
Africa - Nigeria
Nigerian Primitivism, Didier Claes, Brussels, Belgium, 2007, p. 34-35
Ex Didier Claes Collection, Brussels, Belgium
Provenance
"Women Eternal" Tambaran Gallery, New York, 1991, page 28 #11
Description
Africa - Angola
Publications
Ovimbundu Female Figure, 19th Century Blond wood, pyro-engraved, inlaid glass bead eyes, tacks, metal burn marks 14 inches (height)
Used during fertility rites or for female initiation ceremonies. Ovimbudu is the largest ethnic group in Angola. Figures typically display an enlarged torso and coiffure with backward-swept plaits joined at the end. The wood is typically light-colored, an influence from east and south Africa, with darkened details. (ref. JB Bacquart, 1998, page 189)
Ex Private Collection, New York
Provenance
Published
Africa Ivory Coast
Ex André Fourquet Collection, Paris
Women Eternal, 1991, #4, P.14
Provenance
Senufo Large Standing Figure, 19th Century Hardwood, lustrous black patina 30 ½ inches (height)
Senufo, Standing Female Figure, 19th Century
51Woodinches (height)
Believed to be a Shrine figure
Ex Patrik Caput collection, Paris
Africa Ivory Coast
Provenance
Ex Antoine Boussard collection, Paris
Africa - Ivory Coast
Provenance
Royal Academy of the Arts, London October 1995- January 1996 Zeitgeist-Gesellschaft ev Berliln March – May 1996
Description
29.5Woodinches (height)
This is a very rare and highly abstract carving of a Bete Figure, Africa. The face is recognizable as Bete, however the cylindrical carings of the elongated neck, shoulders and hips indicate a very strong change in classical Bete Figures with rare cylinder shapes incorporated into neck, shoulders, and hips. This type of sculpture arrived in France 1920-30 and was admired by the Artists Picasso and his contemporaries had given the name “Art Negre.”
Bete Large Powerful Standing Female Figure, Circa 20th Century
Ex Michel Gaud Collection, France Ex Ratton-Hourde Collection, France, 1994
Africa, Art of a Continent, Tom Phillips, Royal Academy of London, Prestel, 1996, p. 466
Exhibitions
Publications
Ex Patrik Caput Collection, Paris
Provenance
Africa - Ivory Coast
Guro Standing Female Figure, 19th Century Wood, Trade Cotton 22 inches (height)
Ex Phillip Ratton Collection, Ratton- H’ourde Gallery, Paris
Ex Maitre Loiseau Collection, Paris
Africa - Ivory Coast
Provenance
10.5 inches (height)
Ex Tao Kerefoff Collection, Paris
"Raccolta Di Un Amatore D'Arte Primitiva" at the Kunstmuseum Bern in 1980
Publications
Raccolta Di Un Amatore D'Arte Primitiva by Paolo Morigi, page 138
Guro Standing Female Figure, 19th Century Wood, beads
Exhibitions
Ex G.F. Keller Collection, Ex Paolo Morigi Collection, Switzerland
Ex Bernard Dulon Collection, Paris
Mossi Tall Standing Figure, Heart Shaped Face, Early 20th Century Wood, Resin inlaid eyes, Pigment 34 inches (height)
Africa - Burkina Faso
Ex Martin Lerner Collection, New York
Provenance
Provenance: Ex Private Collection, Solothurn, Switzerland 1994
Africa - Democratic Republic of the Congo
Published
Karl-Ferdinand Schadler, "Lexikon Afrikanische, Kunst und Kultur,"Munich 1994, p.404 Arnold Bamert, "Africa, Tribal Art of Forest and Savanna," London & NY 1980, p.270, plate 181
Zela - Hemba Kneeling Woman Caryatid Stool, 19th Century 20Wood ¾ inches (height)
Provenance
Africa -Mali
Banama Standing Female Figure, Late 19th / Early 20th Century 21Woodinches (height)
Ex Don Nelson Collection , Connecticut
Ex Tom Alexander Collection, St. Louis, Missouri
Ex Maine Durieu Collection, Paris
Provenance
Yoruba Female Body Mask, Mid 20th Century 21.5Woodx 12 inches
Africa - Nigeria
Tambaran Gallery
5 East 82nd Street New York, NY 10028
T: tambarangallery@gmail.comtambaran.com212.570.0655