Dan Male Standing Liberia African Art

Description

Title
Dan Male Standing Liberia African Art
Type of Object
Carving, Figure
Country of Origin
Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire
People
Dan
Materials
Wood
Approximate Age
20th century
Height (in)
13.5
Width (in)
5
Depth (in)
4.25
Other Dimensions
Height: 13.5 Inches
Width: 5 Inches
Depth: 4.25 Inches
Overall Condition
Good. Most of our pieces have spent decades on at least two continents, and have been treasured by several owners. Please look carefully at the pictures which may also reveal condition and damage.
Damage/Repair
Crack down the center of the torso below ear.
Additional Information:
A great figure and very unique.
Also known as the Yacuba, the Dan people live in politically non-centralized villages and towns ruling themselves through a complex arrangement of family lineages, men’s secret societies, and various initiation ceremonies.  Known for their numerous wooden masks and masquerades the Dan share many cultural features which includes a dynamic masking complex with their Mano and Gio neighbors in Liberia and the We or Guere and Wobe in Cote d’Ivoire.
Sculpted figures such as this striking male figure among the Dan or Yacuba are uncommon among the Dan representing a male rather than the more common female
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figures that were commissioned by wealthy or socially prominent men to represent their favored wife.  Dan figures do not portray ancestors but are stylized portraits of real individuals closely representing the hairstyle, body markings, and physiognomy of the individual.  These sculptures are superb examples of Dan sculpture and were often the work of well-known artists who worked in secret away from women and children as they carved figures.   The use of this particularly well carved figure with body markings at the different body joints is undefined serving as a memorial or altar object for one of the men’s secret societies.  If it served as an object active within the men’s Poro society it was used during initiations or to maintain social control or to validate rank within the local chapter.  What is unique to this figure is the position of the hands that were carved to hold an object placed in the opening shaped by the thumbs.  This distinctive shaping of the hands to hold an object, argues a symbolic and ritual activity.  The feet were noticeably enlarged so as to support the standing figure.  Allied to the idea of ritual or ceremonial activity the face of the figure is remarkably similar to masks used by the Dan during public ceremonies.
Further Reading
E. Donner: Kunst und Handwerk in NO-Liberia, Baessler-Archiv, xxiii/2-3 (1940),   pp. 45-110.
Harley, G.W., Notes on the Poro in Liberia,  Papers of the Peabody Museum, Archaeology & Ethnology, XIX, No.2 (Cambridge, MA, 1941)
G. Schwab: Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland, ed. G. W. Harley,  Papers Peabody Museum, Archaeology & Ethnology, xxxi (Cambridge, MA, 1947)
H. Himmelheber: Negerkunst und Negerkunstler, (Brunswick, 1960)
W. Siegmann and Cynthia Schmidt, Rock of the Ancestors, (Suacoco, 1977)
E. Fischer and Hans Himmelhaber; The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, (Zurich, 1984)
Harley, G.W. Masks as Agents of Social Control in Northeast Liberia,  Papers of the Peabody Museum, Archaeology & Ethnology, xxxii, No.2 (Cambridge, MA, 1950)
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