Description
Akan Kwahu head, Ghana Terracotta D. 27,5 cm Provenance : Renaud Vanuxem Gallery, Paris Acquired from the latter by the current owner, Belgian private collection Inscribed in a perfect circular form, flattened, corresponding for its roundness to one of the most important styles of the Kwahu people, this face with delicately summarized and suggested features tends towards abstraction, towards cubism, like that of Paul Klee in his painting Senecio or head of a man becoming senile (1922). From the 15th to the 18th century, the southern Akan peoples used these terracotta faces for funeral rituals. Made to represent the deceased, they were carried during ceremonies - which could take place up to two years after the death of the chief - through the village and then deposited or placed on his grave or the altar where they were poured out.
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Akan Kwahu head, Ghana Terracotta D. 27,5 cm Provenance : Renaud Vanuxem Gallery, Paris Acquired from the latter by the current owner, Belgian private collection Inscribed in a perfect circular form, flattened, corresponding for its roundness to one of the most important styles of the Kwahu people, this face with delicately summarized and suggested features tends towards abstraction, towards cubism, like that of Paul Klee in his painting Senecio or head of a man becoming senile (1922). From the 15th to the 18th century, the southern Akan peoples used these terracotta faces for funeral rituals. Made to represent the deceased, they were carried during ceremonies - which could take place up to two years after the death of the chief - through the village and then deposited or placed on his grave or the altar where they were poured out.
