Kewpie dolls are the creation of Rose O'Neill, a child prodigy, a suffragette, and a self-trained fine artist who was the highest-paid female commercial illustrator of the early 20th century. O'Neill created Kewpies in 1909, when they first appeared in her illustration for a popular women's magazine. With their nude, sexless, cherubic bodies; tiny wings; small tufts of hair; … [Read more...] about Kewpie Dolls: Researched, Conserved, and Reconstructed by Codee Ratliff
Portrait masks are made by woodcarvers of the Baule culture to represent a specific woman from the area who is considered important among the villagers. Although they are made in the image of a specific woman, their faces are often idealized and somewhat generalized. They always emphasize the woman’s physical beauty, usually by giving the mask heavy, lidded eyes that gaze … [Read more...] about African Masks: Researched by Leslie Dunaway
The Maasai, the Kikuyu, the Kamba, and other native cultures of Kenya did not traditionally do figural woodcarving before the early 20th century. The Kamba, for example, limited their woodcarving to medicinal, spiritual, or funerary objects such as medicine staffs, wooden stoppers for gourds, and horn medicine containers. Then, shortly after World War I, a Kamba soldier in … [Read more...] about African Tourist-Trade Animal Sculpture Researched by Ashley McLaughlin and Morgan Davis
Woodcarving is an especially important economic activity for the Makonde of Mozambique, the Makonde of Tanzania, and the Senegalese of Western Coastal Africa, among others. These cultures have developed new forms of wooden sculpture as a direct response to the tourist trade in Africa. Rather than adapting traditional works, they have developed new types of sculpture using … [Read more...] about African Tourist-Trade Figural Art Researched by Cal Wylie
The importance of motherhood in Africa has encouraged the creation and use of fertility figures throughout many different cultures. The Akan-related cultures of what is today southern Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, such as the Asante and the Fante, have created the akua’ba figure (plural akua’ma) to help infertile women become pregnant. The creation of the akua’ba is based on the … [Read more...] about Akua’ma and Akua’ba-Influenced Art Researched by Sarah Teel and Nicole Manhart