Door

Baule sculptors carved doors that may have been seen by passersby or that may have been seen by family members only. Whether entrances to houses or to interior rooms, the doors were decorated with secular imagery. The motif of a big fish devouring a smaller fish-a commentary on protecting rather than preying on one's own-adorned a number of doors and may have been carved by the same sculptor or atelier.(9) The Dallas door displays this motif.

The big fish, which dominates the composition, is enlivened by the varied texture of its skin and scales and the placement of the smaller fish to one side of its head, as if it were being shaken from side to side. The two rectangular forms at either side of the larger fish probably represent mirror frames.(10) Integral posts, instead of metal hinges, at the top and bottom of one side of the door were inserted in holes bored into the doorway. The bottom post from the Dallas door is missing. A cord to open and close the door once occupied the hole at the center of the fish. It was eventually replaced by a European-style, metal-covered keyhole.

Because sacred sculptures were rarely viewed by the public, Baule sculptors used utilitarian objects, such as doors, heddle pulleys for looms, and ointment jars rather than sacred sculptures, to advertise their abilities and attract commissions.(11)

The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art, cat. 78, pp. 224-225.

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NOTES:

9. Vogel, Susan M. Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. New Haven: Yale University Press and Yale University Art Gallery in association with the Museum for African Art, New York, 1997. p. 278.

J. Vogel, in Herreman, Frank, ed. Resonance from the Past: African Sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art. New York: Museum for African Art; New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 2005. p. 51, cat. 30.

Similar doors are found in Tishman, Paul. Arts connus et Arts méconnus de l’Afrique noire: Collection Paul Tishman. Paris: Musée de l’Homme, 1966. n.p., cat. no. 42; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (acc. no. 1979.205.120).

10. Homberger, Lorenz. Entry for cat. no. 75. In Orakel: Der Blick in die Zukunft. Zurich: Museum Rietberg, 1999. p. 276, cat. no. 75.

11. Vogel, Susan M. Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. New Haven: Yale University Press and Yale University Art Gallery in association with the Museum for African Art, New York, 1997. p. 278.