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THBCongolese Bena Lulua Nude Female Figure - Angular Form
Lot 57c
About Seller
Artemis Fine Arts
686 S Taylor Ave, Ste 106
Louisville, CO 80027
United States
Selling antiquities, ancient and ethnographic art online since 1993, Artemis Gallery specializes in Classical Antiquities (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Near Eastern), Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal / Oceanographic art. Our extensive inventory includes pottery, stone, metal, wood, glass and textil...Read more
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Live Auction in Progress ... Currently on Lot Estimate:
$1,000 - $1,800
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About Auction
Live
By Artemis Fine Arts
Aug 22, 2025
Set Reminder
2025-08-22 10:00:00
2025-08-22 10:00:00
America/New_York
Bidsquare
Bidsquare : Indigenous Art - Ralph T. Coe Center, Santa Fe, NM
https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/indigenous-art---ralph-t-coe-center-santa-fe-nm-20324
Featuring works of art from the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a non-profit focused on promoting Indigenous Arts globally. All proceeds from the sale of these items will support future grants to Rehoming Program participants. Artemis Fine Arts info@artemisfinearts.com
Featuring works of art from the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a non-profit focused on promoting Indigenous Arts globally. All proceeds from the sale of these items will support future grants to Rehoming Program participants. Artemis Fine Arts info@artemisfinearts.com
View Full Catalog (452)
- Lot Description
Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bena Lulua, ca. late 19th to early 20th century CE. This striking Bena Lulua female figure is an extraordinary and rare example of conceptual abstraction in Central African art. Its powerful stylization, verging on pure geometry, reflects the carver's extreme embrace of angularity, line, and vertical structure. While vertical stacking of body parts is a characteristic hallmark of Bena Lulua sculpture, this figure pushes the tradition to its formal limits - rendering every surface, every contour, with a bold hard-edged vocabulary that verges on Cubism. The figure is carved with purposeful inversion: the buttocks, in a radical and possibly symbolic gesture, are shaped in the form of breasts, complete with protruding nipples. The face is a taut angular plane, and the limbs are rendered as abstracted, faceted volumes. Size: 1.9" L x 1.9" W x 8.7" H (4.8 cm x 4.8 cm x 22.1 cm); 9.7" H (24.6 cm) on included custom stand.
There is a total absence of curvilinear modeling, from the squared feet and straight legs to the blocky torso and boxy head - a visual language so extreme it may point to a unique substyle within the larger Bena Lulua tradition that merits further scholarly investigation.
Most remarkable is the towering architectural headdress, which rises above the figure's head like the peaked roof of a traditional Congolese house. Its textured grid pattern, sharply carved, reinforces the sculptor's embrace of the rectilinear and the symbolic. Whether conceived as a portrait, votive, or ancestor representation, the figure resonates with ancestral force and enigmatic beauty. Though modest in scale, this sculpture demonstrates a mastery of minimalism and metaphor. It offers not only a fresh angle on Bena Lulua aesthetics, but also a compelling glimpse into the range and radical potential of African figural carving in the precolonial era.
Provenance: Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, acquired via descent in 2010; ex-private collection of Ralph T. Coe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, acquired in October 2006; ex-Taylor Dale Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA; ex-Alex Arthur, Brussels, Belgium; ex-Belgium collection
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#196121Some light weathering to surface, but, otherwise, intact and excellent with good remaining detail.Condition
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