Head

Mid–late 19th century

Fang
Gabon
Central Africa

The neck of this head was once partially inserted into the lid of a cylindrical bark container holding selected skull and skeletal remains of an honored ancestor. Stored in the corner of a man’s sleeping room, the sculpture and box protected the ancestor’s bones and kept his power within reach of his descendants. The copper-alloy inserts in the eyes reflect light in the dark, and would have startled any intruder while adding to the head’s aura.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Fang
Title: Head
Place: Gabon (Object made in)
Date: 1850–1899
Medium: Wood and copper
Dimensions: H.: 39.4 cm (15 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Frederick W. Renshaw Acquisition Fund; Robert Allerton and Ada Turnbull Hertle endowments; Robert Allerton Income Fund; Gladys N. Anderson Endowment
Reference Number: 2006.127
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Bernard Champigneulle, J. Leleu présente “Chefs d’oeuvre de l’Afrique noire” sous le haut patronage de M. Albert Sarrault (Paris: Hôtel J. Leleu, June 12-29, 1952), p.? ill.?
Cercle Volney, Les Arts Africains, exh. cat. (Paris: Les Amis de l’Art, 1955), p. 61, no. 229.
Rene Huyghe and Jean Rudel, L’Art et le Monde Moderne, Vol. 1 1880-1920 (Paris: Editions Larouse, 1969), p. 317.
Louis Perrois, “The Art of Gabon in the Vérité Collection,” Tribal Art, no. 40 (Spring 2006), p. 40, fig. 5.
Enchères Rive Gauche & Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Arts primitifs: Collection Vérité, sale cat. (Hôtel Drouot , June 17-18, 2006), pp. xxxv, 218-19, lot 197.
Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 2005-2006 (Art Institute of Chicago, 2006), pp. cover, 112.
Simon Hewitt, “Moment of Truth,” Art & Auction 28, 10 (June 2006), p. 61 (ill.).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “Reliquary Head (Nlo Nieri),” Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 34, 1 (2008), pp. 10-11 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Pocket Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), p. 2 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), p. 15 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 53, pp. 136-137 (ill.).

Paris, France, Galerie Leleu, Chefs-d’oeuvre de l’Afrique Noire, June 12-29, 1952, no. 92.
Paris, France, Cercle Volney, Les Arts Africains, June-July 1955, no. 229.

Pierre Vérité (1900-1993), Vérité Gallery, Paris, France, from 1948 [according to Janine Vérité statement in Hôtel Drouot, Arts primitifs, 2006, p. ix]; by descent to Claude Vérité, Paris, France, 1993; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France, June 17, 2006, Arts Primitifs: Collection Vérité, lot 197, to the Art Institute [import document dated 24/03/2006 in curatorial file].

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