Need help identifying African carver figure ca. 1890s

I would greatly appreciate your help with any information about the origin of the figure shown in this 1890s cabinet card, presumably of the carver and his work.

The photo is inscribed on image: "D[eemek Sorriah, Jupolo, Jarbuydju"

Many thanks in advance.

 

Is this your card?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2852168764...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Debora

 

wow , that's expensive !!!

 

if that carving , is that artists work...the photo sure doesn't display the carving in any meaningful sense.. imo

 

‘Wow’ is right!

 

For that type of money the buyer surely must have a ‘bigger’ or more personal interest in the image?

 

maybe it has to do with the gentlemans hand.......?

 

That is usually a sawmill accident. A lapse of attention? ADD?

I buy all my veggies pre-cut, my attention deficit brain can't be trusted around kitchen knives. I have the scars to prove it.

 

So the question was... What is the origin of this figure? Know someone here will be able to help with that. (Not me.)

Debora

 

With only one rather blurry view, I cannot be certain about the carving. The elaborate coiffure and rolls on the neck I would most often associate with female figures such as this example from a Baule (Cote d'Ivoire) carver -


https://emuseum.nasher.duke.edu/obj...4d144bd2e5bf028d91e7dd9ca9de2b0aef5ed55&idx=1

It is not clear whether the figure in the photo has breasts, but they can be discreet on some Baule figures -


https://www.randafricanart.com/Baule_Blolo_bian_figure.html

The cloth skirt might also argue for it being a female figure.

The Mende of Sierra Leone also consider neck rolls signs of beauty. But based on the limited features that I can see, I think the style is more consistent with Cote d'Ivoire.

 

I think he just has his fingers curled under.

 

It IS expensive. My interest in the photograph relates to the specific photographer and my interest in the subject is just curiosity. Thanks fo rthe help!

 

Thank you, very helpful!

 

According to the internet, African sculpture wasn't introduced in New York until 1914 so the carving pictured would likely have been seen as a very exotic object.

Debora

 

We are always curious about the mysteries people bring here. If you are interested in telling us more about your research, I am sure we would be interested in learning about it.

 

Displays of African cultures, including objects, buildings, and actual people, were included in the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. The exhibits were so successful that the idea was copied at the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893, where a ranked series of displays was included on the Midway, ranging from the "least evolved" Dahomeans and Native Americans, through the Middle Easterners and Pacific Islanders, to the (almost as civilized as Americans) Japanese, Irish and Germans.

https://1889parisworldfair.fandom.com/wiki/Culture_and_Anthropology

https://smarthistory.org/worlds-columbian-exposition-midway/

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/title.html

https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-people-products-of-colonization/

 

I am tagging one of our members who is very good at dating cabinet photos from their mounts -
@Figtree3, can you please confirm/give an opinion on the date of New Bowery's photograph?

 

As always, it would be helpful to see the back.

Debora

 

Thanks for tagging me, @2manybooks !

@New Bowery stated photo is from the 1890s, and I think that is correct. Possibly very late 1880s.

It is possible that the subject has his fingers curled under. Looks like it from what I can see. However, Eisenmann was a very famous photographer who was known for his photos of oddness and deformities in humans. So it can't be ruled out, necessarily. It does strike me that the focus is on the carver and his work. I haven't tried to research the words written on the photo. May look into that soon!

Wikipedia article about Eisenmann gives a good brief overview of what he was most known for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eisenmann

[Edit: I removed one statement I made because hadn't noticed the OP's photo is the same one as the one on eBay that @Debora linked.]

 

The best Charles Eisenmann source appears to be Syracuse University. An inventory of their holdings can be downloaded from this page and a digital image collection can be browsed.

https://library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/b/becker_eisenmann.htm

Debora