African Colonial Tuxedo Gentleman

$4,995.00

African Colonial Tuxedo Gentleman

– This absolutely stunning life-size hand-carved figure has a huge presence.

This is an original antique collector’s item.

Crafted from one piece of wood and beautifully painted.

(please note this item is missing the remainder of his cane)

Dimensions (H) 185cm (W) 38cm (D) 35cm

(not covered by free freight option)

In stock

Description

African Colonial Tuxedo Gentleman

Get the Colonial era for your home with this stunning

African Colonial Figure Gentleman from Cote d’Ivoire.

Colon statues, a term derived from the French statues colon

(“colon” is the French noun for a colonist), are a genre of wooden figurative sculpture

within African art that originated during the colonial period.

The statues commonly depict European colonial officials such as civil servants,

doctors, soldiers or technicians or Europeanised middle-class Africans.

They are often characterised by recurrent decorative motifs, such as

pith helmets, suits, official uniforms or tobacco pipes, and are

painted in bright or glossy colours with vegetable-based paints.

As a genre

colon statues originated in West Africa, apparently among the

Baoulé in Ivory Coast. It achieved international popularity after

World War II and after decolonisation. It has been argued that

the genre originated as an African response to colonisation and

the repression at the hands of the colonial state. It is debated

whether the statues were originally seen as satirical caricatures

of colonial officials or simply depictions of new subjects in local styles.

Whether the original statues were intended to be purely ornamental

or also served a ritual function is also unknown.

It’s interesting to note that the men either

wear pith helmets (normally hand-carved by Christians)

or Fez hats (mostly carved by Muslims.)

These colonial figures are more striking in pairs or groups of 3 or more.

*Please note

as this African Colonial Figure is a handmade piece of

craft it bears the markings of human endeavor.

This is the charm of the art and as such there are

no two the same, each and every one is unique.