Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
Preferred Title:
Power Figure (nkisi n'kondi)
Image View:
Overall front view
Creator:
unknown (Kongo)
Location:
exhibition: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montréal, Québec, Canada)
Location Note:
From Africa to the Americas: Face-to-Face Picasso, Past and Present (2018 exhibition)
Date:
19th-20th centuries (creation)
Cultural Context:
African (general, continental cultures); Kongo
Style Period:
Kongo
Work Type 1:
sculpture (visual work)
Classification:
Sculpture and Installations
Material:
wood; glass; fabric; string
Technique:
carving (processes)
Subjects:
deities; Picasso, Pablo; ritual object; African; medicine
Description:
Power figure made by the Bantu-speaking peoples occupying the adjoining areas of Zaïre, Angola (including Cabinda) and the Republic of the Congo. A nkisi (plural: minkisi) is loosely translated as a "spirit" yet it is represented as a container of sacred substances which can be both contained and released as needed. Nkisi nkondi figures (nkondi means "hunter") are usually recognized through an accumulation of pegs, blades, nails or other sharp objects inserted into its surface. Medicinal combinations called bilongo are sometimes stored in the head of the figure but frequently in the belly of the figure which is shielded by a piece of glass, mirror or other reflective surface. Nkisi nkondi are used for both physical and societal "illnesses" including the resolution of lawsuits. This figure was once owned by Picasso and is in the collection of Fundación Almine Y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Para El Arte. (Source: Art Institute of Chicago [website]; http://www.artic.edu /)
Collection:
Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
Identifier:
7A3-AFRICAN-FAFFM-FD P-A02
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Power Figure (nkisi n'kondi)