Figure Screen (Duein Fubara)
Kalabari
1900–1940
- Medium
- Wood, pigment, and fiber
- Dimensions
- 75 × 68 × 18.5 cm (29 1/2 × 26 3/4 × 7 1/4 in.)
- Genre
- screen
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
honorancestorsfibermemorialspainting (image making)peoplealtar objectsculptureassemblage (sculpture technique)wood (plant material)african Artleadersarts of AfricascreenCoastal West Africacarvingijoaltarkalabaripigmentmerchantdeceased
About
Figure screens were made by the Kalabari to honor, memorialize, and communicate with deceased leaders of their trading or canoe houses. One would have formed part of an altar in a side room of a meetinghouse. Originating in the 19th century, when European commerce flourished in the Niger Delta, these screens may have been inspired by early portrait photographs. Here, the central figure representing the house leader wears a British top hat.