BoW-39 / Akua'ba - Akan (Bono-Brong or early Asante), a documented regional style, Ghana

Heigth: 9 in / 22.9 cm

ex Segy Gallery (Ladislas Segy), NY, USA (active by 1950s)
ex Gregory Ghent, NM and CA, USA
personal collection Rand Ningali, CO, USA

Wood, pigment

This was another love at first site figure for me. I was in Santa Fe, NM in the fall visiting the shows that were taking place, and I walked into Gregory’s booth and this figure was on a shelf in the back wall. I immediately walked over to it because I was curious because I had never seen an akua’ba figure with this strange kind of head. We talked about it for a little bit and I asked him if he could hold it for a couple of hours while I thought about it because it wasn’t inexpensive. A few hours later I came back to it, we talked some more, and then she came home with me.

I love the simplicity of the figure. The face is very minimal, but hugely expressive. The neck is what I always go back to with this figure, I love how it tapers up to the bottom of the head. Ron has an example in his book Akua’ba Asante Wednesday Child, figure #2801, that is surely by the same hand as this one.