id: 129836 accession number: 1952.265 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.265 updated: 2023-03-30 11:00:54.308000 Pendant: Crocodile, 1930 or earlier. Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, probably Baule-style goldsmith. Gold; overall: 4.9 cm (1 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1952.265 title: Pendant: Crocodile title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1930 or earlier creation date earliest: 1850 creation date latest: 1930 current location: 108C Akan & Yoruba creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, probably Baule-style goldsmith technique: Gold department: African Art collection: African Art type: Jewelry find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 4.9 cm (1 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Baule: African Art/Western Eyes opening date: 1997-08-30T00:00:00 Baule: African Art/Western Eyes. Yale University Art Gallery (organizer) (August 30, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Art Institute of Chicago (February 14-May 10, 1998). title: Baule: African Art/Western Eyes opening date: 1998-09-11T00:00:00 Baule: African Art/Western Eyes. Museum for African Art, NY (September 11, 1998-January 3, 1999); National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC (February 9-May 16, 1999). title: Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art opening date: 2000-02-01T00:00:00 Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (February 1-September 3, 2000). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art" 2/1/00 - 9/3/00
New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 8/30/97 - 1/4/98. Art Institute of Chicago, 2/14/98 - 5/19/98. NY: The Museum for African Art, 9/11/98 - 1/3/99. Washington, DC: National Museum for African Art, 2/9/99 - 5/16/99, Baule: African Art: Western Eyes. color repr. p. 201. --- PROVENANCE Tristan Tzara by at least 1935 date: by at least 1935 footnotes: citations: Nasli Heeramaneck, NY until 1952 date: footnotes: citations: Cleveland Museum of Art by purchase, 1952 date: 1952 footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: A goldsmith had to create superfine rolls of wax to make the texture of this piece; the wax was used to make a mold into which liquid gold was poured. digital description: wall description: This pendant was cast in gold using the lost-wax method. Gold objects are the only Baule art forms associated with ancestor spirits. Pendants can have many uses. Usually hidden in pots or suitcases, gold adornments can be displayed on important occasions such as funerals. They can be laid out around the corpse before burial. A widow will wear them on a chain around her neck or attached to her hair at the ceremony signaling the end of mourning. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Radin, Paul, and James Johnson Sweeney. African Folktales & Sculpture. New York: Pantheon Books, 1952. page number: Mentioned: p. 346; Reproduced: pl. 105 url: Brooklyn Museum. Masterpieces of African Art. Exhibition Dates: October 21, 1954-January 2, 1955. [Brooklyn]: Brooklyn Museum, 1954. page number: Mentioned: p. 46; Reproduced: no. 125 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 389 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n72 Robbins, Warren M. African Art in American Collections = L'art Africain Dans Les Collections Americaines. New York: F.A. Praeger, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 91, no. 86 url: Sweeney, James Johnson. African Sculpture. [Princeton, N.J.]: Princeton University Press, 1970. page number: Mentioned: p. 189; Reproduced: pl. 105 url: Vogel, Susan Mullin. Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1997. page number: Mentioned: p. 299; Reproduced: p. 201 url: Webb, Virginia-Lee, and Walker Evans. Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art, 1935. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. page number: Mentioned: p. 22; Reproduced: p. 23, no. 13 url: Robbins, Warren M. African sculpture. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub, 2005. page number: Reproduced: p. 91, no. 86 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.265/1952.265_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.265/1952.265_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.265/1952.265_full.tif