id: 153765 accession number: 1987.62 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1987.62 updated: 2025-06-10 11:10:08.043000 Commemorative figure (lefem), mid-1800s–1910. Probably carved by Ateu Atsa (Bangwa, c. 1840–1910). Wood; overall: 92.1 x 20.3 cm (36 1/4 x 8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1987.62 title: Commemorative figure (lefem) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: mid-1800s–1910 creation date earliest: 1850 creation date latest: 1910 current location: 108A Sub-Saharan creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Africa, Central Africa, Cameroon, Bangwa Kingdom technique: wood department: African Art collection: African Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ateu Atsa (Bangwa, c. 1840–1910) - carver --- measurements: Overall: 92.1 x 20.3 cm (36 1/4 x 8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1987 opening date: 1988-02-24T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988). title: Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures opening date: 2011-09-21T00:00:00 Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 21, 2011-January 29, 2012). title: Gallery One 2012 opening date: 2012-12-12T05:00:00 Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017). title: African Master Carvers: Known and Famous opening date: 2017-03-26T04:00:00 African Master Carvers: Known and Famous. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-July 16, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'CMA 1988: "Year in Review 1987," Bulletin 75 (February 1988), p. 70, no. 180, repr. p. 60.', 'opening_date': '1988-02-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC (October 4, 2011 - 1/29/2012): "Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures", figure 118, p. 130.', 'opening_date': '2012-01-29T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'The Cleveland Museum of Art (3/26/2017-7/16/2017); “African Master Carvers: Known and Famous”.', 'opening_date': '2017-03-26T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'African Art: Recent Acquisitions. Pace Primitive and Ancient Art. New York, NY (October 24–December 6, 1986).', 'opening_date': '1986-12-06T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE probably Ateu Atsa, Cameroon date: footnotes: citations: Charles Ratton, Paris, France date: footnotes: citations: Pace Primitive and Ancient Art, New York, NY date: footnotes: citations: Cleveland Museum of Art by purchase 1987 date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. page number: Reproduced: cat. 30, p. 90 - 91 url: Lintig, Bettina von. 2014. “A Grasslands Beaded Leopard Skin.” Tribal Art: Quarterly Journal of the Art Culture and History of Traditional Peoples and New World Civilizations 18 (3) No. 72 Summer 2014 Pp 108-117. page number: url: New Orleans Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Field Museum of Natural History, American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, and National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). 1984. The Art of Cameroon. Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, cat. no. 7, pp. 86-87. page number: url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Henry John Drewal. 1989. African Art : A Brief Guide to the Collection : The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum, fig. 18. page number: url: CMA Handbook, 1991b, p. 143. page number: url: LaGamma, Alisa, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), and Museum Rietberg. 2011. Heroic Africans : Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures. New York, New Haven Conn: Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Distributed by Yale University Press, fig. 18, p. 130. page number: url: Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1987.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (February 1988): 30–71. page number: Reproduced: p. 60; Mentioned: p. 70, no. 180 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25160017 Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 33 url: Lintig, Bettina von. "From Fontem to Berlin: The Long Journey of a Bangwa Lefem Staff." Tribal Art 19, no. 3 (Summer 2015): 130-135. page number: Reproduced: p. 130, fig. 1 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.62/1987.62_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.62/1987.62_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.62/1987.62_full.tif