Master of Mobaye, Statue, Banda, D.R.C.

I’m very excited to present today a sculpture by a famous artist, which I was able to identify in 2001 in my exhibition “Masterhands”, which I call the “Master of Mobaye”. This unknown artist from the 19th century carved 6 statues, all collected in this small town of Mobaye. They were collected by a French administrator Xavier Bellouard between 1917 and 1930. I love the way this artist has represented the human figure like an alien, looks like a mushroom. The figure is very vertical, with an elongated cylindrical body, and his small hemispherical head, which makes the whole object kind of go towards a verticality, which is quite unique to the style. Also, one characteristic is the fact that they have both two shades of brown: light brown on the body and dark brown on the legs, the arms and the head.