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Puppet

Culture
Bamana artist
Date
1960s
associated with
Ségou region, Mali, Africa
Classification
Sculpture, wood
Current Location
On View, Gallery 102
Dimensions
24 x 36 1/2 in. (61 x 92.7 cm)
Credit Line
Partial gift of Thomas Alexander and Museum Shop Fund
Rights
Contact Us
Object Number
189:1994
NOTES
This puppet is constructed with moveable joints, allowing both the horse and rider to strike a variety of gestures and poses. Puppeteers work from behind a cloth screen to operate the puppets, up to five feet from the ground. Part of a genre known as “the animals come forth” (sogo bò), this puppet was used to entertain children and young adults. Sogo bò is a tradition shared among several cultural groups in the Ségou Region of central Mali. This type of puppetry, which originated prior to 1890, is particularly suited to inventiveness and change, and continues to evolve through new performances into the present day. Secular in character, the performances are owned and enacted by members of the kamalen ton, the young men’s society.
- early 1960s
Charles Bird, Bloomington, IN, USA, collected in Mali [1]

1991 - 1994
Alexander Gallery, Inc., St. Louis, MO [2]

1994 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, partial gift of Thomas Alexander and purchased from Alexander Gallery, Inc. [3]


Notes:
[1] An invoce dated October 31, 1994 from Alexander Gallery, Inc. to the Saint Louis Art Museum documents the purchase of 50 % of this object, listed as "Bamana 'Horse and Rider' Marionette, Mali, wood, metal, fiber, polychrome." The invoice identifies this object was "ex. coll. Charles Bird, Bloomington, Ind. field collected in Mali in early 1960s [SLAM document files].

[2] A note on the IRS Form 8283 dated Febraury 28, 1995 indicates Alexander Gallery purchased this object in July of 1991 [SLAM document files].

[3] See Note [1]. A letter dated November 16, 1994 from Thomas Alexander to James Burke of the Saint Louis Art Museum documents the gift of 50% of this object to the Museum [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December 15, 1994.

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.

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