Lot: 231

95th Tribal Art Auction

Standing male figure

Cameroon, Kaka

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
University of Virginia Art Museum, USA (1980.47.11)
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 24 November 2007, Lot 155
American Private Collection
H: 25.4 inch 5000 EUR
plus 27 % commission, VAT, transport and insurance

wood, pigments, inventory no. "1980.47.11", base

The Kaka are a small ethnic group belonging to the Tigong, which also include the Mbem, Mbwa and Mfumte. They live south of the Donga River in the Cameroon Grasslands, in the neighbourhood of the Mambila, who settle in Nigeria.

As Fagg once remarked about them, they are a "shadowy people" and their art is difficult to grasp, because figures from this area are characterized by a very individual style of a mostly extremely expressive character.