Nursing Woman with Child (1800s-1900s): Art, History and Details

Nursing Woman with Child (1800s-1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Beyond its specific depiction of a mother nursing her child, this sculpture symbolizes a larger concept of ancestral motherhood that is central to Senufo society, in which cultural inheritance is matrilineal. The darkened areas of wood come from oils applied to its surface as both libations and surface protectants. In some Senufo beliefs, one of the most important founding ancestors is the Great Mother or Ancient Woman (Katyeleeo or Maleeo). In groups that believe in the Great Mother, she suckles male initiates with the "milk of knowledge." Through this process, youths gain the information they need to become adults (that is, fully human). The simplified appearance of the "child" in this sculpture reflects his unformed, pre-initiated state.

Object facts

• Title: Nursing Woman with Child
• Date: 1800s-1900s
• Culture: Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, reportedly Korhogo area, Senufo-style carver
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Wood and organic material
• Dimensions: Overall: 63.6 cm (25 1/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1961.198

A detail from the museum

The mother’s face, adorned with incisions and markings, resembles that of women who have reached puberty.

Collection credit

James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kjersmeier, Carl, and Françoise Juliette Isabelle Gleizal. 1967. Centres De Style De La Sculpture Nègre Africaine. New York: Hacker Art Books, figs. 38-41.
• Lem, F. H. 1948. Sculptures Soudanaises. Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques, figs. 40-46.
• Muensterberger, Werner. 1955. Sculpture of Primitive Man. New York: H.N. Abrams, fig. 9.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.