{"data":{"id":151358,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/151358","is_boosted":true,"title":"Male Figure (Nkisi Nkondi)","alt_titles":[],"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAwAFAPMAAEs+NFhLQFxPQWhgWIeDfYuFgI2Jg4mIhJGPipKQi5WUkpmWkZiYlKGhn6eopgAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAADAAUAAAQL0JW2gkmAMIHUOBEAOw==","width":3476,"height":6179,"alt_text":"A wooden carving of a male figure. The figure has a distinctive face, with oval-shaped eyes and mouth, and wears a cap on his head. His body is covered in various shells, bones, feathers, fabric, and metal nails, and he holds a mirror-sealed resin packet over his stomach."},"main_reference_number":"1998.502","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1801,"date_end":1875,"date_display":"Probably early to mid-19th century","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Kongo: Vili\nRepublic of the Congo\nCentral Africa","place_of_origin":"Republic of the Congo","description":"<p>The term <em>nkisi<\/em> refers to spirit-invested objects that were empowered with medicinal and magical ingredients called <em>bilongo<\/em>. In the case of this male figure, the <em>bilongo<\/em> are enclosed in the cap on the head and in the mirror-sealed resin packet on the abdomen. The name <em>nkondi<\/em> refers to the figure\u2019s ability to hunt down and punish wrongdoers. A nail or a blade was driven into the figure to prompt the inhabiting spirit at every consultation.<\/p>\n","short_description":"The term <em>nkisi<\/em> refers to spirit-invested objects empowered with medicinal and magical ingredients called <em>bilongo<\/em>. Here, the <em>bilongo<\/em> are enclosed in the cap on the head of this figure and in the mirror-sealed resin packet on the abdomen. The name <em>nkondi<\/em> refers to the figure\u2019s ability to hunt down and punish wrongdoers when prompted by a nail or blade driven into the figure.","dimensions":"73.7 \u00d7 33.1 \u00d7 28 cm (29 \u00d7 13 \u00d7 11 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":28,"width":33,"height":73,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Wood, metal, glass, fabric, fiber, cowrie shells, bone, leather, gourd, and feathers","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Rochester, N.Y., Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Traditional Art of Black Africa, Nov. 14\u2013Dec. 28, 1969, cat. 62.\n\nMerton D. Simpson Gallery, Inc., advertisement, African Arts 4, 2 (1971), p. 61 (ill.).\n\nArnold Rubin, African Accumulative Sculpture: Power and Display, exh. cat. (New York: Pace Gallery, 1974), pp. 51, 67, fig. 103.\n\nAn Artist Collects, Ulfert Wilke, Selections from Five Continents, (University of Iowa, 1975), pp. 8-9. [non-traveling exhibition; mentions piece in introduction, but according to curator at U. of Iowa Art Museum, the work was not displayed in show].\n\nRaoul Lehaurd, \"Art Bakongo: Les Centres de Style,\" Arts d\"afrique Noire 1 (1989), pp. 218-20, fig. D 1-1-2.\n\nWarren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), pp. 366\u201367, fig. 954.\n\nJack D. Flam and Daniel Shapiro, Western Artists\/African Art (New York: Museum for African Art, 1994), p. 16, cat. 5.\n\nAlain Nicolas and Marianne Sourrieu, Arman et l'Art Africain, exh. cat. (Paris: Reunion des Mus\u00e9es Nationaux, 1996), p. 106, fig. 55.\n\nFrank Herreman, ed., African Faces, African Figures: The Arman Collection, exh. cat. (New York: Museum for African Art, 1997), p. 158, fig. 157.\n\nKathleen Bickford Berzock, \"African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,\" African Arts 32, 4 (Winter 1999), p. 32, fig. 19.\n\nKathleen Bickford Berzock, \"Male Figure (Nkisi Nkondi),\" Art Institute of Chicago, Art Insights postcard (Art Institute of Chicago, 1999).\n\nKathleen Bickford Berzock, \"Power Figure (Nkisi Nkondi),\" Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 29, 2 (2003), pp. 14-15, 94 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide, revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), p. 22 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), pp. 9, 12 (ill.).\n\nConstantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 55, pp. 140-141 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Rochester, N.Y., Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Traditional Art of Black Africa, Nov. 14\u2013Dec. 28, 1969., cat. 62.\n\nNew York, N.Y., Pace Gallery, African Accumulative Sculpture: Power and Display, Sep. 21\u2013Oct. 19, 1974, pp. 51, 67, fig. 103.\n\nNew York, Museum for African Art, Western Artists\/African Art, May 6-Aug. 7, 1994 cat. 5; traveled to Knoxville Museum of Art, 1994-1995, Newport Beach, Calif., Newport Harbor Art Museum, July 1-Sept. 10, 1995, Sacramento, Calif., Crocker Art Museum, Oct. 27-Dec. 31, 1995.\n\nMarseille, France, Mus\u00e9e d'Arts Africains, Oceaniens, et Amerindiens de Marseille, Arman et l'Art Africain, June 23, 1994\u2013Oct. 30, 1994, cat. 55; traveled to Paris, Mus\u00e9e National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Oceanie, Dec. 3, 1996\u2013Feb. 17, 1997, Cologne, Germany, Rautenstraucht-Joest-Museum f\u00fcr V\u00f6lkerkunde, Mar.\u2013Aug. 1997, New York, N.Y., Museum for African Art, Oct. 7, 1997\u2013April 17, 1998 [as African Faces, African Figures: the Arman Collection, cat. 147].","provenance_text":"Klaus Clausmeyer (died 1968), D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany, by 1958. Ludwig Bretschneider (died 1987), Galerie Ludwig Bretschneider, M\u00fcnich, Germany, by 1959; sold to Ulfert Wilke (died 1987), New York, N.Y. and Iowa City, Iowa, from 1960 [see Ulfert Wilke, an Artist Collects and Wilke correspondence with Bretschneider in curatorial file]. Merton Simpson (died 2013), Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1971; sold to Armand Arman (died 2005), New York, N.Y., 1974 [Pace Gallery, African Accumlative Sculpture, 1974, pp. 51 and 67, no. 103]; sold by the Donald Morris Gallery, New York, N.Y. and Birmingham, Mich. to the Art Institute, 1998.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Everything","internal_department_id":43,"fiscal_year":1999,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":15.0918,"color":{"h":72,"l":63,"s":1,"percentage":0.4813852237938445,"population":6079},"latitude":41.8786368365841,"longitude":-87.6231634441109,"latlon":"41.878636836584,-87.623163444111","is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Sculpture","artwork_type_id":3,"department_title":"Arts of Africa","department_id":"PC-1","artist_id":50920,"artist_title":"Vili","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[50920],"artist_titles":["Vili"],"category_ids":["PC-1","PC-831"],"category_titles":["Arts of Africa","Essentials"],"term_titles":["wood (plant material)","vili","ritual objects","sculpture","carving","appliqu\u00e9 (technique)","wood","arts of Africa","Arts of Africa","medicine object","plant material","glass","leather","animal material","painting (coating)","fiber","cowrie shell","bone","feather","gourd","metal","cloth","religion","african Art","african art","adhesion","assembling","Central Africa","contracts","medicine","sacred","supernatural"],"style_id":"TM-8270","style_title":"vili","alt_style_ids":["TM-14183","TM-13489","TM-13564"],"style_ids":["TM-8270","TM-14183","TM-13489","TM-13564"],"style_titles":["vili","Arts of Africa","african Art","Central Africa"],"classification_id":"TM-13","classification_title":"sculpture","alt_classification_ids":["TM-84","TM-14182","TM-1224","TM-13486"],"classification_ids":["TM-13","TM-84","TM-14182","TM-1224","TM-13486"],"classification_titles":["sculpture","wood","arts of Africa","medicine object","african art"],"subject_id":"TM-12398","alt_subject_ids":["TM-11421","TM-13640","TM-12507","TM-13513","TM-12867"],"subject_ids":["TM-12398","TM-11421","TM-13640","TM-12507","TM-13513","TM-12867"],"subject_titles":["ritual objects","religion","contracts","medicine","sacred","supernatural"],"material_id":"TM-2431","alt_material_ids":["TM-3478","TM-2453","TM-2454","TM-3477","TM-2563","TM-2564","TM-2565","TM-2566","TM-2567","TM-2568","TM-2569"],"material_ids":["TM-2431","TM-3478","TM-2453","TM-2454","TM-3477","TM-2563","TM-2564","TM-2565","TM-2566","TM-2567","TM-2568","TM-2569"],"material_titles":["wood (plant material)","plant material","glass","leather","animal material","fiber","cowrie shell","bone","feather","gourd","metal","cloth"],"technique_id":"TM-3863","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3915","TM-4005","TM-3993","TM-3994"],"technique_ids":["TM-3863","TM-3915","TM-4005","TM-3993","TM-3994"],"technique_titles":["carving","appliqu\u00e9 (technique)","painting (coating)","adhesion","assembling"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"c3f36398-eee0-77a9-17f4-204f3252f6f9","alt_image_ids":["d1b562e2-25ae-0be2-2778-6aba2e6366b3","ba882a60-1736-36bf-7220-8d6f782e7fd7"],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Male Figure (Nkisi Nkondi)","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1998.502"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Male Figure (Nkisi Nkondi)"],"weight":22066,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-08-10T11:55:29-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-25T23:25:04-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-01T23:16:29-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}