Painting Item Number: 3595/50 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Painting on cloth depicting a stylized anthropomorphic figure. The head of the figure is pointed up, in the direction of the viewer's right side. The figure's head and body are brown and decorated with red, black, and white lines, dots, squiggle lines, drop shapes, and u- and v-shaped lines. The figure is surrounded by black dots and black, red, and blue squiggle lines. There is a set of two blue, green, brown, white, black, and red concentric circles positioned diagonally on each side of the figure's trunk. The concentric circles on the viewer's right side are positioned lower than those on the left and have concentric v-shaped lines emerging from the bottom which connect with the figure's foot. The cloth itself has uneven edges.

Narrative

Collected by Fred Haack in South Sudan. Haack said he spent "a great deal of time in Juba" from 1979-c. 1982, where he acquired 80 Dinka paintings. Haack wrote that the paintings were made by "a young Dinka tribesman who went to a missionary school for a few months and, with no training, put paint to canvas." The artist's name in unknown. Haack gave 70 of the paintings to the Museum of Civilization in 1994. In 1996 he gave the last 10 to the Kelowna Museum (now Okanagan Heritage Museum).

Item History

What

Name
Painting
Identification Number
3595/50
Type of Item
painting
Overall
height 97.5 cm, width 50.2 cm

Who

Culture
Dinka
Previous Owner
Fred E. Haack and Okanagan Heritage Museum
Received from
Okanagan Heritage Museum (Transferring institution)

Where

Holding Institution
MOA: University of British Columbia
Made in
“South Sudan” ?

When

Collection Date
between 1979 and 1982
Ownership Date
before 1996 and before September 14, 2022
Acquisition Date
on September 14, 2022

Other

Item Classes
paintings
Condition
good
Accession Number
3595/0050