Yoruba horseman statue. Nigeria c. 1970.

The equestrian figure is a common theme in Yoruba wood sculpture. It reflects the importance of cavalry in the campaigns of the kings who created the Oyo Empire from the 16th to the 18th century. Only Yoruba chiefs and their personal retainers were privileged to use the horse. Nevertheless, the horse and rider remained an important social symbol and offered an exciting subject for the imagination and artistic skill. A diminutive animal and the short legs of the rider are typical of this type of figure. Carved doorposts and house posts are found in shrines and palaces and in the homes of important men. Height: 152 cm. Reproduced from the catalogue “Africa Babel: the Art of a Continent”, p.- 24
 
Exhibitions:
2022-2024 Island of Fuerteventura “Art Africa: Ancestral Light”. Lighthouse of the Entallada. Cabildo of Fuerteventura.
2021-2022 Panama City. Government of Panama. “Art Africa: the spirit of the ancestors”. Ministry of Culture Headquarters. Casco Viejo.
2019-2020 Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Caja Canarias Foundation. “Africa-Babel: the art of a Continent”. Headquarters Plaza Patriotismo.
2013-2015 Museum of Art of Africa and Oceania (Madao). La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia.
2005 “Black Africa”, Leather Museum.
2004 “Black Africa”. Caixa Laietana Foundation, Barcelona. Main exhibition hall