GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Kongo ancestral figure is the inspiration for Renée Stout's Fetish #1. The artist's interest in African art focuses upon both the additive and textural components of central African sculpture, as well as its sense of contained power. Traditional materials such as monkey hair, nails, and cowrie shells are coupled with her own found and collected beads and coins.
Because of her sensitive attention to detail, Stout's sculpture presents itself as a powerful homage to African ritual objects. Stout reinterprets classical African forms as a means of conveying that mystical presence which she finds inherent in many aspects of African-American culture. Influenced by the art of Betye Saar and the writing of Robert Farris Thompson, Stout has also found inspiration from practitioners of folk medicine who live in her Washington, D.C. community.
Adapted from
- Alvia J. Wardlaw, "Renée Stout, Fetish #1," in Black Art, Ancestral Legacy: the African impulse in African-American art, ed. Robert Rozelle, Alvia Wardlaw, and Maureen A. McKenna (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1989), 229.
NOTES
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Stout_Renee: ULAN: 500196042
Cultures
Geography
United States (nation): TGN: 7012149
Washington DC (United States): TGN: 7013962
Process/materials
beads (pierced objects): AAT: 300234006
coins (money): AAT: 300037222
cowrie shell: AAT: 300011834
hair (material): AAT: 300011814
medicines (material): AAT: 300404880
nails (fasteners): AAT: 300033565
wood (plant material): AAT: 300011914
Historical periods
twentieth century (dates CE): AAT: 300404514
Individuals
Subject terms
African American: AAT: 300018125
ancestor veneration: AAT: 300400471
ancestors: AAT: 300255718
assemblages (sculpture): AAT: 300047194
Kongo: AAT: 300016229
power: AAT: 300374809
ritual objects: AAT: 300312158
sculpture: AAT: 300047090
texture (physical attribute): AAT: 300056362
traditional medicine: AAT: 300259515
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1989: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Roslyn and Brooks Fitch, Gary Houston, Pamela Ice, Sharon and Lazette Jackson, Maureen McKenna, Aaronetta and Joseph Pierce, Matilda and Hugh Robinson, and Rosalyn Story, in honor of Virginia Wardlaw, purchased from artist [1]
The main source for this provenance is the memorandum from Maureen McKenna to Suzanne Weaver, both of the Dallas Museum of Art, dated December 13, 1989, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records object file. Supporting documentation is noted.
[1] See also the letter from Maureen A. McKenna of the Dallas Museum of Art to Renée Stout of Washington D.C., dated December 19,1989, copy in object file.
AUDIO ASSETS
Artist talk: Renée Stout
UMO: 264282696
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Smithsonian American Art Museum~Explore Stout's career and biography.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1989.128
Category
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General Description
The Kongo ancestral figure is the inspiration for Renée Stout's Fetish #1. The artist's interest in African art focuses upon both the additive and textural components of central African sculpture, as well as its sense of contained power. Traditional materials such as monkey hair, nails, and cowrie shells are coupled with her own found and collected beads and coins.
Because of her sensitive attention to detail, Stout's sculpture presents itself as a powerful homage to African ritual objects. Stout reinterprets classical African forms as a means of conveying that mystical presence which she finds inherent in many aspects of African-American culture. Influenced by the art of Betye Saar and the writing of Robert Farris Thompson, Stout has also found inspiration from practitioners of folk medicine who live in her Washington, D.C. community.
Adapted from
- Alvia J. Wardlaw, "Renée Stout, Fetish #1," in Black Art, Ancestral Legacy: the African impulse in African-American art, ed. Robert Rozelle, Alvia Wardlaw, and Maureen A. McKenna (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1989), 229.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Stout_Renee: ULAN: 500196042
Cultures
Geography
United States (nation): TGN: 7012149
Washington DC (United States): TGN: 7013962
Process/materials
beads (pierced objects): AAT: 300234006
coins (money): AAT: 300037222
cowrie shell: AAT: 300011834
hair (material): AAT: 300011814
medicines (material): AAT: 300404880
nails (fasteners): AAT: 300033565
wood (plant material): AAT: 300011914
Historical periods
twentieth century (dates CE): AAT: 300404514
Individuals
Subject terms
African American: AAT: 300018125
ancestor veneration: AAT: 300400471
ancestors: AAT: 300255718
assemblages (sculpture): AAT: 300047194
Kongo: AAT: 300016229
power: AAT: 300374809
ritual objects: AAT: 300312158
sculpture: AAT: 300047090
texture (physical attribute): AAT: 300056362
traditional medicine: AAT: 300259515
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1989: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Roslyn and Brooks Fitch, Gary Houston, Pamela Ice, Sharon and Lazette Jackson, Maureen McKenna, Aaronetta and Joseph Pierce, Matilda and Hugh Robinson, and Rosalyn Story, in honor of Virginia Wardlaw, purchased from artist [1]
The main source for this provenance is the memorandum from Maureen McKenna to Suzanne Weaver, both of the Dallas Museum of Art, dated December 13, 1989, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records object file. Supporting documentation is noted.
[1] See also the letter from Maureen A. McKenna of the Dallas Museum of Art to Renée Stout of Washington D.C., dated December 19,1989, copy in object file.
AUDIO ASSETS
Artist talk: Renée Stout
UMO: 264282696
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1989.128
source file
object_notes_2_a-0038.xml.nores