Object Details
Maker
Ousmane Sow, 1935-2016, Senegal
Label Text
A Black liberation leader stands holding out his hand, staring into an as-yet-unrealized future, as a formerly enslaved woman rises. The Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow created this work as part of a series of sculptures commemorating the bicentennial of the French Revolution. Unlike those sculptures, however, Sow’s Toussaint Louverture depicts a figure who actually struggled against the French state, taking on the mantle of the original revolutionary principles (Egalité, Fraternité, and, above all, Liberté) surrendered by that point in Paris to the authoritarian rule of Napoleon.
The military leader of the Haitian Revolution, Louverture successfully channeled an uprising of free people of color and, later, enslaved people, into an armed movement that, by 1800, had ended both slavery and French rule on the island. Louverture became the head of the Western Hemisphere’s second independent revolutionary state (after the U.S.)—and its first leader of African descent. Toussaint Louverture’s name, and memory, lives on—as a symbol of autonomy, dignity, and liberation for peoples of African descent.
Description
Standing male figure in military unitform wearing a blue hat with cockade, a blue short jacket with epaulets, white breeches and boots. He holds the hand of a female figure sitting with curled legs at his feet with her head cast down. She wears a plain, dark shift like dress and head kerchief.
Provenance
Ousmane Sow (1935-2016), Dakar, Senegal; sold to unknown private collector, New York, ca. 1990; sale, "Art Contemporain - Afrique," GAIA SAS, Paris, June 1, 2009, to the National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.
Exhibition History
Heroes: Principles of African Greatness, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 16, 2019–October 3, 2021
Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue - From the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, November 7, 2014-January 24, 2016
African Mosaic: Selections from the Permanent Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 13, 2013–August 12, 2019 (deinstalled April 23, 2014)
African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2010-November 13, 2013
Touba M'Backe Gallery, New York, 1990
Centre Culturel Français, Dakar, 1989
Published References
Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice. 2014. The Many Faces of Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution. Exhibition brochure. Providence: Brown University.
Dumouchelle, Kevin D. Heroes: Principles of African Greatness. Munich: Hirmer Publishers, 2023, cover, 16, 22-25, 204, 221-222, 225.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen and Adrienne L. Childs (eds). 2014. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. vi, viii, 139, no. 1, pl. 57.
Content Statement
As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
Image Requests
High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
Credit Line
Museum purchase, through exchange from Emil Eisenberg, and Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins, and with funds from Stuart Bohart and Barbara Portman
Date
1989
Object number
2009-8-1
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Ousmane Sow/ADAGP, 1989
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Mixed media (iron, earth, jute, straw)
Dimensions
H x W x D: 220 x 100 x 110 cm (86 5/8 x 39 3/8 x 43 5/16 in.)
Geography
Senegal
See more items in
National Museum of African Art Collection
Data Source
National Museum of African Art
Topic
Adornment
Power
male
female
couple
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmafa_2009-8-1
