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Artist Magdalene Odundo (Kenyan, born 1950)

Date1988

DimensionsH: 15 ¾ in. (40 cm); W: 10 in. (25.5 cm)

MediumBurnished and carbonized terracotta

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with the Mr. and Mrs. George M. Jones, Jr. Fund, in honor of Carolyn M. Putney

Object number

2014.39

Not on View

DescriptionThis black burnished terracotta vessel stands over a foot tall and has a rounded body with a somewhat mottled surface and a narrow neck that flares out almost into a funnel shape with a wide banded opening at the top.

Label TextKenyan-born artist Magdalene Odundo’s style is influenced by African metalwork and pottery and Native American ceramics of the U.S. Southwest. This work was created after several trips to Kenya and Nigeria, as well as to New Mexico, where she saw black wares from the San Ildefonso Pueblo being created. Her process is reflective of both Puebloan and sub-Saharan pottery techniques, while the relationship of her vessels to the human form echoes artistic traditions from various African cultures and from ancient Greek and Cycladic art.Published ReferencesSlayter-Ralph, Anthony, Magdalene Odundo, London, Lund Humphries, 2004, p. 106, ill. #47.Exhibition HistoryNetherlands, Stedelijk Museum, Magdalene Odundo: African Beauty, 1994.

Bowness-on-Windemere, Blackwell House/Lakeland Arts Trust, The Jugs Show, 2001.

Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, 2002.