Makonde Standing Male Figure, Based

Mostly legs, wire and nerve.

This standing male figure is Makonde, from Tanzania in East Africa, early 20th century, in wood and wire, shown on a base. Makonde carvers, whose homeland spans southeastern Tanzania and northern Mozambique, are widely admired for their figure work. The body is drawn out to an extreme. Thin legs rise to a narrow torso, small arms hang free, and a large oval head sits on a long neck. Wire wraps the neck, waist, arms and legs, and punched dots mark the face. Sixty-nine inches high.

Nobody needs this many inches of leg. He wears them well.