Hammock

early 20th century

African Art

On view, 1st floor, African Art

A label on the reverse of Manet Harrison Fowler's painting notes that this "hammock [was] woven for transporting the young son of the former President of Liberia." The reference is most likely to Charles Dunbar Burgess King–president of Liberia from 1920 to 1930– whose mother was one of the more than thirteen thousand freed Africans relocated from the American South to Liberia during the early to mid-19th century.

Medium

Hand-spun cotton, machine-spun cotton, made up of three strips, plus tassels

Dimensions

78 3/4 × 31 1/2 in. (200 × 80 cm)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund

Accession Number

2011.51.2

Geography

Liberia

Culture

Vaï

Period

20th century

Classification

Textiles

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Possibly Charles Dunbar Burgess King, President of Liberia from 1920–1930; Charles E. Mitchell, U.S. Minister to Liberia, and his wife Elizabeth Mitchell, collected between 1931–1933 in Liberia; Charles E. Mitchell Memorial Collection in the library of the Mwalimu school, Harlem, NY, 1930s. Possibly Manet Harrison Fowler; possibly Manet Helen Fowler. Marc Assayag, Montreal, about 2008–2009; Chris Wild, Normandy; David Norden, Belgium, to 2011;Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

Bibliography
  • Duncan Clarke, African Textiles (New York: Abbeville Press, 2022), 124–25, no. 50
  • "Acquisitions," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin: Online Supplement (accessed March 1, 2012), 7
Object copyright
Copyright Undetermined
Additional information

Object/Work type

hammocks, textile materials

Technical metadata and APIs

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