Initiation Figure

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Culture Abelam

Title Initiation Figure (Tetepeku)

Date Ca. 1940

Medium Wood and pigment

Dimensions Object: 53 1/2 × 12 1/2 × 7 in. (135.9 × 31.8 × 17.8 cm)
Overall: 53 1/2 × 12 1/2 × 7 in. (135.9 × 31.8 × 17.8 cm)

Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 63.68

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About this Work

For the Abelam, the initiation of males into adulthood is a process in which the boys are “reborn.” It is not surprising, then, that female images and symbols, particularly those connected with birth, are important parts of the rites. The wide separation between this figure’s legs, for example, suggests that it may have served as the figure under which the boys crawl or stoop as they move into the sacred space of the men’s ceremonial house, which had previously been forbidden to them.

Provenance
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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Initiation Figure | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=63.68