Magdalene Anyango N. Odundo, born 1950, Kenya Search this
Medium:
Ceramic
Dimensions:
H x W x D: 44.5 x 28.6 x 28.6 cm (17 1/2 x 11 1/4 x 11 1/4 in.)
Type:
Ceramics
Geography:
Kenya
Date:
1990
Label Text:
Odundo's works illustrate a deliberate association with African and European modernist forms and refer, more generally, to world ceramic history and technique. She regards her pieces as nonutilitarian containers of form and color, describing the subtle, elegant shapes as "capturing the unfurling of a plant, the fall of a Victorian sleeve, the momentary stillness of a dancer's sleeve, or the silhouette of a Kenyan woman bound in layers of cloth." (Marla Berns. 1995. Ceramic Gestures: New Vessels by Magdalene Odundo. Santa Barbara: University Art Museum, University of California, p. 25)
These works are hand-coiled, scraped smooth with a gourd, coated with slips and burnished. The color is dependent upon the firing technique. The black pots are stuffed with combustibles (wood chips and shavings) and undergo a second firing.
Description:
Coiled handbuilt fired clay vessel in the form of a gourd. The body is blackened through a second firing in the reduction atmosphere of a gas kiln. The long, sinuous angled neck has two handles, a pouring lip and a projecting mid-section. The body is large and bulbous and has a signature on the bottom, "Odundo 1990."
Exhibition History:
Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 4, 2017-ongoing
African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 2, 2004-January 2, 2005
Encounters with the Contemporary, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., January 7, 2001-January 6, 2002
Recent Acquisitions / New Directions, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., May 15, 1992-January 3, 1993
Published References:
Anthony Ralph Gallery. 1990. Magdalene Odundo. Gallery catalog with foreward by Lord Queensbury, p. 18.
National Museum of African Art. 2007. 2007-2008 School Calendar: Featuring the new Let's Read about Africa and the Sounds of African Music programs. Museum calendar. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, December 2007.
Olding, Simon. 2015. Magdalene Odundo's Untitled #10 (1995). Journal of Modern Craft. p. 204-205 illustrated.
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