Life-cast bust of Ota Benga a Bachichi man from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair
Caspar Mayer, American (born Germany), 1871 - 1931
1904
Plaster cast made from a life mask
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of the American Museum of Natural History
36.16.13558
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Sculpture
Not on view
Inscriptions
Incised, lower front: artist's Initials, CM; cast word, on front of base: "PYGMY"
Course History
COLT 73, 101, Spectacle and Exhibitionism, Michelle Warren, Winter 2012
SOCY 7.2, Race and Ethnicity, Emily Walton, Spring 2014
SOCY 7.1, Race and Ethnicity, Emily Walton, Winter 2015
WRIT 5, On Poor Taste, William Boyer, Winter 2015
ENGL 62.22/AAAS 88.11, Atlantic Slavery to Atlantic Freedom, Alysia Garrison, Winter 2021
Art History 63.02, Why Are Museums...?, Mary Coffey, Winter 2023
Exhibition History
Fred Wilson, So Much Trouble in the World - Believe It or Not!, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 4-December 11, 2005.
Publication History
Barbara Thompson, Fred Wilson, So Much Trouble in the World - Believe It or Not!, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2005.
K. Anthony Appiah, Fred Wilson: A Conversation with K. Anthony Appiah, Pace Wildentsein Exhibition (March11-April 16, 2006) Catalogue, Rhode Island: Meridian Printing, 2006, 41 pp., color ill. p. 22.
Silvia Spitta, Misplaced Objects, Migrating Collections and Recollections in Europe and the Americas, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009, ill. p. 74, fig. 3.8.
Provenance
Life cast taken at 1904 World's Fair, The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904; collection of The American Museum of Natural History, New York, 1904-1936; given to present collection, 1936.
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