https://emuseum.cornell.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/73131/fullStanding male figureca. 1950[]Wood, paintStanding figure wearing shorts and a singlet, and waving a flag; painted red, black, green and white. This figure probably functioned as an "otherworld mate" for a Baule woman. It serves as a public acknowledgement that the spirit mate exists. Both men and women believe they have spirit mates to whom they have certain obligations. Those of the otherworld do not represent deceased spouses; Baule men and women have spirit spouses even as they are happily married. One night per week, a Baule individual sleeps with the otherworld mate, visits the mate in his or her dreams, and makes a small offering to the figure in the morning. Although figures of this type are often called "colon" (for colonial) the sculpture does not represent a colonial European. The fashionable Western shorts, sandals, fitted shirt, and cap clothe a contemporary and urbane African man. Baule women, more than men, tend to commission figures decked out in stylish clothing. Despite its function as an otherworld mate in an African context, figures such as these are often sold as "colon." According to oral tradition, "colon" first functioned as public sculptures, placed along paths to alert local inhabitants of the presence of Europeans. Apparently, the sculptures later transformed into protective objects which were designed to repel colonial powers. By the 1950s, colonial administrators, European immigrants, and tourists began to purchase the colonial figures. Ironically, a time by which most African countries had gained their independence, the late 1960s, marked the highpoint of European demand for the painted sculptures. Some scholars have interpreted this phenomenon as suggesting a European desire for objects that mark a romanticized past when Europeans controlled much of Africa. Suggested readings: Philip Ravenhill, The Self and the Other: Personages and Images among the Baule, Côte d'Ivoire. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, 1994; and Philip Ravenhill, Dreams and Reverie: Images of Otherworld Mates among the Baule, West Africa. Washington & London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. com.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.Classification@60https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/33875/rdf