Provenance Information

Robert and Marianne Huber, Huber Primitive Arts (Dixon, Ill.), by 1968 [correspondence in curatorial file]; sold to Lester (died 1992) and Rosalyn Olin (died 2013), Chicago, Ill., by 1968; by bequest to the Art Institute, 2014.

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Lester and Rosalyn Olin purchased at least nine objects, including this piece, from Robert + Marianne Huber Fine Arts (Huber Primitive Art). The purchases were made over the course of several years ending in 1968, according to Marianne Huber, the gallery owner. Although Mrs. Huber was unable to locate contemporaneous records of the purchases, she stated in an email to the curator that she recalled selling the objects to Lester Olin before 1967, when she and her family left for an extended trip around the world, and in 1968, after their return in April of that year. The acquisition furthers the representation of the artistic achievements of all civilizations in art museums because it is an excellent example of a vessel that appears to portray an individual; such figures with deformities depart from the norm, and were regarded as being closer to the supernatural forces and acting as spiritual intermediaries between human society and the deified elements of nature.