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Male and Female Twin Figures (flanitokelew)
Artist / Origin: Bamana artist, Kala, Mali
Region: Africa
Date: 20th century
Period: 1900 CE – 2010 CE
Material: Wood, metal
Medium: Sculpture
Dimensions: (Male) H: 14 in. (35.6 cm.), W: 5 in. (12.7 cm.), D: 4 ½ in. (11.4 cm.); (Female) H: 13 7/8 in. (35.3 cm.), W: 5 ½ in. (14 cm.), D: 5 in. (12.7 cm.)
Location: The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Credit: Courtesy of the Newark Museum, Collection of Bernard and Patricia Wagner, Promised Gift/Photo by Sven Lindahl
Adam and Eve Banished from Paradise
Artist / Origin: Masaccio (Italian, 1401–28)
Region: Europe
Date: ca. 1427
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Fresco
Medium: Painting
Location: Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy
Credit: Courtesy of Bridgeman Art Library
Although the body is a ubiquitous subject in world art, its treatment is neither static nor singular. It varies across continents and cultures, within cultures and throughout time. Figural approaches vary according to the needs, circumstances, beliefs, and values of makers and their audiences. The Bamana twin figures and Masaccio’s Adam and Eve demonstrate two distinct ways of representing men and women and two distinct ways of thinking about the nude human form.