The farewell tour

Yale University Art Gallery/Gift of Jane and Gerald Katcher, ll.b. 1950.

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Magdalene Odundo
Untitled
1995
Burnished and carbonized terracotta vessel

An interesting gift that’s also truly exceptional is this modern and contemporary object, an untitled vessel by Magdalene Odundo, who was born in England in 1950. She was just here as a visiting artist at Yale. This piece was owned by Jane Katcher, one of our devoted board members, who also was for many years the vice president of the Museum of African Art. She is a great collector of tribal art, contemporary art, and early American art—she’s a trifecta collector. This was a piece she gifted to the Gallery, and it’s of exceptional quality. Odundo is one of the greatest ceramicists working in the world. 

It’s an object which we’ve shown in our contemporary collection—but it can also be readily shown with the African collection. If you look to the left here, you see a number of African pots and vessels, and you can see how this piece is similar. It has a handle, and it is a vessel that would hold liquid. And it’s burnished and carbonized terracotta—very much the materials that local tribes throughout Africa used for all kinds of practical vessels. Living artists often look to the cultures they come from and yet still make something new and different. This piece looked absolutely sensational when it was shown next to sculpture by Isamu Noguchi and works by American ceramist Ruth Duckworth. But it sure fits here in the African art galleries as well. With our collection, we can move pieces around and show the roots of artistic influence to our students and other visitors.