Congo-Leopoldville: in 1960 the new nation state of Congo-Leopoldville achieved independence from Belgium and its Belgian Congo colonial structure as, officially, Republic of the Congo.

via __shauntelle on instagram

André Hallet (1890-1959) - Princesse, Mangbetu

Oil on strong cardboard. 16.1 x 13 inches, 41 x 33 cm.

Estimate: €700-900.

Sold Hotel de Ventes Horta, Brussels, Belgium, 7 Oct 2024 for €700 + B.P.

After travelling widely in Europe, Hallet was sent by the Belgian Ministry of Colonies to the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1934, eventually settling in Kisenyi in what is now Rwanda, until his death.

The Mangbetu people of the northeastern Congo pursued a practice of what they called ‘lipombo’. New-born babies had their heads tightly wrapped with cloth and the soft, growing cranium would take on an elongated shape. The deformation didn’t affect the brain. Intracranial pressure remained the same as for a normal person, the brain simply growing into the new shape of the skull.

The Mangbetu believed the elongation denoted majesty, beauty, power and higher intelligence. The practice largely died out in the 1950s with increasing Westernisation and a ban imposed by the colonial authorities.

I've posted another painting by Hallet previously of a mother and child where you can see the binding on the infant's head.

Audrey Hepburn at a local market in Kisangani by Leo Fuchs (1958) while on location filming The Nun’s Story