Whenever reference is made to a work of art named “The
Thinker” in Angola, most people will think of the statuette
“The Chokwe Thinker” (“O Pensador”).
The history of “O Pensador”, also known as
“Samanhonga” or “Kuku”, goes back to 1932,
when the Swiss painter and ethnologist Théodore Delachaux
found the statuette in a “divination basket” (a basket
containing many small objects used for the diviner to made
prophecies at request of his clients) during an expedition to
Angola. It is a wooden figurine, representing an elder, woman or
man, in a position of deep meditation.
The gracious and inspiring position of the elder encouraged
Delachaux, influenced by August Rodin's sculpture “Le
Penseur”, to name it “The Thinker”.
