Baboons, those Bad Boys of the Old World, have a reputation…
Wily, cunning, vicious… these are all words that are used to describe our primate cousins. Baboons are seen as pests because they plunder houses, and farms, and take food right out of tourists’ hands. They roam freely, seemingly wherever they want. After all who is going to fight with something so strong and with such large and threatening teeth? Yet baboons are fascinating and complex creatures with strong social bonds and a fierce, independent spirit that protects their troop structures and families.
They are problem-solvers. Once, on a visit to South Africa’s Klein Karoo, we watched a group of baboons at work, trying to gain access to fruit outside a shop. While the youngsters played on a grain shed across the main road, hanging off the eaves and squealing with delight, some adults play-fought on a dusty verge near the lean-to verandah of the store. The guard on duty watched them closely, keeping a stick ready to fend off any movement towards the watermelons. Meanwhile, another splinter group peeled back around the back of the shop, stealthily climbed onto the roof, casually sauntered across its peak and slipped down the verandah post to grab melons while the guard’s back was turned. It was a triumphant and classic Cunning Manoeuvre!
There are six species of Baboon, hamadryas, Guinea, olive, yellow, Kinda and the chacma, and they have been around for two million years or so. Conflict with people hits the headlines but baboons have also been kept as pets, guard animals and for entertainment. In Ancient Egypt they were deified and in South Africa they were mascots in army regiments and railway signallers.
Some artists are fascinated by baboons. British artists like Graham Sutherland painted them as did his friend, Francis Bacon. Elizabeth Frink pictured baboons as strong and stoic. George Stubbs painted an albino baboon, a picture that now is in the collection of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. The animals have been drawn and sculpted, become characters in books and in films, and they have been immortalised in music.
At the moment in Ōtautahi Christchurch, a pair of baboons sit on a shelf. Part of the Dummies & Doppelgängers exhibition that runs until 23rd March 2025, Francis Upritchard’s Wife and Husband capture the spirit of these primates perfectly. The small models are made of rabbit fur, goat skin and modelling materials. Their hands are meticulously stitched together, like minute and detailed gloves, and their blue and white faces stare out. They are isolated, slightly macabre and fabulous figures, lost in their own worlds, and wonderfully inward-looking.
See more:
https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/baboon-554
https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/baboon-15694
Read more:
https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/researchers-in-museums/tag/baboon-deities
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