Tropical Africa
Baga Shoulder Mask
2021 SOLD for € 4.7M by Christie's
Made in Guinea, the Baga headdress is the most colossal African dance mask, measuring about 1.30 m high and weighing in the region of 60 Kg. Designed to be placed on the shoulders, it has the shape of the monumental bust of a woman. The holes for the eyes are opened between the breasts. A textile skirt clung to the foot rings is still increasing the weight of this equipment that can only be danced by a strong man, as observed by a visitor during a ceremony in 1886.
Locally named D'mba by the Baga and Nimba (great spirit) by their neighbours who transmitted the latter wording to the Europeans, they accompany weddings and harvests as a symbol of agrarian and human fertility. The head shape is very specific with a long chin and a strong nose. The full breasts are fitted with big cylindrical nipples.
This design was executed over centuries from single wood blocks altered by plant juice or dark soil. It was described as early as 1615 CE by a Portuguese explorer, soon after the Baga were rebuilding their civilization and myths after being chased by hostile tribes from their native Fouta Djallon to the Guinean coast.
Picasso was fascinated by one of these masks that he owned. His appeal from Marie-Thérèse Walter viewed at random in a Parisian street is due to the protruding nose of the young blonde who unwittingly demonstrated to him that the feminine ideal can be multi-racial. Pablo exploited this idea in his first sculpted busts of his muse.
The D'mba mask remains a centerpiece of Guinean folklore. In February 2015, the Baga community made a request for it to be listed as World Heritage by UNESCO.
The mask from the Périnet collection was sold for € 4.7M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 17.
The mask from the Vérité collection was sold for € 2.25M by Enchères Rive Gauche on June 17, 2006 and for € 2.4M by Christie's in Paris on June 23, 2015, lot 42.
Locally named D'mba by the Baga and Nimba (great spirit) by their neighbours who transmitted the latter wording to the Europeans, they accompany weddings and harvests as a symbol of agrarian and human fertility. The head shape is very specific with a long chin and a strong nose. The full breasts are fitted with big cylindrical nipples.
This design was executed over centuries from single wood blocks altered by plant juice or dark soil. It was described as early as 1615 CE by a Portuguese explorer, soon after the Baga were rebuilding their civilization and myths after being chased by hostile tribes from their native Fouta Djallon to the Guinean coast.
Picasso was fascinated by one of these masks that he owned. His appeal from Marie-Thérèse Walter viewed at random in a Parisian street is due to the protruding nose of the young blonde who unwittingly demonstrated to him that the feminine ideal can be multi-racial. Pablo exploited this idea in his first sculpted busts of his muse.
The D'mba mask remains a centerpiece of Guinean folklore. In February 2015, the Baga community made a request for it to be listed as World Heritage by UNESCO.
The mask from the Périnet collection was sold for € 4.7M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 17.
The mask from the Vérité collection was sold for € 2.25M by Enchères Rive Gauche on June 17, 2006 and for € 2.4M by Christie's in Paris on June 23, 2015, lot 42.
Fang-Betsi Head
2021 SOLD for € 7.7M by Christie's
To meet the need to communicate with the dead, sculptors from the Fang-Betsi ethnic subgroup in Gabon produced masterpieces. Two types of figures coexisted. The standing statuettes had a ritual role, while the rarer heads were used for family devotion.
The heads have this remarkable characteristic of bringing an individualization of the details within a general shape which is invariant : the forehead is broad and curved, the lips are tight, the chin is minimized, the neck is a cylinder. The artists also executed a superb polishing on their geometrically perfect curves.
For the family that kept the wooden head, the deceased was identifiable both by the facial features and by an attribute. However it is impossible for a modern observer to state whether a head is male or female, despite the diversity of hairstyles.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when several of these Fang heads, identified as têtes Pahouines at that time, could be described and exhibited together, it was indeed the simultaneous observation of their similarities and of their differences that forever changed the modern European art. As early as 1906, Vlaminck, Derain, Braque and Matisse shared the new craze for African art, soon followed by Picasso.
On June 23, 2021, Christie's sold for € 7.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M a 35 cm high Fang-Betsi head that had belonged to Vlaminck, lot 9. Most of these reliquary pieces have a specific feature enabling to the tribe to identify the ancestor. It is in this case the trefoil headdress on the back of the skull.
A 23 cm high Fang-Betsi head was sold for $ 3.64M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2014, lot 82. The nose is unusually big and the eyes are very near together. The specific attribute is a stick that crosses the nostrils.
On June 29, 2020, Sotheby's sold for $ 3.5M a 28 cm high Fang-Betsi head, lot 116. The large eyes bring a mesmerizing expression. The specific attribute is a pair of wings placed on the ears and widely protruding behind the neck.
The heads have this remarkable characteristic of bringing an individualization of the details within a general shape which is invariant : the forehead is broad and curved, the lips are tight, the chin is minimized, the neck is a cylinder. The artists also executed a superb polishing on their geometrically perfect curves.
For the family that kept the wooden head, the deceased was identifiable both by the facial features and by an attribute. However it is impossible for a modern observer to state whether a head is male or female, despite the diversity of hairstyles.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when several of these Fang heads, identified as têtes Pahouines at that time, could be described and exhibited together, it was indeed the simultaneous observation of their similarities and of their differences that forever changed the modern European art. As early as 1906, Vlaminck, Derain, Braque and Matisse shared the new craze for African art, soon followed by Picasso.
On June 23, 2021, Christie's sold for € 7.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M a 35 cm high Fang-Betsi head that had belonged to Vlaminck, lot 9. Most of these reliquary pieces have a specific feature enabling to the tribe to identify the ancestor. It is in this case the trefoil headdress on the back of the skull.
A 23 cm high Fang-Betsi head was sold for $ 3.64M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2014, lot 82. The nose is unusually big and the eyes are very near together. The specific attribute is a stick that crosses the nostrils.
On June 29, 2020, Sotheby's sold for $ 3.5M a 28 cm high Fang-Betsi head, lot 116. The large eyes bring a mesmerizing expression. The specific attribute is a pair of wings placed on the ears and widely protruding behind the neck.
Luba
1
Mask
2021 SOLD for € 7.2M by Christie's
Malembe-Nkulu is a region in south Congo, now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo just north from Zambia.
A Luba mask from that region is classified as a beast-man mask by some specialists. Less than 10 examples are surviving. They were for the use of the leaders in the initiation rituals. He would have the applicant inhale a medicine to make him faint, simulating death.
The tight pattern of scarifications on the forehead and below the eyes was also directly painted on the skin of other attendants. They were certainly influenced by the Zambian Tshokwe.
A Malembe-Nkulu Luba mask 51 cm high was sold for € 7.2M from a lower estimate of € 1.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 43 from the Périnet collection. It is enhanced by white kaolin in the chiseled pattern. The patina is superb. The face expression with protruding eyebrows and severe mouth is both authoritative and benevolent.
A Luba mask from that region is classified as a beast-man mask by some specialists. Less than 10 examples are surviving. They were for the use of the leaders in the initiation rituals. He would have the applicant inhale a medicine to make him faint, simulating death.
The tight pattern of scarifications on the forehead and below the eyes was also directly painted on the skin of other attendants. They were certainly influenced by the Zambian Tshokwe.
A Malembe-Nkulu Luba mask 51 cm high was sold for € 7.2M from a lower estimate of € 1.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 43 from the Périnet collection. It is enhanced by white kaolin in the chiseled pattern. The patina is superb. The face expression with protruding eyebrows and severe mouth is both authoritative and benevolent.
2
Bow Stand by the Warua Master
2015 SOLD for £ 6.1M by Christie's
The Luba lived in the vast region between the Congo River and Lake Tanganyika. Their monarchy was centralized and powerful. Around 1900 their royal art began to be studied, enabling to identify the creations of two artists who probably lived in the time of the height of that empire a few decades earlier.
The continuous movement of the tribes has a consequence that African art is not local but mixed with neighboring influences. The two leading artists whose figuration is very different have also a Hemba influence.
Both executed altogether fetishes and utilitarian objects for royal ceremonies such as caryatid seats and cups, and bow stands. This duality explains the regular proportions in the body whose geometry is perfectly balanced without being realistic.
The figures are often a woman or a mixed janus. The fetishes are related to spirits whose incorporation into a woman's body is likened to a pregnancy.
The increasingly detailed knowledge of the masterpieces of African art allows to group some figures. The corpus from the Warua Master from the Luba ethnic group includes altogether four bow stands, two stools and three statuettes. One of them was given in 1902 or 1903 to an explorer by the chief of a village on the Luvua river in Congo.
The Warua Master is probably one artist because of the similarity of the faces in the works collected under that name which is no more than a bad old phonetic for Luba or Baluba.
On July 9, 2015, Christie's sold for £ 6.1M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M one of the four bow stands, lot 110. The female figure with pointed breasts has a striking resemblance with the male statuette discussed above with regard to the attitude, the proportions in the body, the shape of the head and the facial lines. Perched on a small pedestal, she wears on her head a carved trident that can hold the bows. The total height of this piece is 64 cm.
The other leading Luba artist is the Buli Master.
The continuous movement of the tribes has a consequence that African art is not local but mixed with neighboring influences. The two leading artists whose figuration is very different have also a Hemba influence.
Both executed altogether fetishes and utilitarian objects for royal ceremonies such as caryatid seats and cups, and bow stands. This duality explains the regular proportions in the body whose geometry is perfectly balanced without being realistic.
The figures are often a woman or a mixed janus. The fetishes are related to spirits whose incorporation into a woman's body is likened to a pregnancy.
The increasingly detailed knowledge of the masterpieces of African art allows to group some figures. The corpus from the Warua Master from the Luba ethnic group includes altogether four bow stands, two stools and three statuettes. One of them was given in 1902 or 1903 to an explorer by the chief of a village on the Luvua river in Congo.
The Warua Master is probably one artist because of the similarity of the faces in the works collected under that name which is no more than a bad old phonetic for Luba or Baluba.
On July 9, 2015, Christie's sold for £ 6.1M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M one of the four bow stands, lot 110. The female figure with pointed breasts has a striking resemblance with the male statuette discussed above with regard to the attitude, the proportions in the body, the shape of the head and the facial lines. Perched on a small pedestal, she wears on her head a carved trident that can hold the bows. The total height of this piece is 64 cm.
The other leading Luba artist is the Buli Master.
Last night this Luba figure sold for £6,130,50, the highest price for a work of African art at auction in the UK. pic.twitter.com/anPH0wpvV1
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) July 10, 20153
Caryatid Seat by the Master of Buli
2010 SOLD for € 5.4M by Sotheby's
A highly distinctive style of wooden sculpture was executed by the Luba in the Congo village of Buli and vicinity, in the borderline of the Hemba territories. This corpus includes about 20 works : cup holders, heads and statuettes of ancestors, caryatid seats and one headrest. Luba and hemba influences are more or less mingled.
The elusive Master of Buli may in fact apply to two or three different artists, subsequently or in a workshop. A beautifully carved one-caryatid stool was sold for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on November 30, 2010, lot 97. It is 51 cm high and 31 cm in diameter. The ochre wood keeps traces of an ancient patina.
The stool once served as ceremonial object most likely used by the council of elders when they presided over court cases in the Luba kingdom. It had been acquired in 1896 by Harry Bombeeck, a Belgian executive in the then EIC (Etat Indépendant du Congo) and kept in his family up to the Sotheby's auction.
It is one of the finest Buli achievements through its exquisite carving, especially to the oversized head and highly typed hemba face, and by the care on the details of the forward leaning torso, the inclined open palms, the four fingers posed delicately on the seat and the outspread thumb touching the luba quadrilobed headdress.
Another Congolese style, with a corpus of about 18 works, is identified as Le Maître de la Coiffure en Cascade. It also includes headrests, used by high ranked Luba women to sleep on its 17 cm high rest for preserving their spectacular and cumbersome hairstyle. One of them with an attitude of friendly conversation of two caryatids was sold for € 2.3M on December 15, 2016 by Millon, lot 40.
The elusive Master of Buli may in fact apply to two or three different artists, subsequently or in a workshop. A beautifully carved one-caryatid stool was sold for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on November 30, 2010, lot 97. It is 51 cm high and 31 cm in diameter. The ochre wood keeps traces of an ancient patina.
The stool once served as ceremonial object most likely used by the council of elders when they presided over court cases in the Luba kingdom. It had been acquired in 1896 by Harry Bombeeck, a Belgian executive in the then EIC (Etat Indépendant du Congo) and kept in his family up to the Sotheby's auction.
It is one of the finest Buli achievements through its exquisite carving, especially to the oversized head and highly typed hemba face, and by the care on the details of the forward leaning torso, the inclined open palms, the four fingers posed delicately on the seat and the outspread thumb touching the luba quadrilobed headdress.
Another Congolese style, with a corpus of about 18 works, is identified as Le Maître de la Coiffure en Cascade. It also includes headrests, used by high ranked Luba women to sleep on its 17 cm high rest for preserving their spectacular and cumbersome hairstyle. One of them with an attitude of friendly conversation of two caryatids was sold for € 2.3M on December 15, 2016 by Millon, lot 40.
Senufo Primordial Mother
2014 SOLD for $ 12M by Sotheby's
The mythology of the Senufo people in Ivory Coast gives the leading role to the genesis. All human beings have a matrilineal link to the couple of primordial ancestors. The rites are held in every village by an initiatory society, the Poro.
This belief is embodied in statues that are used at both passages, puberty and death, as well as sanctuary ornaments. On November 11, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 12M a figure of the divine mother, 92 cm high, lot 48.
The Senufo artist who made this work did not wish to respect the proportions: the torso is very long and narrow and the legs are short, perhaps to be seen from below like a figure of El Greco. Instead, he expressed the mythic power by using geometry. For example, the ears are perfect circles, breasts are cones and eyebrows are a simple horizontal line.
The prominent navel resulting from the loss of the umbilical cord is the link that evokes fertility and creation. The line drawings adorning the bodies of the pubescent women are copied onto the statuette.
The ancient history of this piece is unknown, but comparisons may date its realization in the nineteenth century or early twentieth century. It would be a contemporary to the majestic Senufo primordial couple that was sold for $ 4M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2008.
This belief is embodied in statues that are used at both passages, puberty and death, as well as sanctuary ornaments. On November 11, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 12M a figure of the divine mother, 92 cm high, lot 48.
The Senufo artist who made this work did not wish to respect the proportions: the torso is very long and narrow and the legs are short, perhaps to be seen from below like a figure of El Greco. Instead, he expressed the mythic power by using geometry. For example, the ears are perfect circles, breasts are cones and eyebrows are a simple horizontal line.
The prominent navel resulting from the loss of the umbilical cord is the link that evokes fertility and creation. The line drawings adorning the bodies of the pubescent women are copied onto the statuette.
The ancient history of this piece is unknown, but comparisons may date its realization in the nineteenth century or early twentieth century. It would be a contemporary to the majestic Senufo primordial couple that was sold for $ 4M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2008.
Kota Reliquary Figure
2015 SOLD for € 5.5M by Christie's
The Kota reliquary figure was used to mark the location of a buried basket containing the relics of the dead. These tribal graveyard ornaments from Gabon have common generic features.
The flat face in leaf shape is more or less stylized. It is placed on a wider oval on which they could hang ear ornaments. The hair is a crest looking like a military helmet and the hollowed diamond shape constituting the body is undoubtedly a symbol of female fertility.
Collected at an unknown date, which is the case for most of these pieces, a Kota figure 66 cm high had highly influenced the art of the twentieth century by the constructivist purity of its face limited to a central ridge between the two eyes positioned halfway up the head.
Its provenance is exceptional.
Its earliest identified owner is Georges de Miré in the 1920s. De Miré was one of very few connoisseurs at that time who knew to see an intrinsic artistic quality within a tribal piece.
Following financial difficulties, De Miré sold his collection at auction in Drouot on 16 December 1931. The Kota was purchased at this sale by Helena Rubinstein.
It was acquired in the early 1980s by William Rubin, the director in New York MoMA and former friend of Picasso who was able to interview the artists to explain the depth of the tribal influence on modern art, becoming the most subtle theorist of primitivism.
This figure was sold for € 5.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2015, lot 37.
The flat face in leaf shape is more or less stylized. It is placed on a wider oval on which they could hang ear ornaments. The hair is a crest looking like a military helmet and the hollowed diamond shape constituting the body is undoubtedly a symbol of female fertility.
Collected at an unknown date, which is the case for most of these pieces, a Kota figure 66 cm high had highly influenced the art of the twentieth century by the constructivist purity of its face limited to a central ridge between the two eyes positioned halfway up the head.
Its provenance is exceptional.
Its earliest identified owner is Georges de Miré in the 1920s. De Miré was one of very few connoisseurs at that time who knew to see an intrinsic artistic quality within a tribal piece.
Following financial difficulties, De Miré sold his collection at auction in Drouot on 16 December 1931. The Kota was purchased at this sale by Helena Rubinstein.
It was acquired in the early 1980s by William Rubin, the director in New York MoMA and former friend of Picasso who was able to interview the artists to explain the depth of the tribal influence on modern art, becoming the most subtle theorist of primitivism.
This figure was sold for € 5.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2015, lot 37.
Baule Double Mask
2015 SOLD for € 5.4M by Sotheby's
The Baule (Baoulé) from Ivory Coast used the abstract concept of duality as a mystical element for understanding the world. The duality takes many forms: man and woman, body and soul, the object and its shadow, the reflection, the confluence, the twins, and even the role of the ego in the community.
The Vérité collection included since the 1930s a double mask, sold for € 1.3M by Enchères Rive Gauche on 17 June 2006. and for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Unlike the Janus figures, the two faces are side by side. It is a real mask in which only the two central eyes are pierced to be used in that function.
Both heads are identical in shape but differ in the location of scars, in the hair and in the color of the patina that has been partially preserved. It is indeed a male-female duality. The serene and wise attitude of the two heads confirms that the meaning is more philosophical than religious. This is not an emanation of the primordial couple.
A double mask is created by the artist on the occasion of a twin birth, probably as a unique piece that explains its great rarity. Two other examples only are known. A dancer wore this mask in the presence of the real twins during festive celebrations.
The Vérité collection included since the 1930s a double mask, sold for € 1.3M by Enchères Rive Gauche on 17 June 2006. and for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Unlike the Janus figures, the two faces are side by side. It is a real mask in which only the two central eyes are pierced to be used in that function.
Both heads are identical in shape but differ in the location of scars, in the hair and in the color of the patina that has been partially preserved. It is indeed a male-female duality. The serene and wise attitude of the two heads confirms that the meaning is more philosophical than religious. This is not an emanation of the primordial couple.
A double mask is created by the artist on the occasion of a twin birth, probably as a unique piece that explains its great rarity. Two other examples only are known. A dancer wore this mask in the presence of the real twins during festive celebrations.
Ngil Mask
1
2006 SOLD for € 5.9M by Enchères Rive Gauche
In the deep forest, individuals may try to take advantage of the credulity of others. Some natural phenomena and diseases remain unexplained. To face such situations, the Fang from Gabon had a secret brotherhood with initiatory recruitment, the Ngil, acting both as police and justice.
To terrorize the evil-doers, the Ngil members were busy at night with much noise. To avoid being identified with an individual from the community, the dancer wore a helmet mask. Of course this practice soon became incompatible with the colonial administration and very few of these masks were preserved.
The Ngil mask shows a very elongated face whose features are refined. The prominent eyebrows join the bridge of the nose. The eyes are reduced to small slits and the mouth is minimized or absent. To accentuate their nocturnal power while evoking the livid world of spirits, they were whitened with kaolin. When examples were brought in Europe, they influenced modern art including Modigliani.
With an exceptional preservation of its white kaolin crust, the mask from the Vérité collection was sold for € 5.9M by Enchères Rive Gauche on June 17, 2006.
On October 30, 2018, Christie's sold for € 2.4M as lot 98 another Ngil mask which has preserved a very long and abundant hair, a small raffia beard and scarifications in the shape of a double arrow on both temples.
On the opposite, the mask sold for € 930K by Christie's on December 13, 2011 had been used without a coating.
To terrorize the evil-doers, the Ngil members were busy at night with much noise. To avoid being identified with an individual from the community, the dancer wore a helmet mask. Of course this practice soon became incompatible with the colonial administration and very few of these masks were preserved.
The Ngil mask shows a very elongated face whose features are refined. The prominent eyebrows join the bridge of the nose. The eyes are reduced to small slits and the mouth is minimized or absent. To accentuate their nocturnal power while evoking the livid world of spirits, they were whitened with kaolin. When examples were brought in Europe, they influenced modern art including Modigliani.
With an exceptional preservation of its white kaolin crust, the mask from the Vérité collection was sold for € 5.9M by Enchères Rive Gauche on June 17, 2006.
On October 30, 2018, Christie's sold for € 2.4M as lot 98 another Ngil mask which has preserved a very long and abundant hair, a small raffia beard and scarifications in the shape of a double arrow on both temples.
On the opposite, the mask sold for € 930K by Christie's on December 13, 2011 had been used without a coating.
2
2022 SOLD for € 5.25M by Hôtel des Ventes Montpellier
A Fang Ngil mask had been collected around 1917 by a civil administrator of the Afrique Occidentale Française. It resurfaced from an attic after more than one hundred years in oblivion in a military trunk.
This specimen 55 cm high in cheese wood, kaolin, woven rattan and fabric is specially remarkable by the conservation of its very long raffia fiber beard. Its beautiful craftsmanship makes it one of the best amidst about twelve surviving Ngil masks.
Consigned from the descendants of the French officer, it was sold for € 5.25M on March 26, 2022 by Hôtel des Ventes Montpellier, lot 92. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This specimen 55 cm high in cheese wood, kaolin, woven rattan and fabric is specially remarkable by the conservation of its very long raffia fiber beard. Its beautiful craftsmanship makes it one of the best amidst about twelve surviving Ngil masks.
Consigned from the descendants of the French officer, it was sold for € 5.25M on March 26, 2022 by Hôtel des Ventes Montpellier, lot 92. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
