THE TRIBAL ART

The genius of the African artist made material a divine abstract concept, the super being. And he did it with nothing in the middle of nowhere, far from any objective influence, in the heart of swamps and hostile forests, a place that could break the most hardened spirit. “How? Why here and now?” will forever remain unanswered questions.

ART COLLECTOR | SKETCH ARTIST

LEAF-SHAPE KNIVES

Gabon
19th to very early 20th cent.
54 cm – 62 cm – 53,5 cm

Privat English and French collections

DANCE PADDLE

Vuvi, Gabon
Beginning 20th cent.
Wood and kaolin
29,5 cm

Collection Pierre Langlois, Lille
Collection du Pr. Pierre Bienayme
Gallery Philippe Ratton Paris
Collection Anna Demina Milan

PUNU STAFF FINIAL

Gabon
19th cent.
Wood
60 cm

Private French collection
Base Kichizo Inagaki
Sotheby’s lot 74, June 25, 2020
Anna Demina’s Collection, Milan

Arts d’Afrique, Paris, June 25, 2020

TSOGHO/VUVI HOUSE POST

Gabon
Early 20th cent.
Wood and polychromy
170 cm

Formerly in Galerie Philippe Guimiot, Bruxelles
Formerly in Dr Andrault’s collection
Formerly in Galerie Kanaga, Paris
Formerly in a private French collection
Anna Demina Collection, Milan

Galerie Ratton, Gabon, Paris, June-September 2017, pp.68-69

FANG HEAD

Byeri, Gabon

Late 19th cent. 

Wood
13,5 cm

Collection Léonce Guerre (1880-1948), Marseille
Collection Pierre Guerre (1910-1978), Marseille, inv. n° 97
Collection Christine et Alain Vidal-Naquet, Marseille
Sotheby’s, Paris, Pierre Guerre, Art d’Afrique, 15 juin 2011, lot 5
Collection privée, acquis lors de cette vente
Christie’s Shape (s) 3.12. 2020 lot 11

Marseille, Musée Cantini, Arts africains, 23 mars – 2 août 1970
Marseille, Centre de la Vieille Charité, MAAOA – Musée d’Arts Africains, Océaniens, Amérindiens, Pierre Guerre. Un érudit en son temps, 20 mars – 31 mai 1992

HEADPIECE OF A HARP

Punu, Gabon
early 20th century

Gallery No. KKD-52, Collection No. MP-6

Until 1952 part of the historical collection of the ethnologist and trader Julius Konietzko, then inherited by his son Boris Kegel-Konietzko.