FEATURES ARCHIVE

What has been the most exciting moment of your career?
My most exciting moment so far was the discovery on an unknown work by a famous artist. I was involved in every step from seeing the first photo and having an inkling that it was something great, to doing the research and confirming this fact.When it came to auction this sculpture achieved five times its estimate, ultimately ending up in the Dallas Museum where it can still be visited and enjoyed.The vendor had no idea that it was so rare, and she almost sold it in a car boot sale. She was overjoyed with the outcome.

African Art often revolves around spiritual beliefs and tribal rituals. Which is your favourite?
The Baule people believe that each person has a spiritual spouse.They commission their ‘dream spouse’ from a diviner, a healer, and spend one night a week appeasing this ‘other half ’ to affect circumstances in the ‘real’ world. My husband is wonderful, but it would be fun to have a dream spouse as well, who only requires a little attention from time to time!

What attracts you most to African Art, its cultural context or pure aesthetic beauty?
Well, this duality is precisely what I love about African art. One can choose to have a strictly formal, aesthetic appreciation of the works. But there is also so much to learn and explore about ritual and function. The Bamana male antelope headdress is a classic example of African artistic genius where form and function are distilled into one (Lot 2). Amongst the Bamana people of Mali, this is the top of a headdress that would have been danced side-by-side with a female counterpart (see Lot 1 for a female example).They are called ‘Chi Wara’ after the mythological hero that gave the first humans agrarian know-how, and so the headdresses are danced during various harvest ceremonies.

Where have you seen African art work best in the modern context?
The recent show at the Beyeler Foundation in Basel,Visual Encounters, was amazing. So many top examples shown together in aesthetic harmony with incredible paintings. Of course, the Menil collection in Houston also affords one a similar experience.It’s breathtaking and they always have special works on view.

Which African Art form do you think represents you and your tastes the best?
I am all over the place; that is why I appreciate the current collection we are offering in December.There are so many wonderful facets of African art represented. In particular, I adore the Bangwa Royal Male figure (see page 7 top lots gallery). It just has such an immediate impact; I stop in my tracks every time I see it.The carver was truly masterful in his creation of movement and vitality, you don’t often encounter that.

What was the last exhibition you saw?
Whenever I am in Paris, like now, I make two pilgrimages. One to the Pavillon des Sessions, where the African and Oceanic Art (along with other ‘arts premiers’) are on view at the Louvre.The other is to the Musée du Quai Branly, the new museum created by President Jacques Chirac and dedicated to these fields. I always leave feeling very philosophical, asking myself Gauguin’s question: D'où venons-nous? / Qui sommes-nous? / Où allons-nous? (Where do we come from? / Who are we? / Where are we going?) Just before coming to Paris, I saw Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC which explores the intersection between photography and African art. I loved it!