Force et présence - Une collection d'art Africain et Océanien du nouveau siècle

Brought together in only a short decade by a collector who could be called a citizen of the world, a modern young gentleman who lives globally, this exceptional collection of 67 works of art is classical and encyclopedic. With historic resonance, many works were collected in the 1920s and bear rich provenance. Other more newly-discovered objects, following the independence of their country of origin in the 1960s help define this collection of a new century with possibilities unknown in past generations. The pillar of this collection is a large-scale Songyé figure embedded with metal blades. A group of statuettes from the Congo will also be presented, of which the top lot is a Bembe seated figure from the former collection of Marsha and Saul Stanoff, a couple of collectors renowned for their expert eye and taste for ’monumental miniatures’. However the collection of our enlightened connoisseur doesn’t include only objects of power: precious and poetic pieces include a   fragment of a Dogon maternity figure, collected by Hélène Leloup in the 1960s and published in her reference book Dogon Statuary (1994). Works from the South Pacific include a Kanak mask, collected circa 1892 by Admiral William Oswald Story – an officer in the Royal Navy – and one of the most beautiful still in private hands, and a mysterious Biwat flute stopper from Papua-New-Guina. Lastly, a group of nine exceptional objects from the Cameroonian Grasslands will be presented, led by a tall and expressive Bekom figure. Its striking gesture of a hand held to the mouth is typical of the Grasslands’ sculpture and is said to express wisdom.