SHAPE(S), L'UNIVERS DES FORMES, African and Oceanic arts

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Following the French government’s announcement of new social restrictions, please note that our Paris premises are now closed to the public. All scheduled auctions are confirmed to continue, and we will be taking telephone and absentee bids, or via the Christie’s LIVE™ platform.

This dedicated sale of African and Oceanic Art highlights the formal inventiveness and the remarkable sculptural qualities of the works selected here. They all enjoy a special status of being either unpublished, iconic or historical. Christie’s is honoured to celebrate the extraordinary creativity of these artists and the infinite richness of their styles that so profoundly marked the art of the XXth century.

This sale equally celebrates some of the greatest collectors: Helena Rubinstein, Nelson Rockefeller, Maurice Girardin, Arman, Marie-Ange Ciolkowska or Pierre Guerre. The current selection was born out of the conviction that the power of aesthetical sense is universal and omnipresent, and “that people are the same everywhere […] and that people everywhere create masterpieces and conceive the world in a way that allows them to produce images that adequately correspond to it.” (Arman)