Floris Jespers (1889-1965)
Floris Jespers (1889-1965)

Portrait of a Luba woman Portrait d'une femme Luba

Details
Floris Jespers (1889-1965)
Portrait of a Luba woman
Portrait d'une femme Luba
signed upper right Jespers
oil on canvas
55.5 x 42 cm
Literature
Lynne Thornton, Les Africanistes, peintres voyageurs 1860-1960, Paris, A.C.R. Edition, 1990, p. 268.
Exhibited
Brussels, Galerie de la Caisse Gnrale d'Epargne et de Retraite (CGER), L'Orientalisme & Africanisme dans l'Art Belge, 19e & 20e sicles, September-November 1984, no. 104, ill.

Lot Essay

The theme of the mask had already often been treated by Jespers before he travelled to Africa. Here, the highly-stylised face of the sitter, which takes on the appearance of an enigmatic mask, recalls the form of the renowned wooden sculptures of the animist Luba people of the south-central Belgian Congo.

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