Portrait of a young woman Portrait de jeune femme, Kasaï

Compare with the painting illustrated by Jean-Pierre de Rycke, Pierre de Vaucleroy, Louvain-la-Neuve, Duculot, 1992, pl. 109. A drawing of another Kete woman, from the Kasai region of the Belgian Congo, illustrates the artist's letters, published under the title Noirs et blanc (Brussels, Les Editions de l'Expansion belge, 1934), p.97. In one letter (pp. 124-125), he describes the plastic beauty of the bodies of these practically naked women, their round, flat or pointed breasts, and the raised geometric scarification on their bellies.

We are grateful to Jean-Pierre de Rycke for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.