‘The very essence of figuration in African sculpture’: works from the collection of Hilde and Dieter Scharf

Dieter Scharf was born to be a collector. His grandfather, Otto Gerstenberg, the founder and CEO of the Victoria-Versicherung insurance company, amassed one of the greatest private collections in Germany, filled with Old Masters and Impressionists. Gerstenberg was particularly fond of prints, almost obsessively acquiring at least one of nearly every image ever made by Dürer, Goya and Rembrandt.

Over the early decades of the 20th century, much of that collection was either sold, destroyed by air raids or looted by the Red Army. What survived was ultimately passed on to his two grandsons, Dieter and Walther, in 1961.

Although a scientist by training, Dieter was drawn to the less rational worlds of Surrealism and Symbolism. After acquiring a watercolour by Paul Klee, he began a quest to represent the fantastic in European art, from the Renaissance through to the 20th century. Over the decades, he built a substantial collection of works by the likes of Dalí, Magritte, Ernst and Hans Bellmer, as well as Odilon Redon, Max Klinger and Alfred Kubin.

Prior to his death in 2001, Dieter placed some 300 works in a foundation. In the summer of 2008, they were unveiled to the public as the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection in Berlin’s former Egyptian Museum, on a 10-year public loan. In 2018, that contract was extended for another decade.

Today, the foundation is overseen by Dieter’s daughter, the art historian Julietta Scharf — the fourth generation of the family to steward the collection. Alongside its neighbour, the Berggruen Museum, it’s one of the most important private collections on display in the country.

Yet what isn’t widely known is that, behind closed doors, Dieter had another, equally consuming passion: African art.

During the final decade of his life, Dieter filled any gap in his Hamburg villa with exceptional examples of sub-Saharan sculpture. Like the European works he had cherished, these figures embody a profound relationship with the invisible, the mysterious and the power of dreams, articulated through the human body.

‘Discovering this unfamiliar artistic continent was a turning point,’ explains Alexis Maggiar, international head of African and Oceanic Art. ‘With the help of his wife, Hilde, Dieter built an exceptional collection that’s rich in form, striking in diversity, and explores the very essence of figuration in African sculpture.’

Fifty works will be offered on 16 June 2025 in Collection Hilde & Dieter Scharf: Ode to African Sculpture. Here, Maggiar selects his five highlights from the upcoming sale.

Baule figure

Hailing from the Ivory Coast, this sculpture is most likely an asie usu, or nature spirit. Although these spirits are regarded as unattractive and vindictive, when sculpted in human form their portrayals are considered extremely beautiful and believed to bring success.

This example is attributed to the ‘Master of Essankro’, placing it in a rare group of sculptures hailing from a small village south of the sub-prefecture of Bouaké, in the heart of Baule territory. They are distinguished by their mask-like faces, slender figures and rounded eyes. Another example, bequeathed by Nelson Rockefeller, is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection.

‘This figure has more than a century of great provenance,’ says Maggiar. ‘It was first published in 1923 in the collection of Paul Guillaume, a Parisian dealer who traded African art alongside pictures by Amedeo Modigliani, Francis Picabia and Giorgio de Chirico, as well as early Cubist paintings.’

Luba figure

The Luba people live along the Lualaba River and around the lakes of the Upemba Depression in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Within their political system, the king embodies both temporal authority and sacred power, which is materialised through specific royal regalia, including headrests, stools, staffs and ancestor figures. These objects are preserved in a royal treasury and entrusted to a female dignitary.

This sculpture, which expresses ideals of beauty and power, shows a woman holding her breasts — a common Luba motif that references a belief in descent through the female line, but also the possession of royal secrets. During ceremonies, it received libations of vegetable oils, as evidenced through the seepage on its surface, which reveals a long ritual life.

‘The highly realistic treatment of this sculpture’s face points to it as being by the same hand as another figure in the British Museum. Thanks to its deep patina, amazing presence, symbolic power and ritual status, this is one of the most important Luba sculptures in existence.’

Kongo-Yombe figure

This maternity figure, which is first recorded in the collection of the Belgian Expressionist painter Frits Van den Berghe, is one of just six figures attributed to the virtuoso sculptor known as the ‘Master of Kasadi’.

The artist lived in a village of the same name about 10km south of Tshela in the Kongo kingdom. His work is characterised by masterful forms and extreme realism, especially in the face, typically showing strong yet delicate features with prominent cheekbones, a strong chin and a half-open mouth with worn-down teeth. This is one of just two works by him that has patina from ritual use.

The sculptor’s immense talent was recognised early on, and first published in 1929. The anthropologist and African art connoisseur Frans Olbrechts also included one of his works in his landmark 1937 exhibition, Tentoonstelling van Kongo-Kunst, in Antwerp.

‘Work by the Master of Kasadi marks an important shift, when art historians began to talk about specific artists and not just cultures in general. This example was first exhibited in Antwerp in 1942, and more recently included in the Met’s 2016 show Kongo: Power and Majesty.’

Kota reliquary figure

This highly stylised figure is carved in the tradition of the Kota people of Gabon. Covered in finely contoured brass and copper plates, its has a shimmer that brings its grimacing face to life. It’s an aesthetic distinct among ancestor guardian effigies — objects designed to safeguard relics kept in woven baskets.

This sculpture was previously owned by Georges de Miré, a visionary who in just a few years assembled one of the most legendary collections of African art ever witnessed. It was part of the group he exhibited in 1930 at Paris’s Théâtre Pigalle, during the landmark Exposition d’art africain et d’art océanien — which is hailed as a turning point for the reception of African and Oceanic art in Europe. The following year, Miré was forced to sell his collection. Many of the pieces became cornerstones of major institutions worldwide.

‘This figure is unique among its typology,’ observes Maggiar. ‘Coupled with such great provenance, it’s very historically important.’

Dogon N’duléri horse rider

The Dogon people of the Republic of Mali live in small villages at the foot of the Bandiagara Escarpment, a steep cliff formation about 200km long. Their art explores spiritual beliefs through symbolic stylised and abstract forms. And thanks to the arid local climate, examples dating as far back as the 13th century have survived.

This rare Dogon sculpture is in the supple and elegant N’duleri style, a variant of Dogon art made along the western edge of the plateau. It depicts a horse rider, who clings to the animal’s mane and presses against its side with his knees. The absence of weaponry suggests he isn’t a warrior, but a hero. The horse — a rare presence in Dogon territory — symbolises strength and power.

‘It’s one of several Dogon sculptures in the sale, alongside the figure of a drummer, a woman with a pestle and mortar and a mother carrying a child.’

The day after the sale of the Hilde & Dieter Scharf Collection, Christie’s is offering 19 lots in Art du Pacifique. Among them are a rediscovered monumental Uli figure from Papua New Guinea and a rare mask from the Yukon, Alaska, which passed from the collection of Surrealist painter Roberto Matta to the family of Henri Matisse.

Collection Hilde & Dieter Scharf: Ode to African Sculpture is on view at Christie’s in Paris until 16 June 2025, alongside Art du Pacifique, until 17 June