GALERIE ART PREMIER AFRICAIN GALERIE ART PRIMITIF AFRICAIN AFRICAN ART GALLERY

The Authenticity of African Sculptures

by Henri Kamer

The issue of authenticity of African art has been central to collectors for decades.  Henri Kamer, who was president of the International Arts Experts Association at the time, published an outstanding account of the state of the matter in Artes d'Afrique Noire, No. 12 (1974).  The text  that follows is extracted from an English translation of that article, and has been edited further.  The original includes a number of illustrations.  They are not included here because I believe the text suffices without them. 

The original version, including the illustrations, in French and with the English translation, is 

Full text, digitalised by Lies Strijker and presented by the .Centre Aequatoria
Notes on the digitalisation and presentation


[Cover]

[1: empty]

[2]
IMPRIMI POTEST
Kanzenze, 12-2-1952
P. Simeon, o.m.f.
Sup. Reg.

IMPRIMATUR
Luabo-Kamina, 30-5-1952
+VICTOR PETRUS KEUPPENS
Vic. Ap. de Lulua


[3]

(Translated into English from "La Philosophie Bantoue" the French Version by Dr. A. Rubbens of Fr. Tempels' original work. The Revd. Colin King, M.A. Translator.)

With a Foreword to the English Edition by Dr Margaret Read, C.B.E.Ph. D.,M.A., formerly Professor of Education and Head of the Department Of Education in Tropical Areas, The

Après la maison de ventes aux enchères Gaïa,

Artcurial et Pierre Berge & associés se lancent dans

l'art africain contemporain. Sans que les oeuvres,

pour l'instant, rencontrent le succès de l'art dit tribal

auprès des collectionneurs. Explications.

NICOLAS MICHEL

Acheter de l'art africain

contemporain ? Allez-y,

c'est le moment !

« Le contexte est très

bon pour l'investisseur,

explique Fabian

Bocart, directeur des recherches quantitatives

chez Tutela Capital. Les prix sont

plus que raisonnables pour des travaux

de grande qualité. On peut s'offrir des

pièces de maître pour 12000 euros ! » Et

il poursuit : « Nous sommes à l'aube de

ce qui va se passer quand les Africains

vont se rendre compte de leur richesse.

Profitons-en ' Achetons avant qu'ils

ne se réveillent ! » Les propos peuvent

paraître cyniques, mais ce sont ceux

d'un homme dont le job est de conseiller

des collectionneurs qui veulent placer

de l'argent et considèrent l'art comme

un investissement. Rien à voir avec un

mécène ou un philanthrope.

En la matière, il a raison: les Africains

sommeillent encore. Ou du moins dormaient-

ils à poings fermés, le 24 octobre

dernier, lors de la vente « Africa

scènes I » organisée par la maison Artcurial

à Paris. Sur plus de

The Senufo

scattered between the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, Mali, one million five hundred thousand Senufo, live off agriculture and occasional hunting. they live in villages ruled by councils of elders, who elect a leader. cohesion of the tribe is reinforced by the Poro society initiates, and educates the Senufo men from lâge 7 years. Senufo theology based on the presence of a powerful god, Koulotiolo, and a mother goddess Katielo, which through the rites of the Poro society ruled over the world.
The Senufo art is one of the first to have been admired by Westerners, their artistic production is abundant, and their statues and masks are characterized by a mixture of realistic detail, allied to pure geometric forms. playing on the empty and full.

Masks:

the Senufo, use different types of masks, according to the occasion. mask called Kpéliyée used by members of the Poro society has a heart shaped face surrounded by fins. mask helmet représentatnt janiforme a buffalo head is used for funerals and in times of crisis. its main function is to destroy the evil spirits, his power comes from a small cup placed on top of his skull containing magical substances. sometimes for dancing sparks out of his mouth that earned him the name "fire-eater." another type of helmet mask, a buffalo head, under a pair of antelope horns, are used primarily during initiation ceremonies poro.
Senufo artists have created three types of crest, the first

The works are presented in a geographical journey of productions ranging from West to East, both from Gabon to Congo:

* The Fang peoples and related
* The Kwele
* The Mbede-Kota
* The Tsogho, Galwa, Aduma, Vuvi and Teke (Tsaayi)
* The Ngbaka, and Ngbandi Ngombe
* The Mbole, Yela, Metoko, Komo, Jong, Lengola and Kela
* The Lega and Bembe

THE FANG:

THE KWELE: they live on the northern border of the Republic of Congo, and have used a type of mask called Ekuk, they are flat masks, which have incised eyes, often a white face in a heart-shaped nose triangle-shaped eyes and coffee bean. these masks were hung in homes rarely worn during ceremonies, initiation Bwetes worship, their function was to conduct a village to enable forces are beneficial Bwetes capita.

THE KOTA: Living in the eastern part of Gabon, on the border with the Republic of Congo, Kota, include a number of tribes, such as Mahongwe the Sango, the Obamba, and Shamay, who practice the same rituals and shared cultural traits. They probably migrated southward during the 18th, and now live in the valley of the river, Ogonoué in a forest environment. from their economic resources, sutout hunting and agriculture. Kota the past, had the habit of leaving their dead exposed to the elements in the forest. Under the influence of neighboring tribes, they began to bury their cefs and keep their bones (mainly the skull) to place them with

Congo River Exhibition from June 22 to October 3, 2010 - Quai Branly -
Practical information

Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2010
on Sunday, October 3, 2010

Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays from 11h to 19h Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11am to 21pm

Location: East Mezzanine

Fares: Ticket collections

37 Quai Branly
75007 Paris
01 56 61 70 00
Metro: Iena

EXPOSURE:

The Musée du Quai Branly This summer, through 170 documents and 80 major works, a major exhibition devoted to the artistic traditions of Central Africa, including Gabon, Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Real journey of leading the visitor of the northern forests to savannas, South exhibition demonstrates the links between works produced in the regions bordering the Congo River, for various populations of Bantu languages.

Behind the variety of masks and sculptures Fang, Hemba, kweli or kota, the exhibition highlights the major works of Central Africa, in their design, structure and artistic connections that bring them closer.

The three themes of the exhibition, common core to these peoples iconophiles are complementary:

    * Masks and statues with the "heart-shaped face, and ensure the unity and identity of the respective groups;

Who are the Baule?

About three million people living mainly in central Ivory Coast are defined as Baule. Yet after a closer study it semblairaient these men identify with villages or village clusters (ranging from 4 to 12) as an ethnic group. although the Baule ethnic reality remains msytérieuse can not be denying the existence of a style Baule. artists who use this style talk Baule and abroad their art is known as Baule for over a century.

Exhibition "African Hairstyles"

After the monographic exhibitions devoted to ethnic Mumuye and Bambara, the gallery's eye and the hand begins 2010 with an exhibition on the theme of the often overlooked African hairstyle. Often overlooked as belonging to the sphere of the arts "popular", hair is however of particular importance in Africa, both aesthetically and symbolically.

The hairstyle can both grow its appearance but also to affirm their identity or social status. Some hairstyles are immediately identifiable, such as hairstyling splayed Mangbetu of the Democratic Republic of Congo or the hairstyles solidified ocher Namibia. Others refer to a hierarchical system more complex. Ancient art, hair is also found in modern African art production, through paintings advertising kiosks hairdressers or barbers, or in African-American fashion. Both ornaments and symbols of identity, the hairstyles worn by different ethnic groups are reflected in their art. Although they represent gods or ancestors, masks and statues are the hairstyles of the living.

In Africa the hairstyle is still practiced by family members or trusted friends. In addition to the social aspects of the event, the hair, placed in the hands of enemies, could become an ingredient in the production of dangerous charms or "medicines" that could hurt their owners. Mostly it is women cap the women and men that cap men.

As scarification, hairstyles to identify gender, ethnicity, stage reached by the person in the cycle of life, status and personal taste. Scholars,

AFRICAN SCULPTURE

Introduction
Context of African sculpture
Places of traditional African sculpture
Canons of African sculpture
Techniques and creative
Aesthetic
Role of African sculpture in the middle
Universal impact of African sculpture
Bibliographic


Introduction

Never has been written about as much ink as traditional African sculpture. Ever, despite all attempts, the man has managed to evacuate his mental field, much less its history, that is to say of his encounter with the other. It has been a cornerstone to measure the "civilization" of the black man and his ability to create capacity variously appreciated throughout history until early this century, cubism helping, the unanimously begins to make the exceptional nature of African sculpture that was always confused with African art which it is a party, probably the most important, if one were to judge solely by the number Parts created that we have reached.

Context of African sculpture

We can talk about African sculpture in isolation from the rest of the arts of Africa south of Sahara. Every word in this area is responsible not only meaningless but history, and if we chose the term "African art" is to fully assume all we have inherited from the past in

THE WAY OF THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE

Text from the "diplomatic world" in October 1998

In economic terms, Africa figure of poor and marginalized continent. Since the end of the Cold War, it appears as an area that declassified no longer a geopolitical and diplomatic challenge for the major powers. Outside of emergencies that require humanitarian intervention, nobody is really interested in the fate of 700 million men and women who live in this part of the world. "Bankruptcy of development"? "Retard"? Or, rather, strength of African societies, refusing to be trapped neoliberal, and the emergence of alternatives to the Western model of development?


Few studies of the continent really leave room for hope: it keeps repeating that it "Africa sinks" and becomes "a repository of humanity's ills." The image of a "continent wrecked," repeated ad nauseam, seems to summarize all the perceptions of Africa that tend to be synonymous with poverty, corruption and fraud would be the home of violence, conflict and genocide. Images are projected onto Apocalypse "an impoverished Africa in the spiral of conflict." In the late twentieth century, "no continent offers such a spectacle of desolation, war and famine as Africa. (...) Slowly, the place is going to drift. "

The paradigm of "bankruptcy" is the same analytical framework of economic and social

Metisse world
edited by Serge Gruzinski


To Mix ot not to mix?

It is to dwell on the notion of miscegenation, topical if any, by confronting the reader to a series of oppositions common, calling into question the strong taste of the West for dualism: Classical / ethnic, antique / classic, original / first, folk / colonial, exotic / Typical ...

Open exhibition and publication on issues related to the idea of mixing that lead almost without transition, to an exploration of memory. These elements suggest to think logically about how to be "manufactured" objects mixed with it is often difficult to define the contours. They could be defined as the expression of a human creation that arose at the confluence of the Worlds and European companies in Asia, Africa and America. They are at the heart of a story that is played worldwide since the fifteenth century to the present.

After several steps that will reveal many little-known works, the course ends with an imaginary encounter with the contemporary Métis, particularly through Hollywood and Asian cinema.
Description

184 pages 24 x 26 cm

About 150 illustrations

Retail price: 45 €

Hardback

Isbn 978-2-7427-7344-2/978-2-915133-81-3

Co-published Branly / Actes Sud
curator

Benin


Five Centuries of Royal Art

Produced by the Museum für Völkerkunde (Ethnology Museum) in Vienna, the Benin catalog, five centuries of royal art to discover the masterpieces of the art of court of the kingdom of Benin in the south of the Current Nigeria.

Reference book of over 500 pages, published this comprehensive retrospective, it includes an introduction to local traditions of Nigeria, reports on field research and the latest offers historico-cultural, symbolic and pictorial exhibits , crucial for the identity of the kingdom of Benin.

It is the perfect mirror of the exhibition that brings together for the first time in Europe, mostly from collections in England, Germany and Austria. All these works, a remarkable historical unity, draws a broad panorama of art and culture of the kingdom of Benin.

Treasures of mankind and blocks of museums around the world, beautiful bronzes and ivory carvings are at the heart of the course., Supplemented by maps, manuscripts and chronicles of travel, many clues for the reader of the immense wealth of the past in Nigeria.


five centuries of royal art


October 2, 2007-January 6, 2008

Curator: Barbara Plankensteiner, Director of Collections of Africa Museum of Ethnology in Vienna.

Produced by the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna, the Benin exhibition to discover the masterpieces of the art of court of the Kingdom of

Tangle of ropes, accumulation of disparate elements, small heaps unspeakable, are the objects of divination in Africa in this book. These figures of the formless, sometimes perceived as loathsome and strange, are much more familiar we suppose at first, and do not speak of anything but life and countless son's existence, which continue to establish and discard. It is not that of any tribute to Africa and mysterious fetish, but to honor human creativity and variety of forms it knows borrow.

Exposure. Musée du Quai Branly (2009) Recipes of the Gods: the fetish aesthetic Actes Sud € 19.90
Group under the leadership of Jacques Kerchache African Art & Citadels Mazenod € 199.00
Faik-Nzuji, Clementine M. African Arts: signs and symbols boeck From € 42.00
Collective Imprints of Africa: African Art, Modern Art Workshop € 9.91
Basson, Mbog Aesthetics of African Art: The Symbolic and complexity Harmattan € 21.00
Diagne, Souleymane Bachir Leopold Sedar Senghor, African art as philosophy: an essay Riveneuve € 15.00
Exposure. Afrikamuseum (2007-2008) Ubangi, art and culture in the heart of South Africa Acts € 99.95
Alain Lecomte art, magic and medicine in Black Africa Gallery Alain Lecomte € 35.00
Exposure. Dapper Foundation (2007-2008) Musée Dapper Pet € 45.00
Exposure.