African Arts Gallery

Ex-French African art collection.
Posture of a rider rather atypical for this female figure: perched in kneeling position, she also presents a face revealing a deep meditation. The beard suggests an ancestor hermaphrodite figuration, swollen belly pregnancy. According to Geneviève Calame-Griaule, these statuettes, associated with fertility and motherhood, named dege were intermediaries between men and spirits or geniuses. A dark brown patina covers the entire room whose wood bears the imprint of age: cracks and cracks. These statues, sometimes embodying the nyama of the deceased, are placed on altars of ancestors and participate in various rituals including those of periods of seeds and harvests. Parallel to Islam, dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the ...

Former Belgian private collection of African art J. Putteneers.

These pieces are identified as inspired by the works of buli's Master who developed this style in the mid-19th century. A set of pieces with the same aesthetic characteristics is indeed famous in the luba statuary and is to be attributed to a sculptor or group of sculptors, opinions diverging according to the authors, under the name "Master of Buli".

The Luba are renowned for their statuary and in particular their stools consisting of one or two cariatids holding, with the help of arms and their skulls, a circular seat.
Complex scarifications are engraved on the chest and arms of the female character. The facial features are typical as well as the headdress pulled backwards.

The Luba ...

The variety of reliquaries in the African art of the Mbede
The Mbete are known for their antropomorphic statues with a dorsal hollow as a reliquary participating in the worship of ancestors. These exceptionally well-preserved pieces are typical of african tribal art from the Mbete , Ambete . Their cylindrical abdomen contains a rectangular cavity on the back sealed by a door in which the bones of the lineage ancestors were preserved. Placed in the lower half of the head, under a broad triangular forehead, the face has a characteristic appearance, with cauris evoking narrow half-closed eyelids, a hollowed-out geometric mouth giving it a grimacing appearance. The hairstyle on which the braids are drawn is assembled in a summit crest. Attached to the bust, the arms are folded at a ...

Private collection Recupero
The wide variety of African art production Dogon.
Statue seated, hands resting on the thighs. The belly is prominent, in reference to fertility. Above the excessively stretched neck the face has an angular styling whose soaring shape of the nose is characteristic of the Dogon. The crested hairstyle is incised with rafters. Heavily eroded wood, clear patina.
The main dogon religious leaders are the Hogon, priests of the lebed cult, dedicated to agriculture. One of the most important ceremonies of the lebe is called bulu; it celebrates the renewal and return of life, and takes place in the spring. The ancestors are honored through the cult binu, and give their benevolence in turn to their descendants. Blacksmiths and woodcarvers form a separate ...

Ex Belgian private collection of African art J. Putteneers.

The Wurkum, like the Mumuye, have shoulder masks called Skuwava with an elongated neck topped by a head, sometimes miniaturized. Wurkum pieces are nevertheless more expressive than Mumuye pieces.
These imposing masks were traditionally worn during war preparation ceremonies but are now linked to healing and rain rituals.
These uncommon pieces come from the northern regions of the Benue Valley. The patina is smooth in coffee tones.