Homme Blanc/Homme Noir. Impressions d'Afrique

Fascination, repulsion, desire, and even mockery have long characterized the ways in which Africans and Westerners have perceived one another. The second exhibition devoted to African art at the Pierre Arnaud Foundation, Homme Blanc/Homme Noir, Impressions d’Afrique (White Man/Black Man, Impressions of Africa), on view until October 25, 2015, examines several centuries of exchange and misunderstanding through a selection of works created between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries by both African and European artists. The visions of Westerners such as Géricault, Vallotton, and even Man Ray are juxtaposed with those of anonymous Igbo, Baule, or Kongo sculptors. The works displayed are from public collections (the Musée du Louvre and the Musée Royal d’Afrique Central in Tervuren), as well as from private ones, most notably that of Alain Weill.

For an in-depth look at the exhibition, visit the Fondation Pierre Arnaud website.

Les Affinités Électives d'Alexis Bonew at Sotheby's

On December 10, Sotheby's will present the African art collection of Alexis Bonew in Paris. Composed in an epic manner, this collection of art from the Congo reveals the work of a humanist spirit, a lover of ancient civilisations, ancient languages, Classical and African culture; a man whose appreciation for beauty consisted as much of philosophy and science as of feeling.

View the online catalogue.

Power figure  -  Songye, D.R. Congo

Muminia mask  -  Lega, D.R. Congo

Cannabis mortar  -  Luluwa, D. R. Congo

Ivory figure  -  Lega, D.R. Congo

Power figure  -  Kongo, D.R. Congo

Images courtesy of Sotheby's

Africa Re-Viewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at the National Museum of African Art, the museum is organizing a retrospective exhibition of internationally-renowned photographer Eliot Elisofon. The exhibition focus on Elisofon's innovative photography and its impact on portraying the diverse arts and cultures of modern-era Africa. The exhibition will be the first to pair his photographs with collected objects, films, books, and journals, and the first exhibition in forty years to celebrate his photographic legacy.

Visit the Smithsonian website.

Images courtesy of the National Museum of African Art

The Allan Stone Collection at Sotheby's

On November 15, 2013, Sotheby’s will present The Collection of Allan Stone: African, Oceanic, and Indonesian Art—Volume One, the first of two sales of the tribal art collection of the legendary New York art dealer. A second sale of equal size will be held in November 2014. Sotheby’s believes that this is the most significant African and Oceanic art collection to be offered in New York since the Helena Rubinstein auction in 1966. Many of the works to be offered have been included in publications and museum exhibitions. A small selection from the collection was the subject of the 2011 exhibition Power Incarnate: Allan Stone’s Collection of Sculpture from the Congo at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. Among the highlights of the collection is an exceptional group of Songye power figures and Kongo nail figures from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—two of the most iconic genres of African art.

View the online catalogue.

Power figure  -  Kongo/Yombe, D. R. Congo

Warrior mask  -  Kuba, D.R. Congo

Kifwebe mask  -  Songye, D. R. Congo

Power figure  -  Songye, D. R. Congo

Power figure  -  Songye, D. R. Congo

Power figure  -  Songye, D. R. Congo

Images courtesy of Sotheby's

Inities, bassin Congo

On view now at the Musée Dapper in Paris, Initiés, bassin Congo (The Initiated: Congo Basin) is an homage to the material and immaterial richness of the initiation rituals of the peoples of Central Africa. Visitors will have the opportunity to admire major pieces from the Musée Royal d’Afrique Centrale in Tervuren. As it always does, the museum wants these older works to resonate with contemporary art, so it will simultaneously host an exhibition of creations by Romuald Hazoumé, whose well-known “masques-bidon,” or “jerrican masks,” represent both a continuation and a fertile reinvention of African traditions.

View the exhibition's official website.

Helmet mask  -  Bembe

Mask  -  Lega

Ivory pendants  -  Pende

Information and images courtesy of the Musée Dapper