Winter Sale at Sotheby's

Sotheby's Paris will present its winter tribal art auction on Wednesday, December 14. Featuring a wide array of outstanding works from Africa and Oceania, the sale should generate its most intense bidding around a number of gorgeous and uncommon objects from West and Central Africa. Among the auction's most anticipated offerings will be a pair of fascinating Yoruba/Nago figural groups; an impressive anthropomorphic Dan spoon; a Bangwa power figure with numerous charge niches; a compelling and unusual Lega ivory statuette; and a beautifully rendered Luluwa bust.

View the online catalogue at the official Sotheby's website.

Topeka Gets a Taste of African Art

“Africa Everyday,” the latest exhibit on display at the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery in Topeka, Kansas, showcases a rich collection of African Art representing eight tribes: Maasai from Kenya, Asante from Ghana, Baule and Dan from Ivory Coast, Loma from Liberia, Mende from Sierra Leone and Dogon and Bamana from Mali.

Running from January 15th through February 19th, the items on display have been used by generations of tribespeople. Art and artifacts used for special ceremonies and for everyday are presented.



For example, the exhibit features elder’s regalia worn by former Topeka Zoo Director Gary Clarke, when he was initiated as an honorary elder by the Maasai. Clarke, of Topeka, has taken more than 140 safaris to Africa.


Other works of art on display include a wedding necklace made by mothers in the Maasai tribe to give to their bride-to-be daughters and an ax used in tribal construction.

“It’s fun to marvel at the differences and similarities between our society and societies thousands of miles away,” according to Sabatini Gallery director Sherry Best.


The Sabatini Gallery, open during regular library hours, is the oldest public art collection in Topeka. The gallery has been developing an African-themed collection since 1957.