Visions of Humanity in The Exceptional Sale - Christie's

Christie's will present a special selection entitled Visions of Humanity as part of The Exceptional Sale on July 9 in London. While the larger sale focuses on decorative arts and furniture, Visions of Humanity comprises a range of tribal African and classical European works.  Highlights of the special selections, pictured below, include a magnificent Luba bowstand attributed to the Warua Master and a  beautiful Chokwe warrior figure.

For more information, view the online catalogue at the Christie's website.

Bowstand with female figure  -  Luba, D.R. Congo 

Commemorative figure of a warrior chief  -  Chokwe, Angola

Images courtesy of Christie's

Tribal Art Sale at Sotheby's

Sotheby’s will hold its spring sale of art from Africa, Oceania, and the ancient Americas in New York on May 15. It will be led by a rare Pende helmet mask that was featured in the 1984 Primitivism show at MOMA. Also featured will be highlights from the New York estate of the late Helena Segy and, by extension, the personal collection of her noted husband, Ladislas Segy. Significant among these are a rare Ngbandi ivory spoon and an unusually early Kota reliquary. A large and fine Lobi couple from the collection of Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler and an Mbembe figure once owned by Georg Baselitz will also be offered. An unusual highlight of the sale is an extremely early Kanak stone figure from New Caledonia collected by the missionary Père Pierre Lambert between 1856 and 1863. 

View the online catalogue.

Male figure  -  Luba, D.R. Congo

Monumental head  -  Kanak, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea

Helmet mask  -  Luluwa, D. R. Congo

Male reliquary figure,  eyema byeri  -   Fang-Ntumu, Gabon

 Images courtesy of Sotheby's

African Art Sale - Artcurial

Artcurial will present a sale of fine African art today in Paris. The collections of Liuba and Ernesto Wolf and Mr. & Mrs. Robert Hendrickx of Brussels will be offered, the highlights including a rare and beautiful Luba figural pipe and masks from the Guro and Baule.

View the online catalogue.

Images courtesy of Artcurial

Shaping Power: Luba Masterworks from the Royal Museum for Central Africa

A new exhibition on Congolese tribal art opened this week at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Shaping Power: Luba Masterworks from the Royal Museum for Central Africa brings together twenty-six transfixing pieces of Luba art on loan from RMCA in Belgium, including masks, figural works, and a range of ritual and court art. 

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Memory board, lukasa

Mask  -  19th century

Caryatid stool  -  19th century

Figurative pipe  -  19th century

Bowl-bearer  -  19th century

Images courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art