Strong Results at Sotheby's and Christie's

The results of the spring tribal art auctions at the New York salesrooms of Sotheby's and Christie's were sound testimony to the continuing vitality of the ethnographic art market.

The Christie's sale on May 10, which featured objects from the collection of the late Ernst Beyeler, saw the sale of a fine Santa Cruz Islands platter for $314,500; an impressive Bidjogo mask from Guinea Bissau for $266, 500; and an Australian Aboriginal shield, estimated at a mere $3,000–5,000, for $116, 500.

The large sale at Sotheby's on May 11 saw even more impressive hammer prices.  Three objects––a fantastic Bamana zigzag figure, a serene Buyu male figure, and an imposing Luluwa mask once in the collection of Dr. Werner Muensterberger––each sold for approximately $2.5 million.  An excellent Kota reliquary figure commanded just over $1 million, while a Bamana seated female figure and a Dogon female figure ended at $782,500 and $542,500, respectively.  Two major surprises came in the form of an Azande bone figure that exceeded its estimate almost tenfold at $512,500 and an unusual Lega mask, once owned by Henri Matisse, that began at an estimated $5,000–7,000 and eventually garnered a closing price of $362,500.

Platter in the form of a fish  -  Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands

Mask  -  Bidjogo, Guinea Bissau

Shield  -  Australian Aboriginal

Zigzag figure  -  Bamana, Mali

Male figure  -  Buyu, D. R. Congo

Helmet mask  -  Luluwa, D. R. Congo

Reliquary figure  -  Kota, Gabon

Seated female figure  -  Bamana, Mali

Female figure  -  Dogon, Mali

Bone figure  -  Azande, D. R. Congo

Mask (with possible additions by Henri Matisse)  -  Lega, D. R. Congo

Information and images courtesy of Sotheby's and Christie's

Tribal Art at Sotheby's - May 11, 2012

Sotheby's will present a two-part sale of fine tribal art and artifacts on May 11, 2012.  The African art collection of the late Dr. Werner Muensterberger will comprise a significant portion of the auction, showcased alongside a host of other exquisite lots from the Lerner, Shoher, and Vogel Collections. 

Visit the official Sotheby's website.

Helmet mask  -  Luluwa, D.R. Congo

Stone head  -  Sapi (Proto-Temne), Sierra Leone

Male torso  -  Mbembe, Cross River Region, Nigeria

Reliquary figure  -  Kota, Gabon

Ancestor figure  -  Buyu, D.R. Congo

Portrait mask  -  Baule, Côte d'Ivoire  -  Totokro Master

Zigzag figure  -  Bamana, Mali

Information and images courtesy of Sotheby's

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.

Heroic Africans at the Met

This fall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled a stunning exhibition highlighting eight major sculptural traditions from West and Central Africa. Focusing on canonized portraiture of storied, nigh-mythical chieftans, kings, and other larger-than-life elite, Heroic Africans. Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures traces the histories of these cultures through the chronology of the individuals they enshrined, sculpted images of whom were often the only tangible historical record left to posterity. 

The masterpieces on display represent the Akan, Bangwa, Kom, Chokwe, Luluwa, Kuba, and Hemba cultures, as well as the civilizations of Ife and Benin. Equally impressive on aesthetic, conceptual, and curatorial levels, the installation offers audiences unprecedented experiences on every side. The in-depth examination of specific identities and personal histories to which visitors are treated here is already uncommon in African exhibitions, let alone one that encompasses such a wide variety of exceedingly beautiful and disparate works. 

Beginning from this rare and challenging theme, Heroic Africans leads viewers through a great hall of champions, from culture-founders to queen mothers, concluding with an amazing assemblage of twenty-two Hemba commemoration figures, such an overwhelming gathering of which has never been seen before.

Visit the official website here.

Images courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art