 August 2008 How do you collect African Arts ?
Dear $email,
Collecting in 2008 is quite different than how it was around 1920.
Today you need a computer and an Internet connection, a
good wallet and taste to find obscure little auction houses selling pieces with
a good provenance. Or you need to know reliable dealers who advise you and find
those little gems for you. You can meet these dealers a few times a year in
fairs organized around the world, but one hundred years ago you
needed a good friend who was a hunter and who would bring you back your pieces
from inside Africa, as proved the 900 pieces found in the "Maison Blanche" by Baudoin de Grunne,
and sold in June in Paris.
Read the
story behind the 2 figurines I was able to acquire from the Alex
van Opstal collection an early African Art collector (1933). I
have also some African Art survey conclusions
to share with you after my survey from last month. Hope
you'll enjoy the newsletter from August, and will fall in love with one of my recent
acquisitions presented at the end of this newsletter, and I also hope to meet
you in person during the Paris events
from 9-14 September 2008 David Norden
Collectors of African Art
 Salon
africain de la Maison Blanche
d’Alexis van Opstal
Alex van Opstal an early African Art collector.
By Bernard de
Grunne.
In 1932, Alexis van Opstal created an African room in his
big house," la Maison Blanche". This house in
Brussels was build and entirely decorated by the famous architect Jean-Michel Franck. read
the Alex van Opstal story
Paul
and Clara Gebauer Collection of Cameroon Art ,
one of the finest collections of Cameroon Grasslands art in the United States,
was originally acquired by the Portland Art Museum in the early 1970s, on show
in Oregon ends wednesday December 31, 2008
Museums with African Art
The
MENIL Collection
Mask Yaka Democratic
Republic of the Congo - Antelope Headdress (Ciwara)
Bamana Mali - Kneeling Male Figure Inland Niger Delta, Mali
11th-17th century
 CMA
The Cleveland Museum of Art
The gallery is organized geographically with a
division in four broad cultural regions: Western Sudan, Guinea Coast, Nigeria
and the Congo Basin. Objects from the same culture are shown together and
contrasted with those of their neighbors.
 A
traveling original exhibition
created by Constantine Petridis that explores the political and religious power
of 60 sculptures created by artists of four Central African cultures: the Luba,
Songye, Chokwe, and Luluwa.
-
Amistad
Research Center The
Center is guardian to more than 800 works of African and African American
art, including works by several internationally renowned 19th and 20th
century African American masters.
-
African
Art Travel tips To collect genuine African
Art you have to travel much. This travel section gives you some tips.
African
Art Munich, Germany. Some tips for those searching
African art in Munich, Germany. To prove to those who are not members
of the discussion group what they are missing I do a little resume about
African Art in Munich, Germany, and add the information I found.
Auctions
-
 Guy
Earl-Smith: The African Tribe has spoken. An Australian auctioneer gives
some insights in the auction market. A relatively recent trend is that the
kind of work that inspired these artists has taken off by itself in the world
market. The anonymous tribal artists may not yet be in Picasso's league but
the value of these works at auction is steadily rising. At the top of the
range, they are proving excellent investments.
Discussion
And last but not least some of the pieces I acquired
recently. If you are a museum preparing an exhibition or a high-end collector in
pursuit of that rare piece, please give me a phone call at +32 3 227.35.40 or hit
the reply button and let me know what I should bring with me to get a new
customer.
Just click on the image thumbs below to read more and
get some details about the pieces that you want,
Hope you enjoyed this edition, ...
David Norden, +32 3 227.35.40
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David Norden
