- 39
MASQUE, GALWA, GABON |
Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 EUR
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Description
- wood
- haut. 36 cm ; 14 3/8 in
Masque, Galwa, Gabon
Provenance
Collection du Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), Lambaréné
Collection Gertrude Koch, assistante du Dr. Schweitzer, 1952, Suisse
Sotheby’s Londres, 27 juin 1994, n° 78
Collection privée, France
Collection Gertrude Koch, assistante du Dr. Schweitzer, 1952, Suisse
Sotheby’s Londres, 27 juin 1994, n° 78
Collection privée, France
Exhibited
Paris, Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Les forêts natales. Arts de l’Afrique équatoriale atlantique, 3 octobre 2017 - 21 janvier 2018
Literature
Grand-Dufay, « Les masques Galwa aux triangles noirs, rouges ou blancs », Tribal Art, n° 84, Eté 2017, p. 103, n° 19
Le Fur et alii, Les forêts natales. Arts de l’Afrique équatoriale atlantique, 2017, p. 146 et 318, n° 256
Le Fur et alii, Les forêts natales. Arts de l’Afrique équatoriale atlantique, 2017, p. 146 et 318, n° 256
Condition
Please contact the department : Pierre Mollfulleda pierre.mollfulleda@sothebys.com / 01 53 05 53 15
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Mars 1952. L’infirmière Gertrude Koch, qui depuis vingt-trois ans œuvrait fidèlement aux côtés du docteur Albert Schweitzer, quittait Lambaréné pour regagner sa Suisse natale. Dans ses malles, le « grand docteur blanc » avait précieusement disposé quelques œuvres majeures qui lui avaient été données, au fil des ans, par des patients en remerciement de ses soins. Parmi elles, cet imposant masque Galwa qui, à l’automne dernier, illustrait brillamment dans l’exposition Les forêts natales. Arts d’Afrique équatoriale atlantique (musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac), les arts longtemps méconnus des peuples du Centre-Sud du Gabon. L’image des masques Galwa fut connue à partir de 1898 à travers l’illustration – sur la planche VI de l’ouvrage Les masques et les sociétés secrètes d’Afrique de Leo Frobenius - des deux exemplaires du Museum für Völkerkunde de Hambourg. Mais la trop grande rareté de ceux qui parvinrent en Occident provoqua leur éclipse de l’univers des arts du Gabon, longtemps résumé aux styles Fang, Punu et Kota, dont les témoins affluaient depuis la fin du XIXe siècle. En 2017, Charlotte Grand-Dufay signait la première étude dédiée aux masques Galwa (« Les masques Galwa aux triangles rouges, noirs ou blancs », Tribal Art, n°84, Été 2017, p. 94-108), illustrée par la quinzaine d’œuvres considérées pour leur qualité et leur histoire comme les plus significatives de cet étroit corpus – dont notre masque. Elle y interprète la remarquable singularité du style à travers l’ancienne et complexe histoire de la migration des Galwa – depuis l’Afrique Orientale jusqu’à leur implantation, au XVIIe siècle, dans la région du Moyen-Ogooué, autour de Lambaréné – et des relations interclaniques qui en découlèrent, dont notamment avec les Vili.
Au sein de cette tradition de masques polychromes, cette œuvre s’affirme, selon Louis Perrois (commentaire personnel, Septembre 2015), comme « très caractéristique de la facture des Galwa des lacs du bas Ogooué. […] Seule la partie faciale est destinée à apparaître, la partie arrière et la collerette étant cachées par la coiffe/barbe de raphia, et donc non décorée de pigments. La composition du visage, aux volumes pleins, s’articule sur un ensemble de courbes (front, joue, menton), auxquelles répondent des éléments horizontaux ou en doubles arcades (yeux, arcades sourcilières, pommettes stylisées). […] La bouche aux lèvres fines étirées vers l’avant, préfigure celle des objets Fang, parvenus dans la région à la fin du XIXe siècle ». La monumentalité de la stylisation sculpturale redouble dans la force des aplats polychromes, où s’impose le motif caractéristique du triangle. Selon les dessins de masques Galwa réalisés par le pasteur Fernand Grebert lors de son séjour au Gabon, entre 1913 et 1931, la couleur noire du triangle frontal indiquerait l’identité masculine de ce masque.
Sa signification puise dans les rites communautaires des peuples du Gabon occidental. Relevant de la confrérie de l’okukwe - variante Galwa de la société secrète de l’okuyi qui préside aux célèbres masques blancs des peuples Punu voisins - il intervient, porté par les initiés, lors des grands évènements, comme les deuils de notables, ou pour rendre des décisions liées à l’exercice du pouvoir politique et de la justice. Selon le contexte dans lequel il intervenait, le masque pouvait être repeint (cf. Perrois, idem), comme le révèlent ici les nuances des couches picturales successives.
Témoignant « d’un âge d’or des Galwa, la période de la grande prospérité de 1860 à 1873, sous la domination de leur roi Nkombé » (Grand-Dufay, idem, p. 108), ce masque à l’histoire emblématique illustre la puissance de leur génie créatif. Si Stephen Chauvet posséda l’un des seuls masques Galwa parvenus en Europe avant les envois du Dr. Schweizer, l’exposition Imaginary Ancestors à la galerie Amine Rech (New York), révéla en mai dernier une statue Galwa à l’esthétique très analogue, autrefois dans la collection de Pablo Picasso (Imaginary Ancestors, 2018, p. 104).
In March 1952 Gertrude Koch, the nurse who had worked closely with Dr. Albert Schweitzer for twenty-three years, was leaving Lambarene, Gabon to return to her native Switzerland. In her trunk Dr. Schweizer had preciously arranged some major pieces given to him over the years by patients in thanks for his care. Among them, this impressive Galwa mask, which was recently part of the exhibition Les forêts natales. Arts d’Afrique équatoriale atlantique (musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac) last autumn, brilliantly illustrating the long-overlooked arts of the people of South-Central Gabon.
The image of Galwa masks was revealed first in 1898 through the illustration - on Plate VI of Leo Frobenius' Les masques et les sociétés secrètes d’Afrique - of two masks held in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg. The scarcity of the Galwa masks that came to the West reflects their occultation from the world of the arts of Gabon, long reduced to the Fang, Punu and Kota styles, examples of which had flooded the market since the late 19th century.
In 2017, Charlotte Grand-Dufay wrote the first study dedicated to Galwa masks (“Les masques Galwa aux triangles rouges, noirs ou blancs”, Tribal Art, n°84, Summer 2017, p. 94-108). Only fifteen pieces, including this mask illustrated in the article, are considered as the most significant ones for their quality and their history, within this narrow corpus. Grand-Dufay describes the remarkable singularity of the style through the ancient and complex history of Galwa migration - from East Africa to settling in the Middle Ogowe region, around Lambarene in the seventeenth century, and inter-clanic relations that ensued, including with the Vili.
According to Louis Perrois (personal commentary, September 2015), this work stands out within the polychrome mask tradition as "very characteristic of the Galwa technique of the lower Ogowe lakes. [...] the only part intended to appear is the face, the rear and collar being hidden by the raffia coiffure/beard, and therefore not decorated with pigments. The composition of the face, with its full volumes, is articulated through a series of curves (forehead, cheek, chin), echoed in horizontal elements or in double arcades (eyes, eyebrows, stylized cheekbones). [...] The mouth, with its fine lips stretched forward, foreshadows that of Fang objects, brought to the region in the late nineteenth century. The monumentality of the sculptural stylization is magnified in the forcefulness of the polychrome layout, where the characteristic triangle pattern emerges.”
According to the drawings of Galwa masks made by Pastor Fernand Grebert during his stay in Gabon, between 1913 and 1931, the black colour of the frontal triangle indicates the masculine identity of this mask.
The significance of the mask draws on community rituals of the people of Western Gabon. An element of the okukwe brotherhood - the Galwa variant of the secret okuyi society who presides over the famous white masks of the neighbouring Punu peoples. Borne by initiates, the mask acts during major events, such as the mourning of prominent individuals, or to issue rulings related to the exercise of political power and justice. According to the context attributed to the mask, it could have been repainted (see Perrois, ibid) as revealed here by the shades of successive pictorial layers.
As a testament to the "golden age of the Galwa, a period of great prosperity from 1860 to 1873, under the rule of king Nkombe" (Grand-Dufay, ibid p.108), this mask, with its glorious history, illustrates the power of their creative genius. Although Stephen Chauvet owned one of the only Galwa masks to have been brought back to Europe before Dr. Schweizer sent his, the Imaginary Ancestors exhibition held at the Amine Rech Gallery (New York) in May 2017 revealed a Galwa figure with very similar aesthetics, formerly in the collection of Pablo Picasso (Imaginary Ancestors, 2018, p. 104).
Au sein de cette tradition de masques polychromes, cette œuvre s’affirme, selon Louis Perrois (commentaire personnel, Septembre 2015), comme « très caractéristique de la facture des Galwa des lacs du bas Ogooué. […] Seule la partie faciale est destinée à apparaître, la partie arrière et la collerette étant cachées par la coiffe/barbe de raphia, et donc non décorée de pigments. La composition du visage, aux volumes pleins, s’articule sur un ensemble de courbes (front, joue, menton), auxquelles répondent des éléments horizontaux ou en doubles arcades (yeux, arcades sourcilières, pommettes stylisées). […] La bouche aux lèvres fines étirées vers l’avant, préfigure celle des objets Fang, parvenus dans la région à la fin du XIXe siècle ». La monumentalité de la stylisation sculpturale redouble dans la force des aplats polychromes, où s’impose le motif caractéristique du triangle. Selon les dessins de masques Galwa réalisés par le pasteur Fernand Grebert lors de son séjour au Gabon, entre 1913 et 1931, la couleur noire du triangle frontal indiquerait l’identité masculine de ce masque.
Sa signification puise dans les rites communautaires des peuples du Gabon occidental. Relevant de la confrérie de l’okukwe - variante Galwa de la société secrète de l’okuyi qui préside aux célèbres masques blancs des peuples Punu voisins - il intervient, porté par les initiés, lors des grands évènements, comme les deuils de notables, ou pour rendre des décisions liées à l’exercice du pouvoir politique et de la justice. Selon le contexte dans lequel il intervenait, le masque pouvait être repeint (cf. Perrois, idem), comme le révèlent ici les nuances des couches picturales successives.
Témoignant « d’un âge d’or des Galwa, la période de la grande prospérité de 1860 à 1873, sous la domination de leur roi Nkombé » (Grand-Dufay, idem, p. 108), ce masque à l’histoire emblématique illustre la puissance de leur génie créatif. Si Stephen Chauvet posséda l’un des seuls masques Galwa parvenus en Europe avant les envois du Dr. Schweizer, l’exposition Imaginary Ancestors à la galerie Amine Rech (New York), révéla en mai dernier une statue Galwa à l’esthétique très analogue, autrefois dans la collection de Pablo Picasso (Imaginary Ancestors, 2018, p. 104).
In March 1952 Gertrude Koch, the nurse who had worked closely with Dr. Albert Schweitzer for twenty-three years, was leaving Lambarene, Gabon to return to her native Switzerland. In her trunk Dr. Schweizer had preciously arranged some major pieces given to him over the years by patients in thanks for his care. Among them, this impressive Galwa mask, which was recently part of the exhibition Les forêts natales. Arts d’Afrique équatoriale atlantique (musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac) last autumn, brilliantly illustrating the long-overlooked arts of the people of South-Central Gabon.
The image of Galwa masks was revealed first in 1898 through the illustration - on Plate VI of Leo Frobenius' Les masques et les sociétés secrètes d’Afrique - of two masks held in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg. The scarcity of the Galwa masks that came to the West reflects their occultation from the world of the arts of Gabon, long reduced to the Fang, Punu and Kota styles, examples of which had flooded the market since the late 19th century.
In 2017, Charlotte Grand-Dufay wrote the first study dedicated to Galwa masks (“Les masques Galwa aux triangles rouges, noirs ou blancs”, Tribal Art, n°84, Summer 2017, p. 94-108). Only fifteen pieces, including this mask illustrated in the article, are considered as the most significant ones for their quality and their history, within this narrow corpus. Grand-Dufay describes the remarkable singularity of the style through the ancient and complex history of Galwa migration - from East Africa to settling in the Middle Ogowe region, around Lambarene in the seventeenth century, and inter-clanic relations that ensued, including with the Vili.
According to Louis Perrois (personal commentary, September 2015), this work stands out within the polychrome mask tradition as "very characteristic of the Galwa technique of the lower Ogowe lakes. [...] the only part intended to appear is the face, the rear and collar being hidden by the raffia coiffure/beard, and therefore not decorated with pigments. The composition of the face, with its full volumes, is articulated through a series of curves (forehead, cheek, chin), echoed in horizontal elements or in double arcades (eyes, eyebrows, stylized cheekbones). [...] The mouth, with its fine lips stretched forward, foreshadows that of Fang objects, brought to the region in the late nineteenth century. The monumentality of the sculptural stylization is magnified in the forcefulness of the polychrome layout, where the characteristic triangle pattern emerges.”
According to the drawings of Galwa masks made by Pastor Fernand Grebert during his stay in Gabon, between 1913 and 1931, the black colour of the frontal triangle indicates the masculine identity of this mask.
The significance of the mask draws on community rituals of the people of Western Gabon. An element of the okukwe brotherhood - the Galwa variant of the secret okuyi society who presides over the famous white masks of the neighbouring Punu peoples. Borne by initiates, the mask acts during major events, such as the mourning of prominent individuals, or to issue rulings related to the exercise of political power and justice. According to the context attributed to the mask, it could have been repainted (see Perrois, ibid) as revealed here by the shades of successive pictorial layers.
As a testament to the "golden age of the Galwa, a period of great prosperity from 1860 to 1873, under the rule of king Nkombe" (Grand-Dufay, ibid p.108), this mask, with its glorious history, illustrates the power of their creative genius. Although Stephen Chauvet owned one of the only Galwa masks to have been brought back to Europe before Dr. Schweizer sent his, the Imaginary Ancestors exhibition held at the Amine Rech Gallery (New York) in May 2017 revealed a Galwa figure with very similar aesthetics, formerly in the collection of Pablo Picasso (Imaginary Ancestors, 2018, p. 104).