The Deletaille Collection

Our Collection People often asked us how we managed to buy such wonderful pieces unseen, from photographs, and so many years ago. Barbara and I lived in Africa all our lives and loved the country, the intense color of the land, the sun, and the people under it. We knew we would never have a Picasso on the wall, but we hoped to find African sculptures such as ignited the era of abstract art. When an artist is harnessed to a cause, like religion, great art results. African religions connect the living with revered ancestors, with the spirits, and African art conjures up a cocktail of emotion, psychology, mysticism, beauty and fear. Our search was based on a deep study of human anatomy at medical school, diligent study of the few available texts, and communication with a few collectors, notably the artist Hannes Harrs, Egon Guenther and Vittorino Meneghelli. From the early 1970s we have been students, of medicine, and art for our collections. We toured museums, studied catalogues, and chose secretly the pieces we each preferred, and usually our choices coincided. One can develop an “eye” with such experience. Our collection was eclectic - including oriental rugs, antique posters, Pre-Columbian and Southeast Asian sculptures - and we understood the underlying religious inspiration of unknown artists of different cultures. Small though the collection is, it brought great joy into our lives. – Brian Wolfowitz (November 2024)

The Collection of Brian and Barbara Wolfowitz

Kota Reliquary from the Herbert Ferber Collection

This private Parisian collection brings together some of the most emblematic works of artistic production from Oceania. It offers a panorama of the artistic productions of the Melanesian and Polynesian cultures and the talents of the sculptors of these regions, while offering to the collectors the possibility of acquiring works of great quality with a history of prime importance. The art of Melanesia is embodied by one of the rarest four-figure Sepik neckrests known to exist, from the Charles Ratton and Madeleine Meunier Collection, as well as a flute mask from the Lower Sepik region originally in the Collection of Dr. Arthur Baessler and acquired before 1889, and an impressive Solomon Islands Canoe Prow Figure known as nguzu nguzu from the James Robert Tyrrell Collection (1875-1961) and the former Tyrrell's Museum, Sydney. Polynesia is represented by a Tatanua mask from New Ireland, remarkable for its size, its iconography and condition. Finally, New Zealand expresses the very best of Maori art with this kapeu pendant, impressive for its size and the quality of the balance of its nephrite carving. It is said to have been carved by the Maori chief Pakahaka of Taranaki and brought to Europe as early as 1880, joining the Jacob Epstein Collection (1880-1959) in the 1950s.

Oceanic Art – a Private Collection, Paris 

Paris

SVP | Global Head of African & Oceanic Art | New York

Alexander Grogan

Head of Department | African & Oceanic Art | Europe

Emilie Salmon

Deputy Director, Specialist | African & Oceanic Art | Europe

Simon Meynen

Assistant Vice President, Specialist | New York

Paul Lewis

Consultant, Specialist | Pre-Columbian Art

Stacy Goodman

Administrator

Lucie Ronzevalle

Associate Project Manager

Camille Hamant

Meet our Specialists

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 <a class="Link" href="mailto:bids.paris@sothebys.com">bids.paris@sothebys.com</a>

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The international team of the African and Oceanic department is delighted to present Sotheby’s annual Paris sale of Art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. The sale will include two important collections of Pre-Columbian Art, including works from a European Private Collection and a suite of objects from the Deletaille Collection. The section of the sale devoted to African Art will highlight emblematic masterpieces by master sculptors from Sub-Saharan Africa, including a remarkable Kota Janus reliquary from the collection of American sculptor Herbert Ferber and a selection of works from the Brian and Barbara Wolfowitz Collection. The sale will also include a Parisian private collection of Oceanic Art from Paris, featuring works from Melanesia and Polynesia.

Arts d'Afrique, d'Océanie et des Amériques