- 131
Importante statue , Fang, Sud-Ouest du Cameroun
Description
- Fang
- Importante statue
- haut. 50 cm
- 19 7/8 in
Provenance
Charles Ratton, Paris
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1935
Acquise auprès de Pierre Matisse le 27 avril 1935 par John P. Anderson, Red Wing, Minnesota (justificatifs : lettre et facture)
Transmise par descendance familiale
Exhibited
Condition
"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
Si dans un courrier adressé le 10 avril à Pierre Loeb (in Pierre Matisse and his Artists, 2002 : 166), Pierre Matisse s'inquiétait de l'abondance d'œuvres africaines mises en même temps sur le marché new-yorkais, une facture datée du 27 avril atteste qu'il vendit quelques jours plus tard au peintre John P. Anderson (1907-1999) pas moins de huit des trente-trois sculptures de son exposition African Sculptures from the Ratton Collection - ensemble parmi lequel figurent le masque Sénufo (n°135 de ce catalogue) et cette importante statue Fang.
Selon l'étude ethno-morphologique de la statuaire Fang établie par Louis Perrois en 1972, cette statue se rattache au style septentrional des Fang-Ntumu de groupe Ngumba, établi dans la région Sud-Ouest du Cameroun. Les Fang peuplaient cette région avant les grandes migrations du milieu du XIXe siècle qui conduisirent le peuple Fang vers le Sud-Ouest, depuis le Cameroun (région de Sanaga), jusqu'au Gabon et à la Guinée équatoriale.
Elle offre la rare particularité d'être "chargée", dans les yeux et au sommet du crâne, de trois dents humaines. Ces reliques étaient, selon Fernandez (1966 : 55), serties dans les statues afin d'en augmenter le pouvoir protecteur.
cf. LaGamma (2007 : 133 et 137, n° 6 et 8) pour deux statues eyima byeri étroitement apparentées (stylistiquement et iconographiquement), la première conservée à l'Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (III C 18066), la seconde dans la collection Wally et Udo Horstmann, Zurich. Toutes deux furent collectées par Georg Zenker en 1897, dans la région de Kribi. Ces trois œuvres incarnent superbement le - rare - style "Ngumba" des Fang du Nord, caractérisé par la puissance de la conception formelle et de l'expression.
An important Fang figure, south-west Cameroon
Although in a letter on the 10th April from Pierre Matisse to Pierre Loeb (in Pierre Matisse and his Artists, 2002: 166), Matisse expressed his concern about the abundance of African works being offered on the New York market at one time, an invoice dated the 27th April of the same year attests that he was nonetheless able to sell John P. Anderson no less than eight of the thirty-three sculptures included in the exhibition African Sculptures from the Ratton Collection, including the Fang figure offered here.
According to Louis Perrois' 1972 ethno-morphological study of Fang statuary, this particular figure belongs to the northern style of the Ngumba group of the Fang-Ntumu people, established in the South-western region of Cameroon before the great migrations of the middle of the 19th century which drove the Fang people towards the South-west, from the Sanaga region of Cameroon to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
This figure possesses the rare distinction of possessing a magical charge, the eyes and the top of the skull being inset with three human teeth. According to Fernandez (1966: 55), these relics were set into the figures in order to increase their protective powers.
See LaGamma (2007: 133 & 137, nos. 6 & 8) for two eyima byeri figures which are closely related both stylistically and iconographically to the offered example, the first in the Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin (III C 18066), the second in the collection of Wally and Udo Horstmann, Zurich. Both were collected in the Kribi region in in 1897 by Georg Zenker. These three works are superb embodiments of the rare 'Ngumba' style of the northern Fang, which is characterised by the power of its expression and formal conception.