An important Fang male reliquary figure, Gabon

of muscular form with a cylindrical support, the legs with rounded hips and encircled by rattan, the pendant phallus beneath the elongated torso framed by the taught chest with subtle pectorals and arms to the sides, an iron ring at the neck beneath the sleek rounded head with typical pout and raised slits for eyes with remnants of metal and cascading coiffure transversely pierced for insertion; labels: 'Fang, Guinea, now Equatorial Guinea desc. Prof. R...koni' and 'Fang. Ex. Collection Rene Rasmussen, Illustrated: Art Negre, p. 30. Presses du Livre Francais, 1951, Paris' and 'ROS117'; fine blackened and slightly resinous patina.

Paul Guillaume (1893 - 1934), Paris
Louis Marcoussis (1883 - 1941), Paris, acquired from the above
René Rasmussen, Paris
Paul Tishman, New York, acquired from the above
John J. Klejman, New York, acquired from the above
Acquired from the above, 1977

Musée de l'Homme, Paris, Arts Connus et Méconnus de l'Afrique Noire: Collection Paul Tishman, April - October 1966
C. W. Post Art Gallery, Greenvale, New York, African Sculpture: The Shape of Surprise, February 17 – March 30, 1980

René Rasumussen, Art Negre ou le Salut par les Sauvages, Paris, 1951, p. 30
Musée de l'Homme, Arts Connus et Méconnus de l'Afrique Noire: Collection Paul Tishman, Paris, 1966, cat. 92
Louis Perrois, La Statuaire Fan Gabon, Paris, 1972, p. 75, fig. 37, pl. 11, no. 105
Susan M. Vogel, African Sculpture: The Shape of Surprise, New York, 1980, p. 46, cat. 117 (unillustrated)

very good condition overall; filled insect damage at the buttocks above the support stick; minor old loss to the left corner of the coiffure and minor chips to the right side of the head; small abrasions to the face above the left eye. Tiny metal pins evident at the eyes where metal was attached, but no longer extant.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This remarkably powerful yet elegant figure exemplifies the interest Fang statuary enjoyed among the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century. Its first known owner, Paul Guillaume, was the legendary Parisian gallerist for Modern art, who not only feverishly collected African art himself, but also introduced artists from his stable, such as Amedeo Modigliani and Constantine Brancusi, to African art. The second owner, Louis Marcoussis (formerly Ludwik Kazimierz Wladyslaw Markus), was a painter and engraver of Polish origin who lived in Paris for much of his life, beginning in 1903.

Marcoussis would frequent the cafés of Montmartre and Montparnasse, where he met Apollinaire, Braque, Degas, Picasso, and other artists and writers of the time. It was Apollinaire who suggested Markus' French name, Marcoussis, after a village not far from Paris. From about 1910 Marcoussis' work was informed by the Cubist movement alongside other avant-garde painters like Picasso, Braque, and Juan Gris. From 1930 onwards, he concentrated on printmaking and illustration, including work inspired by Apollinaire's Alcool, Tzara's Indicateur des chemins de cœur, and Éluard's Lingères légères and Aurélia. In the late 1930s Marcoussis collaborated with Spanish surrealist Joan Mirò. He also taught at the Académie Schlaefer.

The architectural quality of the Rosenthal Fang figure is married convincingly with its supple musculature to create a work that would have easily inspired Marcoussis' Cubistic compositions.

Perrois (1972: 75) places the Rosenthal Fang figure in the longiform Ntumu style from the region of Oyem/Bitam (for other figures cf. ibid.: 72, 200, 201, and 223, nos. 53, 178, 216, and 217). Indeed, one of these figures, also formerly in the collection of modernist artist René Mendes-France (Perrois 1972: 223, no. 217; also published in LaGamma 2007: 151, cat. 16), compares so closely to the Rosenthal figure in the treatment of the face, limbs, sex, and flaring coiffure that Perrois (loc. cit.: 75) speculates both must have been created by the same hand.