- 35
Statue, Moba, Togo
Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 EUR
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Description
- Moba
- Statue
- wood
- haut. 111 cm
- 43 3/4 in
Provenance
Pierre Robin, Paris
Collection Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, acquis en 1991
Collection Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, acquis en 1991
Exhibited
Zaragoza Centro de Exposiciones y Congresos, Objetos-signos de Àfrica, 11 - 24 juin 2000
Grenoble, Musée de Grenoble, L’Art au futur antérieur, Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert, un autre regard, 10 juillet - 04 octobre 2004
Paris, La Monnaie de Paris, Fragments du Vivant. Sculptures Africaines dans la collection Durand-Dessert, 10 - 24 septembre 2008
Grenoble, Musée de Grenoble, L’Art au futur antérieur, Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert, un autre regard, 10 juillet - 04 octobre 2004
Paris, La Monnaie de Paris, Fragments du Vivant. Sculptures Africaines dans la collection Durand-Dessert, 10 - 24 septembre 2008
Literature
Lowie, Objetos-signos de Africa, 2000, p. 54, n° 17
Tosatto G, Viatte G. et al., L’Art au futur antérieur, Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert, un autre regard, 2004, n° 17
Paudrat J.L. et Durand-Dessert L. et M., Fragments du Vivant. Sculptures Africaines dans la collection Durand-Dessert, 2008, n.p., n° 189
Tosatto G, Viatte G. et al., L’Art au futur antérieur, Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert, un autre regard, 2004, n° 17
Paudrat J.L. et Durand-Dessert L. et M., Fragments du Vivant. Sculptures Africaines dans la collection Durand-Dessert, 2008, n.p., n° 189
Condition
For any further information please contact the department
+33 1 53 05 52 67 or + 33 1 53 05 53 35
"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
Les plus imposantes statues d'autel Moba sont également les plus rares. Appelées "sakab ["vieil homme"] tchitcherik (sing. tchitcherik sakwa), elles sont plantées dans le sol, parfois jusqu'à mi-hauteur du torse [...] et portent le nom de l'ancien ancêtre du clan qu'elles représentent [...]. Les récits historiques relatent que chacune fut érigée par l'ancêtre-fondateur du clan ou par son fils, certaines pouvant remonter à plus de deux cent ans. [...] Aucun devin aujourd'hui ne se souvient avoir préconisé la sculpture de telles œuvres, les clans possédant déjà depuis longtemps l'effigie de leur ancêtre-fondateur" (Kraemer, "Moba shrine figures" in African Arts, février 1987, vol. XX, n° 2, p. 52-55).
Si les musées allemands (notamment les Museum für Völkerkunde de Hambourg et de Berlin) conservent les premières statues Moba parvenues en Europe à l'orée du XXe siècle, c'est à Paris, au début des années 1990, que le galeriste Pierre Robin œuvra à la découverte et à la reconnaissance du style. Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert en furent les plus ardents collectionneurs, recherchant dans chacune des pièces choisies la singularité la plus aboutie du mouvement et de l'expression.
Chef-d'œuvre du corpus, cette archaïque statue sakab tchitcherik impose la présence magistrale de l'ancêtre-fondateur, émergeant de la terre dans un lent mouvement dicté par la puissance de l'évocation. La dynamique - remarquable - joue de la tension entre la forme hiératique du tronc originel et les subtiles asymétries de la sculpture, conduisant le regard vers la tête imposante dont la ligne mouvante de la coiffe et les nervures du bois dur, profondément érodé, augment la prégnance. De cette saisissante métamorphose alliant l'histoire du clan au monde naturel, l'œuvre a conservé des fragments de l'écorce primitive, perçus comme la peau ravinée de l'ancêtre.
The most imposing Moba altar statues are also the most rare. Named "tchitcheri sakab sing. tchitcherik sakwa; (sakab means "old men"), [they] are planted in the ground, at least to groin level and sometimes to midwaist [...] and are named after ancient clan ancestors [...]. Local clan histories claim that each of the large wooden carvings was planted by the founding clan ancestor, or by his son, which suggests that these figures could be more than two hundred years old [...]. Diviners [...] assert that they would not order the carving of tchitcheri, since the founding ancestors are already represented." (Kreamer "Moba shrine figures" in African Arts, February 1987, vol. XX, No. 2, p. 52-55).
Although German museums (including the Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg and the one in Berlin) held the first Moba statues that arrived in Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, it was in Paris in the early 1990s, that gallery owner Pierre Robin worked to shed light and further the recognition of this style. Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert were its most ardent collectors, looking for the most accomplished singularity of movement and expression in each selected piece.
A masterpiece within the corpus, this archaic tchitcherik sakwa figure imposes the masterful presence of the founding ancestor, emerging from the ground as if in slow motion, driven by the power of evocation. The - remarkable - dynamics rely on the tension between the hieratic outline of the original bust and the subtle asymmetries of the carving, which lead the eye to the prominent head, where the moving line of the coiffure and the deeply eroded hardwood veins bolster its substantiality. From this breath-taking metamorphosis, seamlessly blending the history of the clan into the natural world, the figure retains fragments of its primitive bark that can be seen as the furrowed skin of the ancestor.
Si les musées allemands (notamment les Museum für Völkerkunde de Hambourg et de Berlin) conservent les premières statues Moba parvenues en Europe à l'orée du XXe siècle, c'est à Paris, au début des années 1990, que le galeriste Pierre Robin œuvra à la découverte et à la reconnaissance du style. Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert en furent les plus ardents collectionneurs, recherchant dans chacune des pièces choisies la singularité la plus aboutie du mouvement et de l'expression.
Chef-d'œuvre du corpus, cette archaïque statue sakab tchitcherik impose la présence magistrale de l'ancêtre-fondateur, émergeant de la terre dans un lent mouvement dicté par la puissance de l'évocation. La dynamique - remarquable - joue de la tension entre la forme hiératique du tronc originel et les subtiles asymétries de la sculpture, conduisant le regard vers la tête imposante dont la ligne mouvante de la coiffe et les nervures du bois dur, profondément érodé, augment la prégnance. De cette saisissante métamorphose alliant l'histoire du clan au monde naturel, l'œuvre a conservé des fragments de l'écorce primitive, perçus comme la peau ravinée de l'ancêtre.
The most imposing Moba altar statues are also the most rare. Named "tchitcheri sakab sing. tchitcherik sakwa; (sakab means "old men"), [they] are planted in the ground, at least to groin level and sometimes to midwaist [...] and are named after ancient clan ancestors [...]. Local clan histories claim that each of the large wooden carvings was planted by the founding clan ancestor, or by his son, which suggests that these figures could be more than two hundred years old [...]. Diviners [...] assert that they would not order the carving of tchitcheri, since the founding ancestors are already represented." (Kreamer "Moba shrine figures" in African Arts, February 1987, vol. XX, No. 2, p. 52-55).
Although German museums (including the Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg and the one in Berlin) held the first Moba statues that arrived in Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, it was in Paris in the early 1990s, that gallery owner Pierre Robin worked to shed light and further the recognition of this style. Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert were its most ardent collectors, looking for the most accomplished singularity of movement and expression in each selected piece.
A masterpiece within the corpus, this archaic tchitcherik sakwa figure imposes the masterful presence of the founding ancestor, emerging from the ground as if in slow motion, driven by the power of evocation. The - remarkable - dynamics rely on the tension between the hieratic outline of the original bust and the subtle asymmetries of the carving, which lead the eye to the prominent head, where the moving line of the coiffure and the deeply eroded hardwood veins bolster its substantiality. From this breath-taking metamorphosis, seamlessly blending the history of the clan into the natural world, the figure retains fragments of its primitive bark that can be seen as the furrowed skin of the ancestor.