A Bembe Seated Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Loudmer, Paris, Arts Primitifs, December 7 and 9, 1991, lot 58

Pierre Amrouche, Paris

Dr. John Dintenfass Collection, New York

Donald Morris Gallery, New York

Important European Private Collection

Bolz, F., African Art, Paris, 2016, p. 252

Our own research has shown that the majority of Bembe art production centers were located in Mouyondzi or in the immediate vicinity of this town, which the Bembe rightly consider to be their regional capital. From time immemorial, a very large market was held here, to which not only the most distant Bembe populations flocked, but also neighboring ethnic groups. It was here that sculptors found the means to sell their wares [...]. [...] Admittedly, many artists worked in Bembe country, with varying degrees of success [...]; but frankly speaking, we cannot distinguish centers of style in their work, as we can for that of the Vili. ¹

Despite the diversity of styles described by Raoul Lehuard, making it difficult to build up homogeneous corpusses, he nevertheless establishes in his work twenty-five groups belonging to the “Bembe sub-style”, with the G21 “de Kolo” sub-style coming closest to our statuette. Named after the eponymous village in the Mouyondzi region, these statuettes feature "arched mouths", "hands resting on knees", "extremely schematized legs, resting one on top of the other", "stretched C-shaped ears" and "eyes materialized by pieces of faience" ².

¹ Lehuard, R., Art Bakongo : les centres de style, Arts d'Afrique Noire, Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, 1989, vol. II, pp. 327 - 328

² Lehuard, R., Art Bakongo : les centres de style, Arts d'Afrique Noire, Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, 1989, vol. II, p. 394 - 396