Remarkable Works of African & Oceanic Art

Remarkable Works of African & Oceanic Art

• 

  Fang Head, Gabon. Estimate: €1,000,000–1,500,000.

  This head, from the past Paul Guillaume collection, illustrates the prodigious sculptural quality that qualifies the corpus. Its ascendancy asserts itself both in the monumentality of the visual impact and in the sensitivity of the face with its light and concentrated features, the gently inclined heart-shaped face highlighted by the broad expanse of the forehead.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
   
  
  

  View Lot View Auction

  Share
• 

  Tabar Islands Head, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago. Estimate: €300,000–500,000.

  Not all malangan objects were destroyed immediately after use. Some were kept, hidden away in the recesses of caves. One or two were used again at a later date, others just lay forgotten in the darkness, silent, their owners gone. This particular malangan head was probably created in the 17th century and may well be the earliest malangan object to have survived.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
   
  
  

  View Lot View Auction

  Share
• 

  Lega Figure, Democratic Republic Of The Congo. Estimate: €250,000–350,000.

  A major symbolic figure, Sakimatwematwe ("Lord of the many heads") relates to the very essence of the philosophy taught by the secret initiation society of the Bwami. Emphasising the omniscience of its initiates of the highest rank, statues in his likeness are amongst the most rare and emblematic of expressions in Lega art.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
   
  
  

  View Lot View Auction

  Share
• 

  Mambila Mask, Cameroon. Estimate: €100,000–150,000.

  Drawing their inspiration from the major styles from Cameroon and Nigeria, Mambila artists created a corpus of unique masks, best known today through the example held at the Barbier-Mueller museum. (inv. n° 171). In their radical modernity these kiavia masks stand out for the expressive boldness of their features, emphasised by the pictorial dimension of the coloured planes and highly contrasting polychromy.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  View Auction

  Share
• 

  Sepik Figure, Watam Village Area, Papua New Guinea. Estimate: €200,000–300,000.

  As emanations of clan societies, the tall, ancient bero kandimboag statues are extremely rare. They represent a founding ancestor who crossed the ocean in a canoe before founding the clan and they “most likely played a part during young men’s initiation rituals”. This statue, formerly in the collection of Allan Stone, represents the epitome of this corpus that glorifies the pinnacle of ancestral power.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
   
  
  

  View Lot View Auction

  Share
• 

  Galwa Mask, Gabon. Estimate: €120,000–180,000.

  As a testament to the "golden age of the Galwa, a period of great prosperity from 1860 to 1873, under the rule of king Nkombe", this mask, with its glorious history, illustrates the power of their creative genius.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  View Auction

  Share
• 

  Bete Figure, Côte D'ivoire.
  Estimate: €120,000–180,000.

  This male figure shows remarkable similarities in the carved contours of his chest to the female figure formerly in the collection of fauvist painter Maurice de Vlaminck. It also displays similarities in form and bodily scarification to that from the Myron Kunin collection (Sotheby’s, New York, 11 November 2014, n° 44).
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  View Auction

  Share
• 

  Grebo Mask, Côte d'Ivoire.
  Estimate: €100,000–150,000.

  By breaking with the usual "realistic" rounded shapes common in other masks, this mask illustrates the modernist aesthetic of the Grebo artists, which can still be felt, many years later, in all its original intensity.  The mask's colours give its geometric patterns and stylised shapes a striking aspect.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
   
  

  View Lot View Auction

  Share
• 

  Akua Ka'ai Divinity Staff, Hawaii.
  Estimate: €400,000–600,000.

  This akua ka’ai God staff transcends the archetypal forcefulness, tension and ferocity of the rare Hawaiian figurative sculptures through its scale. Whilst retaining all the stylistic characteristics of large temple statues, the corpus of God staffs stands out for its technical perfection and extreme refinement.
  
  Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
  13 June 2018 | Paris
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  View Lot View Auction

  Share
• • 

    Type: slideshow

    Category: Contemporary Art

    Exceptional Contemporary Works by Wool, Haring, Dubuffet and more
  • 

    Type: slideshow

    Category: Contemporary Art

    The Art of the Season: Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary London Preview
  • 

    Type: story

    Category: Books & Manuscripts

    Marcel Proust: A Life in Letters
  • 

    Type: story

    Category: Russian Art

    Pavel Tchelitchew: 7 Things You Need to Know
  • 

    Type: story

    Category: Contemporary Art

    A Labour of Love at London’s Whitechapel Gallery