Welcome to Berlin - Tribalartauction Jeschke/van Vliet and Jo de Buck

It´s two monthes ago, when I asked a Berlin Gallery owner, if it´s possible to rent for a couple of days his beautiful show-rooms for an Offline-auction. His respond: Berlin is very difficult for tribalart: "You know Gunti has recently closed his Gallery after more than twenty years, even he had an excellent reputation and his small showroom was located at an excellent position..." close to Kurfürstendamm. "Yes I know how provincial Berlin was in the past for Tribalart, but Tribalart is the small brother of Modern Art and Berlin is getting more and more a leading position in the updated trends.

I had a breakfast with Gunti last autumn in my frontgarden close to the castle of Charlottenburg and he showed me a Lobisculpture, which is now exhibited for auction, lot no. 2, at Jeschke-van Vliet, an auctionhouse established after the break of the Berlin wall in 1989 for antique books, graphics and modern art.

Expert of this tribalart-auction is Jo de Buck, Bruxelles, which I met the first time in 2004 at an auction-exhibition at Sothebys NY in a very comical situation. I didn´t know this Belgian dealer before and the story with him began, during I was enjoying the beautiful exhibits. An extremly old man appealed to me when I was examine a Bakuba cup. " My name is Glueckselig, Felix Glueckselig, my flat is not far from Yorck avenue and I have some good tribalart objects at home. I will be at home at 3.00 pm, if you are interesting: I have several good pieces, which I have to sell...I escaped from Austria with "rucksack" in 1938." I agreed to come and arrived a little bit before 3.00 pm at his flat in the 52nd road. It was a small flat, maybe 50 square meter, but full of antiques stuff and numberless tribalart objects of different quality. After some minutes the bell was ringing again and J de Buck was standing in the door, jealously looking who was the other "client" of Felix Glueckseig. Ten minutes later half a dozen collectors and dealers were jostling in the small Glueckselig location. The business idea of this old man was obvious an establishment of a little auction in his small flat parallel to the big auction at Yorck avenue. All these dealers and collectors, which were invited by Felix Glueckselig at exactly on 3.00 pm created an atmosphere bullish of jealousy. "This man is incredible, he is copying Sothebys in such a crazy way, so it becomes an absolutly nightmare of an auctionhouse in this 50 square meters flat of "Mr. Blissfull" (Mr. Glueckselig). I looked to Jo de Buck, the first visitor after me, with a gesture of "Let´s go!". So we escaped of this nightmare of an auctionhouse.

When I saw Jo de Buck named as an expert in the catalogue the of the Jeschke-van-Vliet auction my first idea was: Why he isn´t making things like this in Bruxelles or Paris? But than I remembered the little story of New York, seven years ago. Maybe Jo de Buck is escaping another time of a bullish, jealous atmosphere. Not of the small flat of Mr. Blissfull". But from the small, smelly flat of two old Ladys called "Bruxelles & Paris".

Anyhow, Jo de Buck, you are welcome in Berlin, You are offering excellent objects in this Jeschke-van-Vliet auction. Less than hundered pieces presented in a beautifull showroom.

I can´t speak about the pieces of Central Africa, because it´s not my speciality. But I want to mention some remarks related to the Lobi-objects.


Lot number two isn´t labeled with a provenance, according of a new tendency of descriptions in exhibition- and auction-catalogues. It´s coming from Rudolf Springer, the legendary Berliner Art dealer, who died two years ago more than 100 years old. An interesting sculpture of high quality, with a beautiful movement. But it´s not a Lobi sculpture. When I talked with Gunti about this fine figure, he supposed, that it is a Lobi sculpture influenced by the Bamana.

The two reasons, why I am nearly sure, that it´s not a Lobi sculpture:

First: This sculpture has a touchpatina at the nack. Lobi-sculptures of this size, never have such a patina, because they are shrine-figures. Only small batebas have signs of touching, because they are portable figures with the consequence of special signs of ritual use.

Second: With a high degree of probability this sculture is from the Bobo of Mali, exactly located at the region of San. In this region Bobo- , Bamana- and Senufo-people living close together. That is the reason, why this sculpture could be stylistically influenced by the Bamana. But I am nearly sure it is a Bobo sculpture, because this figure has the characeristic knob at the back of the neck. Similar like the famous "Hame" guardian sculptures of the Bobo with it´s knob, which is a sign of devotion. Without local researches this sculpture can´t be hundred percent identified. But for sure it is not a Lobi-sculpture, even I would agree Gunti, who underlines a Bamana influence. On the other side I never saw a stylistical relations between Bamana and Lobi. The Bamana is not a neighbour tribe of the Lobi. Doubtful is also the mentioned age of this figure. It sounds more like speculation than reality. This sculpture has an outdoorpatina, it´s extemly weathered, estimating an age is absolutly impossible, because it depends of so many facts of circumstances we don´t know. Any how a good sculpture of high aethetic worth, which is obvious extremly rare and sometimes open provenance-questions are better than statements, which are a little bit doubtful.



Lupité Palé, Gongonbili, diviner and carver in the tradition of Some Binlaré, his father.

Lot no 3 is a sculpture from the Gongonbili village, twenty km West from Gaoua. The carver is Some Binlaré or the workshop around him. I interviewed the son of Binlaré, Lupité Palé, who gave me these informations.There are more recent sculpture of the old carving tradition of this workshop.



A large sculpture, height 126 cm, according of Lupité Palé from his father Some Binlaré. We never collected a sculpture of this size an quality in the last four years.

Sculptures which are in ritual use also today. A fieldphoto of these carvings is pictured in the Photobook of Agnes Pateau, s also Quai Branly Museum.





I have seen more than 80 sculptures of the circimstances of Some Binlaré of the Gongonbili village, this one is one of the best.

Also nearly all the other Lobi sculptures have a high degree of quality and are coming from wellknown workshops, like the funeral-sculptute of the Passena region between Kampti and Batie Sud with it´s remarkable, ornamental plinths, an area which is also today dangerous to visit, because it´s dominated by rather aggressive Haussa dealers. Lot no 11 an excellent small bateba, Kampti region, with forms of high artistic skill of this carver. A seated Lobi couple, Lot no. 9, one figure with a zoomorpic head, the hands holding a bow,l showing the influence of wellknown Baule monkeys.

Auction no. 5 - a Lobi headstake - also labeled with "early 20th century" like most of the other Lobis in this auction has a pecularity of the patina: There are significant remnants of earth beneath the left lower jaw. This is an indication that this sculpture with a high degree of probability is collected recently in West Africa. 20 -30 years ago these remnant of earth, which aren´t signs of a sacrification, or ritual use were washed off. Even pieces in public collections and museums were "cleaned" from these "dirty" attachments . In a certain way it´s a "vogue" of the last ten or twenty years to define the word "patina" in a different way. Nowadays earth-encrustration are "in", because there has established a "certain collectors correctness". With the enormous developement of the digital photography, nearly all tribalart-objects are "registrated" by photos. Now it´s a risk for each collector to bring a wooden tribalart-object to a restorer, who "cleans" or makes a sculpture looking a little bit older or more "attractive" according of the flavor of it´s owner.

So "untouched" is "in" today, like "African-" instead of "Western-provenances" will be "in" tomorrow...;-)

I cross the fingers for the Berlin auctionhouse Jeschke/ van-Vliet and for Jo de Buck, both made a start up at Berlin, which should have a good future. WJ



Regarding this auction and Lobi number 11 you have sold three excellant examples as good as this or better at about the same size or bigger. In the photo is one you sold to me where a considerable residue of Karite butter has been deposited over the years it is just one of quite a few authentic lobi where I have seen the use of Karite (never say the words never or always ,when talking of Lobi or your wife) I agree that the Binlare figure is higher quality than most and appears to be a different more able hand Looking at the feet and legs but I cannot say that it is older.....PH

Yes I remember this sculpture, even it´s difficult to find it again in the archive of tribalartforum, because you chanced the reference-number. It will take me at least one hour to find the photos and the description of this sculpure again.

...never say the words never or always ,when talking of Lobi or your wife...PH

I don´t have a wife and if I am talking about Lobi...well.. sometimes my Lobi sculptures are angry about me, because I made a mistake in my attached informations. Than I have to talk with them and sometimes they disclose me one of their secrets...;-)

Anyhow the use of Karité for conserving sculpures is very rare in the Lobicountry in comparison with other tribes like the Bamana, where Karité (sheebutter) has a long tradition. It is realy strange, in each Lobi village you can see women preparing Karité, which looks on the way of preparation like fluid chocolate, when it was pressed in the stone-mills.



The profiles of some of the sculptures of this workshop we collected in the last years.

No, normally the Lobi don´t use anything to conserve their sculptures. Only the Sankolo wood, which becomes very rare nowadays, has the possibility to preserve a sculpture against insect damages. The consequence about a missing conservation: Nearly all old Lobi sculptures have extremly damages by termites, at least the legs are fragmentary and these damages are the reason that many Lobi collectors are thinking their sculptures are very old. But that isn´t the verity, it´s the lack of any form of conservation.

I agree that the Binlare figure is higher quality than most and appears to be a different more able hand Looking at the feet and legs but I cannot say that it is older.....PH

You are right. Estimating the age of a African sculpture is extremly difficult. It is very easy to make a sculpture looking a little bit older and many sculptures are going after it´s purchase immediately to a restorer, to change the surface a little bit. I know these sculptures I have sold, which are in books, auction-catalogues or exhibitions nowadays and they are obvious "restored", "cleaned". or "protected", how ever you call it.

One of the most archaic carvings coming ...

For a number of years the carvings in the recently published photographs of Agnès Pataux have been appearing on the web and in markets around Europe . many can be differentiated by apparent age and distinct stylistic grouping , many have the compactness and synthesis of Chess pieces .



The more recent looking figures as shown in the Agnes Patauxshrine photos becoming more figurative and less interesting . In the photos are a series of pieces selected and grouped by William Nocetti and Myself many will be recognised by readers who have followed the TribalartForum auctions over the last few years . One of the most archaic carvings coming from Williams collection on the far right of the photo. ......PH

This strange thing...

"... I prefer to wash my cloths in Niger water." G.S.

You wrote me...You, who are living in Rome and were fallen in love to Segou. I have my own experiences with washing my cloths in this river, who is flowing just in opposite of my house in Segou Coura. Crossing the garden at the outside bank there is a large circular stone, all the year partly covered with water, which serves as "washing-stone" of the people in my neighbourhood.

One day I took my dirty clothes, crossed the frontgarden of my house, just passing the main-gate, when my driver saw me and went up to me. "What are you doing with your cloths in your hands?" he asked
"I like to go to the big stone, to wash my cloths!" I responded. "What do you want to do? Washing your cloths in the river? No, no this is impossible. You can´t do this. You are the host of the house. Have you forgotten, what the people are talking about you, when you and the guardian were swimming through the Niger? And now you want to wash your cloths in the river. No, you can´t do this. This is the business of women. You are a man, you can´t do this. Give me your cloths my girldfriend will do this job for you." So I hands over his cloths to my driver, I went back to my computer and his girlfried did this job.
I had the feeling becoming a landlord here in Segou and at the same time on the way back to my officeI knew that I am on the way to become a slave.

Maybe a white Lady from Rome has it more easy to wash her cloths in the Niger, because she is a woman. A white man can swim through the river, but washing his cloths in it? Maybe I have a lack of courage like all landlords and slaves and it´s Africa, which opens my eyes for this strange thing.

After anonymous e-mails...

addressed to our collectors, after hacking our mail-box, after posting embarrassing sexual photos at our facebook site...etc.etc. We have decided to broardcast the moral education film "Facebook Manners and You" for all these persons, who are still fishing in troubled waters, so they can become nice communication-partners on internet in the nearest future. And now press the button to see the video-clip about "Timmy and his girlfriend Alice".

Nach anonymen e-mails an unsere Sammler, nach Einbrüchen in in unsere mail-box, nach beschämenden sexuellen photos auf unserer facebook-Seite usw, usw... haben wir uns entschlossen, den moralischen Erziehungsfilm "Dein Auftreten in Facebook" auszustrahlen für all die Personen, die noch in trüben Gewässern fischen, auf daß sie baldmöglichst nette Kommunikationspartner im Internet werden. Und nun drücken Sie bitte den Knopf um den Video-Clip "Timmy und seine Freundin Alice" zu sehen.



Deutsche Übersetzung des englischen Textes auf Anfrage

Hi WJ, da ich ja schon mal unter Generalverdacht stand und freigesprochen wurde, interessiert mich natuerlich, ob der Taeter gefasst ist... PD

Hi PD, Du bist ja nicht der Einzige, der schon mal in der Rasterfahndung war. Aber der Täter/die Täterin ist noch nicht gefaßt, deshalb versuchen wir es eben ein wenig mit einem "moral education film". Ansonsten haben wir Commissario Brunetti mit dem Fall betraut, der zur Spurensicherung gerade das Lobiland ins Visir genommen hat. In der Schweiz spricht man in dieser Angelegenheit sogar schon vom "Innerdeutschen Lobi-Krieg", das könnte zumindest ein Hinweis sein. Aber es könnte natürlich auch eine gefakte Spur sein. Ich hoffe Brunetti hat Erfolg.

Happy New Year 2012

David Norden

...he wrote me:

Dear Friend,

I know that your time is valuable, so I’ll get right to the point. I need your advice! I’m putting the finishing touches on a new product called “African Art Dealer’s Field Guide,” and want to make sure that I don’t leave anything out. So, will you let me know your biggest question about How to Become a Dealer and Collector in African Art It could be anything… even if you think it’s silly.

All you have to do it type your question in the box below and click submit. In exchange for your advice, if you also leave your email address, I’ll send you a free pdf copy of the product before we release it to the market. (Should be ready in a few weeks.) Ok, here’s the easy form: What is your #1 question about How to Become a Dealer and Collector in African Art

I was a dealer for the Chicago Broard of Trade, dealing with Live Cattle, Broilers, Rubber and Swiss Franc before I became an African Art dealer and collector. Like most of these guys, who like gambling, I had absolutly no relation to money. But than I had suddenly a terrible nightmare: The dream, that money can buy...

When I awaked, I was in another world. Everything could happen. But when I opened my eyes the first time after this nightmare the first thing I saw was an African mask - a terrible copy. Not realy knowing, what I saw, I knew immediately this is an "arrow" to show me the direction I have to go. So I went to Africa to start up my little business and built up a small collection of objects, nobody wants to have.

My request to my African Art collegues and collectors: Was it possibe for you to find your way without nightmares?

Provenances

My experiences with Western provenances are very small...Heinrich Schweizer from Sothebys NY reported about this topic recently in Boston and I heard something about his statements from a friendly collegue. But an official seminar paper wasn´t available.

"But you told me, you had personally cotact to him about this topic..." (from an unpublished comment) "No, I hadn´t we only had a short e-mail correspondence and I told him the story of an untypical provenance with a Lobi statue. It was a gift Piet Meyer once made to his informant Binaté Kambou. Untypical of this story is on one side the fact, that an "European provenance-piece - from a wellknown Lobi ethnologist - went back to Africa" and on the other side the Binaté Kambou´s information, that the Lobi are making portraits. For a valuable provenance-piece of the Western Art market it´s probably only interesting, that this statue is coming from Piet Meyer and not the things Binaté is telling.

..anyhow, more interesting for me are the roots and these are - without any doubts - the African provenances. They are not forged. They don´t have brandnames. But many of them are mistakenly referred. The reason isn´t only a lack of knowledge, very often in literature the place, where an object is collected, is mixed with the stylistic origin. So the Bamana Rietberg catalogue cat. 134; 150 and the Bamana Vision of Africa, Colleyn, plate 2; 122 is speaking about a Jonyeleni sculpture related to the "Bougouni region or it´s neighbourhood" (Colleyn). Stylistically this sculpture is coming from the Baniko region, far away from Bougouni. But it is possible the sculpture was collected in the destrict of Bougouni, which would be an important information how this origin style was dispread in the Bamana country. I know that the Baniko-style exists in some parts of the Bamana Do region on the other side of the Niger river. But without a distinction of the local- and the stylistically-provenance the information "Bougouni-region" is more confusing than helpful.



...On page 123, Colleyn, Bamana Vision of Africa, 2009, is pictured an extremly rare sculpture of the Meret-complex. Labeled "Maani or Jonyeleni", Horstmann collection, Switzerland. This sculptutre is a mixture of two stylistically elements, the feet are related to the Kala and the top of the figure to the Bamana/Saro style with the head of a Meret Sogo Bo puppet. Only in some regions of the Segou district these figures were used for an "exhibition" before the Sogo Bo masquerade starts. But this sculpture is neither a "Maani" nor a "Jonyeleni-sculpture". "Maani" is the Bamabara word for "statuette/sculpture" (like a Gwandusu-, a Bozo- or a Malike- statuette) etc) and "Jonyeleni" is a "Jo" related "initiation-figure", which has nothing to do with the Meret-complex of the Sogo Bo masquerade. (Mary Jo Arnoldi, Playing with Time, Art and Performance in Central Mali, Indiana University Press, 1995; 195). The local provenance of this rare figure is extremly interesting, because it shows a mixture of an "exhibition" and "theater"-performance of the longlasting Sogo Bo tradition close to the Niger region.

This figure is published and exhibited many times, but probably never described with it´s African provenance. It´s an classical example how African provenances are discriminated in Western view of African Art.

Publication(s): Gardi (Bernhard), "Mali: Land im Sahel", Basel: Museum für Völkerkunde, 1988:58, Expo cat.: "Closeup. Lessons in the art of seeing African sculpture from an American collection and the Horstmann collection", by Vogel (Susan) and Thompson (Jerry), New York: The Center for African Art, 1990:86, #3 Expo cat.: "Meisterwerke afrikanischer Plastik aus Schweizer Privatbesitz", Kunshaus Zug, Wiese Verlag, 1995:49, #35; Expo cat.: "Sehen lernen. Eine Sammlung afrikanischer Figuren", Köln: Dumont, 1999:18, #6 & 7 in text. Bassani (Ezio), Bockemühl (Michael) & McNaughton (Patrick), "The Power of Form. African Art from the Horstmann Collection", Milan: Skira, 2002:46-47, #7; Expo cat.: "Femmes dans les arts d'Afrique", Paris: Musée Dapper, 2008:94 Exhibition(s): Basel, Switzerland: "Mali: Land im Sahel", Museum Für Völkerkunde, 1988; New York, USA: "Closeup. Lessons in the art of seeing African sculpture from an American collection and the Horstmann collection", The Center for African Art, 12 September 1990-11 March 1991; Zug, Switzerland: "Meisterwerke afrikanischer Plastik aus Schweizer Privatbesitz", Kunsthaus Zug, 9 June-3 September 1995; Paris, France: "Femmes dans les arts d'Afrique", Musée Dapper, 10 October 2008-12 July 2009). Source: Guy van Rijn Arcive, Yale University

According of the great number of publications and exhibitions this figure will have a high economic value, if it would appear one day at the international auctionmarket, but it is shameful how poor the knowledge about it´s real origin is.


photo: Petra Schuetz

In 2003 I collected a simple Kómó-mask from the Senufo region close to Sikasso, not knowing how rare these ritual objects are nowadays. It was carved by a Bamana blacksmith for the Senufo people. The Senufo people themselves don´t produce this type of mask, because the carving-production itself is "extremly dangerous". So it is a Senufo-mask with a Bamana-provenance. On the contrary to the Kónó-masks the Kómó masks weren´t stored in the village. There are little, lonely huts in the bush, where these "dangerous" ritual objects were preserved with the consequence: most of them were stolen similar like the Gwandusu-sculptures, which were once posted in the fields far outside of the villages. More than 90 percent of all Kómó masks - I guess - were stolen/looted by African runners for the Western art market. No chance to get any background informations about the relation between Senufo- and Bamana-provenances with it´s local stylistic and ritual differences.

ps the information about the Bougouni provenance, 123, Colleyn, Bamana Vision of Africa, 2009, is correct. Even it´s stylistically a Baniko sculpture this style is prevalent in the Bougouni region. We could even identify the village, where it is coming from. Similar like a bar code the scarification patterns of these sculptures are giving informations about the exact origin. The village is called Njala and is located in the Bougouni region, about 10 km from Massigue. According of the scarification-patterns we could also identify a Baniko sculpture, which is coming from the village Dekora, near Doila, and another sculpture of this style from the Korodougou village, also close to Doila. All these sculptures are correlated to the Baniko style, even the distances, where this style appears, are more than several hundred kilometers, from the Sonango village on the other side of the river to a village close to Massigue, like the sculpture Colleyn is describing in his Bamana book.