The Yale archive is a writing on the wall

There are nearly "endless" pictures of special tribes. But it is a chaotic mixture of masks, statues, bronzes, ivory-objects and fiels-photos from many different regions. It takes hours to find a special information: find a field photo of a Konó mask or a statue from the Kampti region of the Lobicountry. I know very well, these special, worthful documents are existing in the Archive and this is the reason I am apprecating this possibility offered from the the Yale university. But it´s looking for a needle in the haystack. It takes endless time to find the result you are looking for.

It is depressing, that in the Yale archive there are the provenances of Western exhibitions, Western collectors, Western publications, Western Artmarket, but specific provenances related to special African origin of these objects are extremly rare



Even advertising-photos from showrooms and gallerys of Artdealers are published in the Archive.

There is still alive an old generation in Africa, which could give many scientific worthful informations about exact origin and circumstances of a ritual object. But the Yale archive is obvious more interested in Western performances of African Art than in these still available possibilities.

I know also Art collectors, who have a rather high degree of knowledge related to special ethnic groups....and a tendency which is becoming more and more interesting, they have profound knowledge about special African artists and carving workshops.



Fieldphoto with a Konó mask, around 1910, Yale Archive

I am sorry to say it, scientific publications about African tribes are not always helpful sources, to get more informations in general, because many Anthropologists have spend only several monthes in the country for their researches and mostly they know only a specific region. Kate Ezra, who did fieldwork in the Bamana country, once wrote me very honestly how difficult it is for her to pinpoint the origin of specific objects. This is one side of the coin, which has to be respected as a fact, but on the other side is this completely chaos in the Yale Archive, this completely mixture of everything, which is related to a catergory of an African tribe.

The Artmarket on the other side is quoting each sort of printed publication, included travelreports, sientific fakes and picture books. Main issue: An object is mentioned or pictured in a book. So it has an econonmic ranking higher than an object from the plastic bag of an African runner. The same could happen with the Yale Archive, quotable for a certain reputation but doubtful for real informations from the real origin of the pictured objects.

The tendency of the Yale archive with it´s undoubtly good base, if it goes on only in the direction of Western performances, Western provenances... is a writing on the wall.