Photos - page 1 - rue des Beaux-Arts part 1 |
This page will cover the galleries listed above from 45 - 37 on rue des Beaux-Arts *Text below in quotes is from the Parcours des mondes catalog Some of the photos are better than others, the lighting situation wasn't the best for non-flash photography. You can click on any image to see a larger version. |
First stop was # 45 Galerie Ratton-Hourdé owned by Philippe Ratton and Daniel Hourdé. 11 rue Bonaparte 75006 Paris "Philippe Ratton and Daniel Hourdé, dealers of Primitive Art from 1965, have opened their gallery in 1991.Philippe Ratton and Daniel Hourde have been members of the French Syndicate of the Professional Experts in works of Art and Objects of collection for a number of years. The Gallery is famous for the high quality of its pieces of primitive Art, specifically in sub Saharian in Africa; those last few years, the gallery organized important exhibitions, always documented by catalogues : The Raoul Lehuard collection, Teke, Bembe, Kongo; Baoule from the Marceau Riviere collection; Kota Reliquaries, June 2003; Royal Seats of Africa, June 2004; Dogon, June 2005; Fang, juin 2006. The Ratton Hourde Gallery will participate for the third time at the Parcours des Mondes. On this occasion, the Gallery will show, at the Gallery new address 11 rue Bonaparte, the collection of a French amateur - collection dedicated to Yoruba art, including more than hundred pieces, the first one being bought over thirty years." The exhibition of Yoruba objects was interesting, I did like it and find it appealing and interesting, but others may have appreciated it more than me. I probably would have appreciated the Fang exhibition that they held in June a little more, I did buy the catalog from the Fang exhibition while I was there and there. As for the Yoruba exhibition, I was told they bought an entire collection of Yoruba objects from a French collector and they had around 100 objects on display from Ibeji figures to large Epa masks. Ibeji figures were going for around 20,000 euros and so were the large Epa masks but there was nothing that really 'knocked my socks off' here. The figure below from the advertisement in the exhibition catalog was a nice figure and I did enjoy being able to get to see it in person. They displayed the art along with some large abstract paintings and in my opinion the 2 just really didn't go well together. The paintings were large and "dark" in nature and didn't really compliment the objects on display in my opinion. |
Image above from event catalog |
Next stop was #33, Albert Loeb Gallery "Twice a year, the Bozo, Somono, Marka and Bambara populations of Central West Mali perpetuate a thousand-year-old tradition of sogo (animal) mask dances, sometimes accompanied by jiri maanin (little wooden people). The main objective of these festivals, called Sogo bo (animal outings) or Tyeko (the thing of men) or Do bo (the manifestation of the mystery), is to enact original myths, legends, the cosmos and ancestors, as well as all the new things in the world. They also depict the psychology of the human character. For KAOS Parcours des Mondes 2006, the Albert Loeb Gallery has put together an exceptional collection of these objects." I love African puppets, and they did have a nice grouping on display, but the scope of the puppets on display was very limited in my opinion. I did enjoy that they displayed varied styles of the same types of puppet heads, but it would have been great if they had some more interesting figures. This exhibition really made me appreciate my puppets from Mali a LOT more than I previously had. T Their featured puppet was a "Sigi kun" or "buffalo head" puppet. I have one that is very close in style to it, and actually I really liked mine better than I liked theirs! Maybe I am being biased, but I could not have afforded their Sigi Kun even if I would have wanted it. Sources said it sold for somewhere around 10,000 euros, but I don't have a confirmed price. It did make me appreciate mine even more! Lots of their puppets were sold and for very good prices, much higher than I've ever seen them anywhere else. Both of them were very nice and I was glad to see puppets taking such a prominent place in this years Parcours des mondes! You can CLICK HERE to go to their website to see more puppets. Below are photos of theirs on the left, and the one in my collection on the right. |
I skipped a few galleries on this side of the block because one dealt with Pre-Columbian art and the other was a smaller space that Galerie Ratton-Hourde occupied that had some nice things in, but the lighting was so dark that I couldn't get decent photos. Galerie Raton Hourde did have a nice Senufo Kponyungo mask in their extension gallery though that I wish I would have taken a photo of. |
The next gallery I stopped at was # 38 the Patrick Morgan Gallery, New York and Paris. "Today, the american dealer Patrick M. Morgan divides his time between New York and Paris, where he receives his clients by appointment at his appartment on the rue des Beaux Arts. He is an effective dealer, one must reside in two countries in order to understand both the market and collection trends. For KAOS Parcours des Mondes, he will show a fine mix of African and Oceanic material from both private American and French collections." Patrick Morgan is an incredibly nice guy and he had a nice selection of objects on display in his gallery. Michael Auliso from Tribalmania.com was also in Paris helping Patrick out for the show. I didn't take a lot of photos in the gallery, but I did take a photo of a really wonderful Yoruba bowl that can be seen below, the faces on the figures were great and very expressive. |
Next stop was #22, Galerie Flak They have recently started coming to the United States to participate in the NY and San Francisco Tribal Arts shows so if you're ever at one of those events I highly recommend stopping by and meeting Roland, Edith and Julien Flak. "Galerie Flak, which was founded in 1990, is located at 8, Rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris' 6th arrondissement. It specialises in the ancient primitive arts of Africa, Oceania and North America and presents works from particularly prestigious collections (Tristan Tzara, Andre Breton, Leo Frobenius, Jacob Epstein, etc), together with a number of other fascinating objects. Every year, it organises a major exhibition accompanied by the publication of a reference book. Its recent exhibitions have included: "Dogon du Mali" in 1997; "Ibedji: Le culte des Jumeaux chez les Yoruba" in 2002; "Esprit Kachina" in 2003; "Magie Lobi" in 2004; and "Mumuye" in 2006. For this latest exhibition, the gallery has published the first French-English bilingual book on the Mumuye sculpture of Nigeria, with a text written by Frangois Neyt. For each of these events, the gallery designs the staging of the objects in conjunction with artists and interior decorators; for example, Michel Albertini was asked to design the staging of the Mumuye exhibition." Galerie Flax has 2 gallery spaces next door to each other, one focuses on American Indian and Oceanic art while the other one shown above focuses on the arts of Africa. The Mumuye display was very eye catching and sure to draw even the curious passer by into the gallery. The book that they published for the Mumuye exhibition is great, I got it as well as their Lobi book from their 2004 Lobi exhibition while I was there. I'm not aware of any other reference book, in English at least, that is dedicated only to the Mumuye so I was happy to get the book and it was nice reading material on the flight back home. Several Mumuye and Dogon pieces that were on display when I saw them on Tuesday night had been sold and already removed from the gallery when I stopped back on Wednesday afternoon so I think the show went very well for them and I'm glad because they are great people. |
Above is the image from their post card and also the image they used for the cover of the Mumuye publication they did. |
These images are of some of Galerie Flak's wonderful Katsina (Kachina) they had on display, as well as just a few of the great NW Coast American Indian masks they had on display. |
Above and left is the display of Mumuye figures that you see when you walk into the door of their gallery. A lot of the figures had some good provenance to them, many of them in the former collection of Jacques Kerchache. Alain Bovis and Arte y Ritual had an exhibition of objects from the collection of Jacques Kerchache as well (photos later in the review) |
Next on this side of the block is #37, Galerie Alain de Monbrison The Ferrari on the right parked out front had it's hazard lights blinking and I thought and laughed to myself that it must be someone rushing in to pick up a new piece of art for their coffee table or something. Maybe you had to be there and see it to fully appreciate it. "Alain de Monbrison has specialised in the primitive arts of Africa and Oceania since 1971. His expertise is often called upon by the Paris Court of Appeal and the French Union of professional Art Experts and he is a member of the National Union of Antiquaries. He has also provided expertise for several public auctions of well-known collections, such as those of Hubert Goldet (June 2001), Rene Gaffe (December 2001), Andre Breton (April 2003), and Pierre & Claude Verite (June 2006). He often works with museums from France and all over the World." The gallery had an exhibition of American Indian and other objects from the collection of ROBERT LEBEL. The collection is going up for auction in December of this year and nothing in the gallery was for sale, it was basically a pre-auction display of the objects. I guess when you make as much money as he probably did off of the Verite auction you can afford to just have your gallery be a display area for your next major auction. The American Indian masks he had on display from this collection were really amazing though and I loved them. |
Above is their image from the event catalog Statue ASMAT Irian Jaya, Nouvelle Guinée Bois, polychromie ocre, blanche, brune, nacre H. : 122 cm (48 in) Provenance : Anc. Coll. Van Lier Reproduit in "The Art of Wood carving in Irian Jaya", by J. Hoogerbrugge, Hollande, 1977, n°126 Below are images from the gallery showing the wonderful collection of American Indian masks from the Robert Lebel collection that will be auctioned in December. It was reported in Tribal Art Magazine that the Musee quai Branly acquired one of the most beautiful masks in the collection before it was put on the market. You can preview parts of the collection by CLICKING HERE (new window in French) |
The mask above was my favorite of the bunch. I don't know the meaning behind it or even where it was from specifically, but aesthetically I LOVED IT! |
It's too bad this photo is blurry because this was a really nice Tatanua mask from New Ireland. |
NEXT ---> PAGE 2 photos...the other side of rue des Beaux-Arts Go to Main page - page 1 - page 3 - page 4 - page 5 - page 6 - page 7 of the Parcour des mondes 2006 recap |
A Kachina that Galerie Flak had in the back room of the gallery, I don't think it was for sale, but I got a good laugh from it and had to take a photo! I will have to ask them about the history on this one some day. |