There is an old story I once heard from a collector who spent years traveling through mountain villages between Nepal and Tibet. He told me that certain masks should never be looked at too quickly. “At first,” he said, “they are only wood.” But then, after some time, the face begins to change. One evening, while arranging objects in my… Read More »The Mask That Smiled Back
Recently I revisited a fascinating postcard from the Loango coast, dating from around 1910. At first sight, it appears to confirm exactly what many collectors hope to see: African masks and figures photographed “in the field,” offered in an open-air market during the colonial period. For many collectors, such early documentation immediately creates reassurance. The older the publication or photograph,… Read More »African Art Authenticity, Colonial Postcards, and the Problem of “Made for the Market” Objects
This morning, before opening the shop, I placed these two next to each other. Not because they belong to the same tradition. They clearly do not. But sometimes objects begin to speak differently when they share the same space for a while. One is a mask from Zambia, in the Mbunda style. The other, a small Lobi figure from Burkina… Read More »Two African Pieces on the Table