ANTIQUES; For Sale: African Art, In Abundance
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A dedicated aesthete, he was 26 when he bought his first piece of African
sculpture. By the time he died he had accumulated 640 African objects -- masks,
jewelry, reliquaries, statues, beadwork and textiles -- in his Paris apartment.
In 1979 he told a reporter at Arts d'Afrique Noire, ''Today, if I were to no
longer collect tribal art, I think that I would not collect anything.''
''He bought things up until three months before he died,'' said Alain de
Monbrison, a Parisian friend and the owner of Galerie Alain de Monbrison. ''He
sold fewer than 10 objects over the 30 years he collected.'' In 1999 he donated
three pieces to the Louvre.
Mr. de Ricql²s expects the auction to total at least $5.3 million, and the
figure could go higher. Many of Mr. Goldet's works came from well-known early
French and Swiss collectors, including Maurice Nicaud, Henri Kamer, Charles
Ratton, Robert Duperrier and Pierre V´rit´. Several of the pieces have been
exhibited in museums. ''This is the most important public sale of African art
since the New York auction of the Helena Rubinstein collection in 1966,'' Mr. de
Ricql²s said.
Mr. de Monbrison, who served as an expert for the Goldet sale, said, ''It is
a unique collection in terms of its quality, quantity and diversity.''
It was perhaps inevitable that Hubert Goldet would collect something. He came
from a family whose fortune was made in banking and oil, and he grew up with
Impressionist paintings. He wanted to be involved in the art world from an early
age. After spending time in the sales department of one of his family's
businesses, he quit to study at the Ācole du Louvre. In 1968 he joined Sotheby's
in London, writing catalogs in the Impressionist and Modern Art department.
In 1971 he returned to Paris to become the founding editor of Art Press, a
contemporary art monthly. He accumulated paintings by Dubuffet, Tapi²s,
Alexander Calder and contemporary American artists.
He left the magazine in 1974 to devote himself fully to African art. He took
his new passion very seriously, spending hours at the Mus´e de l'Homme, studying
books, visiting primitive art galleries and attending auctions. He amassed an
important library on African art, which he later donated to the Quai Branly
Museum in Paris, scheduled to open in 2004.
''He was fascinated by this 'total art' that conferred enormous beauty on
ordinary household utensils and ritual and religious articles,'' Mr. de
Monbrison said. He bought very rare Dogon, Punu, Kota, Fang and Baule sculptures
as well as everyday objects like arm and ankle bracelets, stools and headrests.
In the 1970's African art was a stepchild in the art world. There was a
prejudice against it because it is not made as art and it is rarely signed or
dated. ''The notion of authenticity, when it concerns Western painting and works
of art, is based on a knowledge of the identity of the artist and that the piece
in question was executed during a certain given period,'' wrote Lynne Thornton
in an article about the Goldet collection in the February 1981 Connoisseur
Magazine. ''Here, the sculpture is not only anonymous but its age is generally
of little importance.''
For Ms. Thornton, authenticity in black African sculpture means that the
object was made with a ritualistic significance (not for tourists) and shows
signs of wear. The masks and figures that Mr. Goldet bought all have patina.
They were used in daily rituals, festivities, funerals and fertility rites.
African sculpture is made by animists who confer a soul on inanimate objects,
even tools and spoons. The materials employed include terra cotta, stone, iron,
wood, bronze, gold and ivory. In his 1968 book ''African Art,'' Pierre Meauz´,
curator of the Museum of African and Oceanic Art in Paris, wrote about how
Africans view raw materials: ''Since wood is a living material, it is felt that
the masks and statuettes derive their magical power from the branch or trunk of
a tree whose roots drew nourishment from the earth. Such a process is not so
much sculpture as the transmutation of power through the modification of form.'' Lot 205 in the sale, a female Baule Kpan mask from Ivory Coast, is a good
example of how objects can be imbued with magic. Totally arresting, the
18-inch-tall carved wood mask has closed eyes, a long, sharp nose and a small
oval mouth with teeth showing. Its high headdress is a mix of carved braids and
chignons. The cheeks and forehead are scarified with beadlike decoration. Though
slightly cracked, in its simplicity it is riveting.
The catalog reports that such masks are used as part of a masquerage, a
daylong performance in which an entire village marks the death of a notable or
an important celebration. The piece is considered very rare, and the estimate is
$200,000 to $266,666.
African art was not particularly popular in the 1970's, so Mr. Goldet
initially did not find it difficult to purchase pieces from galleries and other
collectors. He was also lucky to be able to buy newly imported sculptures. In
the 1970's, African art was coming into Europe with immigrants from the African
colonies as they achieved nationhood. There were few rules on exporting African
art.
''In most of the former French colonies, you now need a permit to export
art,'' Mr. de Monbrison said. ''But it's really too late. Most of the important
objects left Africa long ago. In the countries where Islam has been embraced,
the destruction has been huge.''
Mr. Goldet shared his collection with few people. Photographs of his
apartment show shuttered windows and an assortment of good 18th-century French
antiques covered with statues, sculptures and objects. What could not be placed
on furniture ended up on the floor.
Those in Paris for the Goldet sale can also see Dogon masks at Galerie
Jean-Jacques Dutko, in a show celebrating the publication of ''Masques du Pays
Dogon,'' published by Adam Biro. Sotheby's May 19 sale of African and Oceanic
works in New York totaled $6.8 million. (Christie's did not have an African art
sale this spring.) And the Brooklyn Museum of Art has reinstalled 250 works from
its substantial African holdings, making it much easier to study the art. Mr.
Goldet was, predictably, ahead of his time.
Mr. Goldet's collection of African tribal art, considered one of the most
important in the world, will be auctioned on June 30 and July 1 in Paris.
Because it is too large to be displayed properly in the salesrooms of Drouot,
the auctioneer Fran‚ois de Ricql²s has organized the sale at the Maison de la
Chimie, 28 Rue St. Dominique, in the seventh arrondisement near Les Invalides.
The viewing is on Thursday and next Friday. The 400-page catalog, in French and
English, costs about $60. It can be viewed at www.dericqles.com (information:
011 331 4874 3893).
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