Prev / Next

African Art: a prestigious Swiss collection

Wednesday 14 October 2020, 05:30 PM • Milan

55

Baulé, region of Bouaké (Ivory Coast)

Estimate

€ 4.000 - 5.000

Un utente ha offerto

Your offer is the highest

Information

Wood with a black coating, white paint
H 41 cm
Female figure.
Female sculpture wearing a loincloth.All of the body’s features are balanced and decorated with tattoos and glass earrings. It wears flip-flop sandals used in the Akan region. Its feet, which are lifted up from the floor, show that the woman represents a figure from the Baulé pantheon.Indigenous restoration works with iron clips are visible on the back.

Provenance

- Former Mario Fantin collection (Bologna) (*);
 - Former Paolo Morigi collection (Lugano) (Morigi inventory label num. 412);
- Former private collection (Lugano);
(*) Mario Fantin (Bologna 1921 - 1980) He was a famous mountaineer, researcher, photographer, cinematographer and director from Bologna.In 1954, he participated in the Italian expedition to reach the peak of K2 withArdito Desio and Achille Compagnoni. After that, he dedicated himself full time to mountaineeringand ethnography, participating in a great deal of expeditions all over the world. He went to theAndes, the Sahara, equatorial Africa, and Greenland among many other places. He produceddocumentary films and published more than twenty monographic works about Italian mountaineeringin the world, from exploration to the ethnography of all the continents. In particular,he organised expeditions to Africa. In 1959-60, he scaled the peak of Kilimanjaro. In 1961,he went to Egypt and Somalia; in 1962, Chad and Tibet; in 1963, Ivory Coast and Kenya; in 1964 western Africa. At the start of the ‘60s, he collected many works in central Africafrom Baulé, Guro, Yoruba, Yaka groups to name but a few.In 1973, he put a series of sculptures on display at an exhibition organised at the Pro Arte gallery. Before his death, he sold many of his works to his friend andcompatriot, Morigi. A dozen are illustrated in Sotheby’s catalogues for the sale of the Morigi collection in Paris, during June and December 2005. A further 5 are illustrated in this catalogue: lots A further 35, 55, 56, 67, 73.

Condition report

To request a Condition Report, please contact arteafricana@finarte.it The department will provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Please note that what Finarte declares with respect to the state of conservation of the objects corresponds only to a qualified opinion and that we are not professional conservators or restorers. We urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. We always suggest prospective buyers to inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition during the exhibition days as indicated in the catalog.