ART on view low seats by the Gurunsi and Lobi from Burkina Faso, all of which are more sculptural in their presentation of varied 80 iconography and decorative designs. A group of headrests from the Democratic Republic of Congo, on loan from the Tervuren Museum, is especially exemplary in this respect. The objects from the traditional societies of Africa on view at the Dapper are the fruit of a highly developed process of conception and production. So many notions are included in the term “design”—the first word in the title of the exhibition—the use of which is unexpected in the realm of traditional African art. It more often relates to the context created by the industrialized European world and frequently confers a connotation of the contemporary to the creations it is used to designate. But older objects, even those that have fallen into disuse, can tolerate association with this Western creative concept quite well. This new approach to traditional art is well developed in the catalog, which contains a wealth of iconographic detail and well-thought-out essays penned by leading and recognized experts. The catalog supports the exhibition and also invites the visitor to consider the contemporary creation of utilitarian objects on the African continent. In this vein, works by contemporary designers such as Balthazar Faye, Cheick Diallo, Issa Diabaté, and Alassane Drabo—to name but a few—seamlessly and naturally fit into the installation. While these remain largely unknown in Europe and even in Africa, where the absence of buying power and an influx of cheap basic products from Asia keep such works quite localized, the contemporary African design objects in the show are astonishing in their inventiveness, their use of natural and found materials, and their diversity of forms, which often FIG. 7 (right): Headrest. Shona, Zimbabwe. Wood, pigment. H: 17 cm. Musée Dapper, Paris, inv. no. 1048. © Archives Musée Dapper. Photo: Hughes Dubois. FIG. 8 (center right): Headrest. Yaka. DR Congo. Wood, pigment. H: 14 cm. Ex Tristan Tzara. Musée Dapper, Paris, inv. no. 2014. © Archives Musée Dapper. Photo: Hughes Dubois. FIG. 9 (lower right): Kossi Assou, Slim bed, 2009. Togo. Sheet metal, wood. L: 201 cm. Private collection. © Archives Musée Dapper and Dominique Cohas. FIG. 10 (below): Funerary bed. Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire. Wood, pigment. L: 270 cm. Private collection. © Archives Musée Dapper and Dominique Cohas.
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