112 Gallery from 1915 through 1918. By 1919, Vignier, a symbolist poet turned dealer of Asian art during the first years of the century, had recently begun to work as de Zayas’ new source and was planning on sending an important group of African works to New York. The material offered in both Parisian galleries made a strong impression on Gordon, but he was taken aback by the prices they asked for the African works. Nonetheless, in Guillaume’s gallery Gordon reserved thirty-two figures and masks from West and Central Africa for 100,000 francs (less than $8,000 at the time). Guillaume immediately put the works aside, packed them, and made them ready for shipment, but did not take into account his new client’s slow acquisition process and his skills as a negotiator.23 Gordon did not follow up until the next year and, interestingly, asked for Oldman’s opinion of Guillaume’s material. Oldman naturally seized this opportunity to dismiss Guillaume’s pricing and instead offer his own collection24 (figs. 22 and 23). In particular, he suggested the purchase of a collection of eighty-four works from the Congo that had been collected by a Belgian colonial officer, Captain C. Blank, during a tour of duty just prior to 1920. Sixty-six works from that collection were acquired by the museum in February 1924 for £300, after almost four years of negotiations25 (figs. 4, 24, 25, 26, and 27). Wardwell noted that this was the last African purchase the museum made from Oldman.26 In Vignier’s gallery, Gordon saw a number of works of interest from diverse origins. These ranged from Chinese paintings to African carvings to Persian faience. The material was sent shortly afterward to the newly opened De Zayas Gallery, de Zayas’ new commercial endeavor following the closing of his Modern Gallery in 1918. De Zayas organized several exhibitions in the fall of 1919 with the works sent from France by Vignier, and then progressively began shipping the works to the Penn Museum. A group of eleven masks and figures from West and Central Africa, as well as three Polynesian and five South American works, all exhibited at the De Zayas Gallery in November 1919, were shipped to the museum on November 2027 (fig. 28). The price had already been set at 90,000 francs for that group, but after more than a year, Gordon managed to negotiate it down to 75,000 francs in January 1921. This purchase, which included such famous works as the Warua Master’s caryatid prestige stool and several other works published in Carl Einstein’s 1915 seminal book Negerplastik, was, according to Wardwell, one of the best selections Gordon and Hall made at the time28 (figs. 29, 30, 31, and 32). However, the endless FIG. 22 (top): Letter from W. O. Oldman to George Gordon, June 5, 1920, regarding Paul Guillaume’s holdings and Oldman’s own collection of art from the Congo. UMPA, Office of the Director, Correspondence Gordon-Oldman 1920. Photograph courtesy UMPA. FIG. 23 (above): Shipping record of the Captain Blank Collection of Congolese art sent to the Penn Museum by Oldman, March 21, 1921. UMPA, Office of the Director, Correspondence Gordon-Oldman 1921. Photograph courtesy UMPA. FEATURE
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