Charles Ratton: The Invention of “Primitive” Art A Look at a Life, a Perspective, an Epoch The first exhibition devoted to a dealer ever to be staged at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris could only have been about Charles Ratton. Gallery owner, recognized expert, collector, and scholar, Ratton (1897–1986) was incontestably 76 one of the most important figures in the art market, and particularly for so-called “primitive art.” He contributed greatly to this genre being recognized as fine art and to its elevation from the status of curiosities or ethnographic specimens to which many non-European art forms had previously been relegated. An homage to the man was clearly in order, but it represented a challenge, not only because of the scope and varied nature of his many activities, but also because he was quite secretive in his personal life and hardly any writings by him were known. In order to understand the man and his time for the orchestration of this exhibition, which is halfway between a biographical portrait and an exploration of the history of aesthetic sensibility, the Musée du Quai Branly enlisted the services of Philippe Dagen (author, art historian, and professor of the history of contemporary art at the Université de Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne) as well as those of Maureen Murphy (art historian and senior lecturer at the same university, with a specialty in the history of the perception of African art in the West). We met with them both in Paris to find out more about this event, which will open on June 25 in the Musée du Quai Branly’s East Mezzanine, where it will remain on view until September 22, 2013. Tribal Art Magazine: How does one approach a man who on the one hand is so familiar to specialists and aficionados in the tribal art world, but about whose important biographical details, paradoxically, so little is known? Philippe Dagen: It is true that Charles Ratton’s name Interview by Elena Martínez-Jacquet is so well known in the non-European art world that everyone seems to think they know something about him. But in truth, I think that no one before us has had the opportunity to access our sources or to so freely consult the archives at Rue Marignan, where he practiced his profession for several decades. These are now in the hands of Guy Ladrière. Ever since this exhibition project was presented to us two years ago, we have spent a great deal of time at this location. We went every Monday to review box after box of records. No inventory or precise classification of these documents had ever been made, but there are countless files that enabled us to study and reconstruct his activities from his professional beginnings in the 1920s all the way through to the 1970s. We examined correspondence, descriptive and commercial documents, and many items concerning the organization of exhibitions—everything from trans-Atlantic tickets to development notes, for example. As we delved deeper and deeper into this mountain of documentation, our ideas on how to proceed took shape. In many cases, we made really significant discoveries. For example, there are many important and hitherto unpublished files concerning the relationships Ratton had with the Surrealists and with Jean Dubuffet. Maureen Murphy: I would add to that drawings by children in Angola, one of which Ratton gave to Dubuffet, but which were totally unknown. We also had access to hitherto unpublished information that shed light on the situation in the African art market in the 1960s and 1970s, for example, on how objects circulated and what export limits from African countries existed, etc. TAM: Will the presentation of this documentary research be the core of your exhibition? What is your approach and how did you select the material to use? ART on view FIG. 1: Female pendant. Hungaan, Democratic Republic of Congo. 19th century. Ivory. H: 7.7 cm. Musée du Quai Branly, inv# 73.1997.20.1. © Musée du Quai Branly. Photo: Hugues Dubois. FIG. 2 (above): Circular plaque. Central Coast, Peru. Copper or bronze. H: 7.5 cm. Musée du Quai Branly, inv# 71.1963.39.3. © Musée du Quai Branly. Photo: Claude Germain. FIG. 3 (facing page top): Sketch by Charles Ratton. Charles Ratton Archives. Guy Ladrière, Paris. © Musée du Quai Branly. Photo: Claude Germain.
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