From Painting to Africa: A Conversation with Michel and Natacha Lequesne 120 By Elena Martínez-Jacquet TRIBAL people It’s well known that the Parcours des Mondes in Paris is a time for exchanges and encounters between tribal art aficionados and enthusiasts. At the recent 2013 event, we received an invitation from Michel and Natacha Lequesne to visit their collection, which includes about 100 pieces, mostly from Africa and a few from Oceania as well. In the intimate setting of their Parisian apartment, and in the company of Azande, their majestic Maine Coon cat, we spoke with them about their taste in contemporary art and their fascination for tribal art. FIG. 1: Natacha and Michel Lequesne in their living room with Azande and surrounded by some of their collection. Photo: Alex Arthur. FIG. 2: Funerary vessel. Jalisco, Mexico. Terracotta. H: 43 cm. Photo: Alex Arthur. Tribal Art Magazine: Dr. Lequesne, as a physician, you’ll certainly agree that there are all kinds of patients. What kind of collector are you, given that we already know that you’re one who has kept the first acquisition you ever made? Michel Lequesne: Yes, I have indeed kept my first non-European acquisition. It’s a Jalisco funerary vessel from Mexico’s ancient West Coast culture, a kind of thinker in a meditative pose with its chin on its knee. It was love at first sight when I saw it at Henri Kamer’s in 1963, but I didn’t dare go into the gallery at that point. A few days after I saw it, and while I was ill with a high fever, I picked up the telephone, called Kamer, and said, “You don’t know me. I came by the other day. I have a fever, but I can come in a week. I’m interested in the Jalisco object in your window. What price can you make me?” He gave me a figure. I negotiated with some success, pointing out that this was the first object of this kind I had ever bought. All of which is to say that I made my first acquisition on the telephone. T. A. M.: But you weren’t a novice collector. M. L.: No, I wasn’t. I had been collecting modern painting since 1955. That Vieria da Silva canvas hanging on the wall was my first acquisition in that area. T. A. M.: Let’s get back to tribal art. Did the fever you had when making your first purchase go on to become a real collecting fever, if you’ll forgive the pun?
CoverT70 FR corr_Layout 1
To see the actual publication please follow the link above