MUSEUM news 54 Louis Schweitzer, Bernadette Chirac, and Stéphane Martin at the gala dinner organized by the Société des Amis. © Musée du Quai Branly. Madame Aurélie Filippetti (Minister of Culture and Communication) and Madame Geneviève Fioraso (Minister of Higher Education and Research) next to the Dogon figure. © Musée du Quai Branly. Female figure. Dogon, Tomo-Ka style, Seno Plains, Mali. Before 1931. Wood. H: 69 cm. Ex Sydney Burney, London, before 1931; Michael Sadler, Oxford, before 1935; Jacob Epstein, London, before 1951; Carlo Monzino, Lugano. Photo: Musée du Quai Branly, courtesy of Christie’s. ADDING TO THE COLLECTION Paris—On September 9, 2013, the eve of the opening of the 13th annual Parcours des Mondes, the Société des Amis of the Musée du Quai Branly sponsored a gala benefit dinner that was attended by many of the most important dealers, collectors, and curators of tribal art, as well as by important figures in the cultural and political realms, including Minister of Culture and Communication Aurélie Filippetti and Minister of Higher Education and Research Geneviève Fioraso. Proceeds from this event, which was a first for the Société des Amis, made it possible for the museum to acquire an exceptional African sculpture: a female Dogon figure from Mali with powerful geometric volumes and certain characteristics reminiscent of Bamana art, including hands with visible fingers placed on the thighs and an oblong head with a central nasal ridge. These suggest that its place of origin was the plains area bordering what is now Burkina Faso. This figure is emblematic of Dogon art by virtue of its aesthetic qualities and, although its precise function is unknown, it is additionally important because it illustrates the history of Western taste—more specifically British taste—for African art. Its peregrinations began in 1935, when it was selected by William Fagg and Charles Ratton to be included in the African Negro Art exhibition at MOMA in New York. In the same decade, the sculpture changed hands three times in England, as the property first of London dealer Sydney Burney, then of modern and avant-garde art collector and director of Oxford University Sir Michael Sadler, and finally of avant-garde artist Jacob Epstein, who kept it until his death in 1959. Film makers Chris Marker and Alain Resnais borrowed the piece from the latter to use in footage in their movie Les Statues Meurent Aussi (1953), which was censored for many years due to its critical view of French colonial policy. After Epstein’s death, collector Carlo Monzino acquired the figure and it returned to New York once again in 1986 to be included in the African Aesthetics: The Carlo Monzino Collection exhibition curated by Susan Vogel at the Center for African Art. With its entry into the Musée du Quai Branly’s collection, the work ascends to a new status as a “museum piece,” which guarantees it a long life in the displays of prestigious institutions and an existence devoted to advancing understanding of African art while serving as inspiration for those who view it.
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