FEATURE 100 FIG. 12 (right): Standing figure, khosi. Yaka, DR Congo. 19th–20th century. Wood. H: 48.3 cm. Ex Julius Carlebach, New York; Eric de Kolb, Gallery d’Hautbarr, New York, 1969; Lawrence Gussman, New York, 1969–99. Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, inv. 1999.06.79. Gift of Lawrence Gussman in memory of Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Photo: Jim Frank. pomorphic harp (fig. 13) is the only example of its type found in the collection of an American museum. Early research attributed it to the Fang, a group highly prized by collectors, but recent research has pointed to the Tsogo and Lumbo peoples.16 Although the instrument has undergone several alterations,17 the interplay of red-pigmented triangles with a white kaolin background resonates with the coloring of the eyes, one daubed with white kaolin and the other with red pigment. The second piece is an intricately carved fan (efegba), a prestige object that, although typical among the Fang peoples, is rarely found in private collections and museums (fig. 14).18 It features Janus faces on each side of a coiled handle. According to Perrois, the figuration of the double faces recalls the power of the chief associated with the power of the ancestors so that the chief can see everything including what is hidden from him. As such, these fans were used in the resolution of judicial matters.19 Like the Hirshberg Collection, Gussman’s includes iconic sculptures that were highlighted and illustrated by Clarke in the 2001 exhibition and accompanying catalog, A Personal Journey: Central African Art from the Lawrence Gussman Collection. Among them are many important examples from the Congo, such as a Lega ivory head with a smooth and rich reddish patina (fig. 16), a finely crafted Luba ceremonial adze (fig. 15),20 and the two Fang reliquary guardian figures, all now in the NMA collection. Of the two Fang figures,21 one belonged to Paul Guillaume, a famous collector of and dealer in African art between the World Wars (fig. 18). Although we do not know when Guillaume collected it, Fang sculptures were among his early acquisitions.22 The second (fig. 19) was brought back by one Dr. Pichon, a French colonial doctor from La Rochelle, France, who accompanied a Captain Cottes during a military mission in 1916.23 A Luba sculpture (fig. 17) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be traced to Dr. Stephen Chauvet, a well-known collector of African and Oceanic art whose taste brought him into contact with major dealers, including Paul Guillaume; then to Jean Roudillon, a famous French antiquarian; and finally to Merton Simpson, New York’s pioneering African art dealer. But did these prominent dealers know that this figure was in- FIG. 10 (left): Female figure, kakungu. Metoko, DR Congo. 19th–20th century. Wood, pigment. H: 68.6 cm. Ex Julius Carlebach, New York; Eric de Kolb, Gallery d’Hautbarr, New York, 1969; Lawrence Gussman, New York, 1969–99. Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, inv. 1999.06.138. Gift of Lawrence Gussman in memory of Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Photo: Jim Frank. FIG. 11 (below): Female figure. Probably Mongelima, DR Congo. 19th–20th century. Wood, metal, shell. H: 52.1 cm. Ex Julius Carlebach, New York; Eric de Kolb, Gallery d’Hautbarr, New York, 1969; Lawrence Gussman, New York, 1969–99. Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, inv. 1999.06.145. Gift of Lawrence Gussman in memory of Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Photo: Jim Frank.
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