The Art Nègre Sculptures 147 kept only as curiosities or as documentation, and mixed in together with the most vulgar and mundane objects. … The Louvre should acquire some of these exotic masterpieces, which are no less moving than the most beautiful examples of Western statuary.4 In 1911 or early 1912, Guillaume’s and Apollinaire’s paths crossed for the fi rst time in an automotive garage where the former was a young employee and also showed tribal sculptures. Apollinaire took him under his wing, which gave Guillaume’s career an important boost. The latter quickly lands,” which came from Guillaume. These objects made up the material for de Zaya’s long-planned art nègre exhibition, Statuary in Wood by African Savages: The Root of Modern Art, presented at Stieglitz’s Gallery 291 in New York toward the end of the same year.10 This show was innovative in its presentation of African art side by side with canvases by young avant-garde artists.11 Although he had now achieved international status, Guillaume continued to be advised by his mentor, who wrote to him from the front lines of the war, having been drafted at the beginning of the confl ict. Along with new quit his job in the garage and became a dealer, most notably working with Joseph Brummer.5 He also was admitted into all of Apollinaire’s circles,6 which guided him in his fi rst publishing efforts, for which he showed considerable talent as well as a capacity for organization and promotion— commercial skills that Apollinaire is little remembered for. In his widely circulated 1912 article “Les art exotiques et l’ethnographie,” Apollinaire unhesitatingly promoted Paul Guillaume, stating that “his name should be retained by anyone interested in staying abreast of the annals of curiosity.”7 The relationship between the two men developed, and Baron Mollet, Apollinaire’s secretary, related that “Every week, often several times a week, a young man came to dinner with art nègre statues, sometimes with a painting but mostly with statuettes, which he brought to Apollinaire to ask for advice or for help in fi nding a buyer.”8 While it is diffi cult to identify them with certainty today, there is no doubt that Apollinaire acquired many objects from Guillaume. Within this context of burgeoning collaboration, Apollinaire introduced Guillaume to Marius de Zayas,9 a caricaturist who collaborated with Alfred Stieglitz. Beginning in 1910, de Zayas regularly spent time in France and frequented the Stein circle, where he met with the artistic avant-garde. When war was declared in 1914, de Zayas returned to the United States, bringing with him “fi fteen of the best Art Nègre objects ever seen in civilized poetic, dramatic, or ironic writings, Apollinaire continued to offer his recommendations.12 Whether hospitalized or passing through or on duty, Apollinaire was often in Paris and participated with Guillaume in the organization of exhibitions (notably the 1916 show at Lyre et Palette, which included both tribal art objects and works by contemporary painters). He also had a hand in the preparation and presentation of Guillaume’s catalogs. The collaboration culminated in the February 1917 announcement in SIC magazine of the publication of a “work on art nègre … limited to 100 copies, which would offer the hitherto unheard of luxury of an album of the most beautiful pieces of this prodigious art ….” It was published at the end of that year under the title Sculptures Nègres and released concurrently with the opening of Guillaume’s new gallery at 108 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. In the end, only about sixty copies were printed. It featured a preface by Apollinaire and text by Guillaume, as well as twenty-four photographic plates, twenty-one of which illustrated masks and sculptures from West and Central Africa (primarily Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, and former French Sudan), as well as from the Marquesas Islands, whose art was then included in the nègres appellation. These objects were from private collections, including those of André Level, Alphonse Kann, and Viscount Bernard d’Hendecourt. Plate VII. Cte de Gouy d’Arsy Collection. STATUETTE FROM GUINEA. Plate VIII. Ambroise Vollard Collection. LARGE “TIKI” FROM POLYNESIA. Plate IX. Musée du Trocadéro, Paris. MATERNITY IDOL, Southern rivers (Guinea). (Ed. note: Front and profi le views.) Plate X. André Level Collection. GUERRE MASK from Côte d’Ivoire. Plate XI. Alphonse Kann Collection. BAKONGO STATUE, Balalis- Bistimin-Gengui subtribe (Congo). Plate XII. (See fi g. 4.) Plate XIII. (See fi g. 5.)
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