Caixa and shown at various venues throughout Spain in 2004 and 2005. T.A.M.: So it was possible to make discoveries in a country like Spain, even though tribal art had not really caught on there? J.L.: This fi nd was about the only “off the grid” acquisition I was able to make. The only other piece I found under similar circumstances is a powerful Okak Fang reliquary fi gure from Equatorial Guinea; however, I no longer own it. When I was starting, I bought primarily on the Parisian market in galleries or at auction during a time when it was in a kind of “golden age.” Having said that, I didn’t ignore the Spanish dealers. Although there weren’t many of them, they had very high standards and were internationally known. I owe much for the objects I have to Ana and Antonio Casanovas, who have been active for more than twenty years in the tribal art fi eld, as well as to David Serra, whose reputation is well established, and to Guilhem Montagut, a dynamic young man whom I expect will have a long and bright future in the business. T.A.M.: It sounds like you never really felt isolated with your interest in tribal art on this side of the Pyrenees. J.L.: The Spanish tribal art community, and especially the one in Barcelona, is small, but it has always struck me as especially enthusiastic and close-knit. Between 1960 and 1980, the Fundación Folch, which I mentioned before, was a fascinating microcosm unto itself. In the two following decades, there were several important museum exhibitions in Barcelona that helped bolster cohesion among local afi cionados. I collaborated in the production of one of them—Islas de los Mares del Sur in 2001 at the Fundación La Caixa—and in 2004 served as consultant and advisor for another, El Primer Eros. At this point, we Barcelona collectors have been friends for a long time. We dine together often and see each other at international events. None of us ever really feels alone. T.A.M.: What is your approach to collecting? J.L.: Since my purchase of the Bembe fi gure, I’ve followed more or less the same path. I am one of those focused collectors who makes no more than one, two, or three acquisitions a year. I don’t look, I fi nd. When I see an object I’m interested in, I take my time to examine it and to compare it with other examples of the same kind that I know from books or elsewhere. My slowness can be attributed to the fact that I see myself above all as a student 148 FIG. 5 (right): Figure, asie usu. Baule, Côte d’Ivoire. 19th century. H: 40.5 cm. © Tribal Art magazine, photo by Santiago Borthwick. FIG. 6 (above): Figure. Bembe, DR Congo. 19th century. From La fi gura imaginada, Fundación La Caixa, 2004. TRIBAL PEOPLE
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