FEATURE 110 and their everyday use within the societies from which they originated. On a more personal level, he stated his innate opposition to established art circles and their perception of African art as being ridiculous and irrelevant. This stance would later result in public confl ict with the Danish Sudan Mission, about which he expressed his unreserved opposition toward its activities in Africa, referring to its missionary stations as “incubators for hypocrites and swindlers, who initiate deception ... .”10 The relationships Kjersmeier maintained with modern Scandinavian artists sometimes resulted in his African sculptures being included in exhibitions in conjunction with their artworks. The initial public exhibition dedicated to tribal art from Danish private collections was curated by Kjersmeier and was held in Copenhagen in 1928. The fi rst of its kind in Scandinavia, the exhibition featured a total of 286 objects, mostly African but also from Oceania and South America.11 More than 100 of the African objects were from the Kjersmeier Collection. Kjersmeier was forthright concerning his views about African and other tribal objects being important to modern art, especially for cubism and expressionism. From the beginning of the twentieth century, artists, especially painters and sculptors, found a signifi cant source of inspiration for their interpretation of a new and decisive language of form and color that shocked art afi cionados of their own time and changed the vision of art for the future. This inspiration came from the artists’ encounter with sculptures from Africa and Oceania.12 In 1934 Kjersmeier participated in a new forum, The International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, which was held in London with Harry G. Beasley as treasurer. The same congress was held again in 1938 in Copenhagen, with Kjersmeier serving as coorganizer. He was also responsible for the African ethnography section. WWII delayed the next meeting, which was fi nally held in Brussels in 1948. Within the context of these congresses, Kjersmeier undoubtedly increased his knowledge and made new acquaintances, and he also became better known for his collection. On October 4, 1943, the Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen noted that the Kjersmeiers “are
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