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112 The Kjersmeiers were hospitable toward visitors, and on one occasion they opened their home and collection to the Danish public by invitation, an event that garnered newspaper coverage. 15 This was at the end of September 1931 and may have been related to their upcoming trip in November to French West Africa, which will be discussed in detail below. Guests to the Kjersmeier Collection were invited to write in a guestbook, in which many acknowledged their visit with a cheerful note or a drawing. Reading it today reveals any number of signifi cant individuals from the time. The guestbook was started in 1936 and concluded in 1967. It contains the names of a total of 307 individuals, among them, to name just a few, Eckart von Sydow, Frans M. Olbrechts, Charles FIG. 11 (right): Dance crest, chi wara. Bamana, Mali or Burkina Faso. Before 1932. Wood. H: 34 cm. Ex Kjersmeier Collection; Lau Sunde/ Etnografi ca, Copenhagen, 1946; Benkt-Åke Benktsson Collection, 1954. Kulturen Lund, Sweden, inv. KM 51467.205. © Viveca Ohlsson, Kulturen. Ratton, Martin Gusinde, and Eduard von der Heydt.16 In addition to a tour of the collection, guests were likely to be offered a glass of muscatel and a cigar, if not a “huge lunch,” as Man Ray17 described it.18 During his visit to the home in 1933, he took a total of twelve black-and-white photos, including one of a Bamana antelope dance crest (fi g. 7). Two of his images were later used by Kjersmeier as illustrations in Centre de Style de la Sculpture Negre Africiane.19 Whether Kjersmeier intended to commission Man Ray to photograph all the objects for his four-volume work is uncertain. As early as 1932 the Kjersmeiers discussed the donation of their African collection to Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen with curator Thomas FIG. 12 (right): Dance crest, sogoni koun. Bamana, Mali. Wood, pigment. H: 40 cm. Original note attached dated 17 May 1933 by Carl Kjersmeier indicating in situ collection, Sirokoro. Ex Kjersmeier Collection; Einar Utzon-Frank; Auction of the collection of Arne Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen, 1955; Mogens and Grete Balle; Ole Christensen; Bruun Rasmussen Kunstauktioner, Copenhagen, 2006. Photo © Bruun Rasmussen Kunstauktioner, Copenhagen. FIG. 13 (far right): Dance crest, sogoni koun. Bamana, Mali or Burkina Faso. Wood, metal. H: 40.5 cm. Collected in situ, 1931–32. Ex Kjersmeier Collection; the Kjersmeiers’ physician, Eldahl, 1960s; Lau Sunde, Copenhagen; Flemming Falch Christiansen, 1972; Ole Christensen, 2006. Private collection. FIG. 14 (facing page): Dance crest, sogoni koun. Bamana, Mali or Burkina Faso. Before 1932. Wood, pigment, fi ber. H: 75 cm. Ex Kjersmeier Collection, 1932. Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris, inv. 71.1932.54.1. © Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. FEATURE


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