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CARL KJERSMEIER 113 Thomsen, a conversation that in 1937 resulted in their fi rst will. According to the will, to which some changes were later made, the collection was to be permanently exhibited in one or more galleries in connection with the permanent ethnography collection. There were to be no other objects included, no replacements, and the whole was to be presented unifi ed to visitors under both names of the couple. If these terms were not met, the collection was to be handed over to a foreign museum or sold at auction.20 The Kjersmeiers’ relationship with the Nationalmuseet continued over the course of their lifetimes, and the couple was among the chosen few invited to the inauguration of the newly built museum building in Copenhagen in May of 1938. In a note sent on the occasion of Kjersmeier’s fi ftieth birthday in 1949, curator Kaj Birket-Smith, who was a close friend, referred to “your great interest in and importance to the ethnographic department.”21 Indeed, in considering Carl and Amalie Kjersmeier and their African collection, it is important to be aware of the intent behind the collection, namely that from early on it was destined to be donated and displayed for posterity in a museum that was of signifi cance to both of them. They likely hoped to provide the Nationalmuseet with a solid foundation of African art for future study, international scientifi c research, and exhibition. The awareness, consideration, and attitude of the museum curators toward the Kjersmeiers, the scope of their collection, and its importance appear to confi rm this. SOGONI KOUN During a visit to the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, likely in the late 1920s, Kjersmeier saw “a dozen Sogoni koun antelope dance crests collected by Leo Frobenius,”22 which made a deep and lasting impression on him as one of his most signifi cant encounters with art. The impact of this stayed with him throughout his life and he maintained a sustained and enthusiastic interest in these dance crests. Kjersmeier expressed that he considered the fi nest examples to have primacy in African art and to be fully equal to the best Egyptian art.23 The fi rst sogoni koun dance crest that the Kjersmeiers added to their collection was


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