CARL KJERSMEIER 117 FIG. 22a (right): Dance crest, chi wara. Bamana, Mali or Burkina Faso. Before 1932. Wood. H: 43 cm. Ex Kjersmeier Collection; Lau Sunde/ Etnografi ca, Copenhagen; Otto Eilersen; Anita & Jan Lundberg, Malmö, 1980; Anita Schröder, 1992; Galerie Flak, Paris, 2003. © Galerie Flak. FIG. 22b (far right): The same object photographed by Georg Oddner as published in 1986. Oddner and Högestätt, 1986, p. 25, pl. 5. FIG. 23 (below): Dance crest, sogoni koun. Bamana, Mali or Burkina Faso. Before 1932. Wood. H: 45 cm. Collected in situ, French Sudan, 1932. Ex. Kjersmeier Collection; Lau Sunde/ Etnografi ca, Copenhagen; Benkt-Åke Benktsson Collection, 1948. Kulturen Lund, Sweden, inv. KM 51467.215. © Viveca Ohlsson, Kulturen. Paris (fi g. 14) and another to the Etnografi ska Museet in Stockholm (inv. 1932.17.0002). Out of the total number of objects they collected, they kept seventy-three, including twenty-two dance crests that later, in keeping with the bequest, were eventually transferred to the Nationalmuseet. In a published interview, Kjersmeier observed, “In Bamana country I succeeded in collecting about 150 characteristic Bamana artworks, mainly old pieces, carved from the hard dondol tree (Bombax cornui).”34 These objects represented a considerable addition to the Kjersmeier Collection, which certainly must have attracted attention. Their journey to French West Africa began in Copenhagen in November 1931 by train to Marseille and from there by ship to Dakar. From Dakar they continued by train to the city of Kayes in today’s Mali and then on to Bamako. Here Kjersmeier rented a small truck that would carry themselves, a driver, a cook, provisions, and all the necessities required to travel into the bush to visit local settlements (fi g. 29). The couple celebrated Christmas Eve in a Dogon village. Their visits to villages involved countless inquiries and conversations with locals, many of which were fruitless. The objects they found often were acquired through barter using various items that the couple had purchased in Marseille or sometimes through cash payment in French currency. Sometimes the distances between villages had to be traversed on foot when the terrain made it impossible to travel by truck. Kjersmeier repeatedly mentions the miserable condition of the vehicle and the diffi culties it entailed. It had to be replaced along the way, and the fi nal part of the trip was carried out with a damaged driveshaft. This aside, the trip was rife with other hardships: The sun was strong and the temperature high, the nights icy cold; there was shortage of clean drinking water; and an ongoing issue with malaria, which Amalie suffered from. As it turned out, they had been prescribed a prophylactic drug that had no effect against the disease. Kjersmeier accompanied her to Bamako for treatment, and from there she returned early to Denmark in late January 1932. Kjersmeier went on to search the villages for more objects, and he returned to Copenhagen some two months later. FIG. 24 (right): Dance crest, sogoni koun. Bamana, Mali or Burkina Faso. Before 1932. Wood; red, yellow, and black pigments; cotton; indigo. H: 31 cm. Collected in situ, French Sudan, 1931–1932. Ex Kjersmeier Collection; Lau Sunde, Copenhagen; Grete Balle, 1958. Private collection.
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