20 LEFT: Mask. Lumbu, Gabon. Wood, pigment. H: 50 cm. Collected by Colonel le Meillour before 1914. © Galerie Ratton. Photo: Hugues Dubois. BELOW LEFT: Reliquary guardian figure. Mvaï, Fang, Gabon. Wood. H: 46 cm. Ex John J. Klejman, New York; George Lois, New York. © Galerie Ratton. Photo: Vincent Girier Dufournier. RIGHT: Spoon. Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire. Late 19th–early 20th century. Wood. H: 20 cm. © Galerie Alain Bovis. Photo: Vincent Luc. BELOW: Mask, kplekple. Baule, Côte d’Ivoire. Early 20th century. Wood, pigment. H: 81 cm. © Galerie Alain Bovis. Photo: Vincent Luc. ART in motion Gabon PARIS—After Kota in 2003 and Fang in 2006, Philippe Ratton will dedicate a third exhibition to the arts of Gabon in his Paris gallery. Titled simply Gabon, the show will be on view from June 16 until September 17, 2017. This is an unusually long run for a gallery show, but it is commensurate with the efforts the gallery has put into assembling a collection of such exceptional quality. Gabon will highlight the many artistic traditions that flourished there, the formal qualities of which were so readily apparent to tribal art pioneers such as Paul Guillaume. Without claiming to be exhaustive, the selection of forty-five objects emphasizes the differences—and even oppositions— between the sculptural solutions that their creators made use of. The group of so-called “white masks” in the show alone is enough to demonstrate the richness of Gabonese art. The naturalism of these Punu masks is in clear contrast to the tenderness of the four faces of a Fang ngontang helmet mask, each face of which reveals different stylistic characteristics. Contrasting examples of reliquary guardian figures, which are among the best-known African art sculptures and certainly the most coveted by collectors, will also be featured. Among these are flat Kota creations, as well as the rounded volumes of classic Fang sculptures. Animalia PARIS—Representations of animals abound in tribal art. References to them are found in the form of representations of totemic animals, manifestations of spiritual entities, metaphoric realizations of social values, and attributes of kings and chiefs. These are as diverse in their sculptural qualities as they are in their contexts of use. Alain Bovis is exploring this subject with an exhibition of some forty works depicting animals in a wide variety of styles from Africa, Oceania, and the Himalayas. On view until June 24, Animalia opened on May 18 during Art Saint-Germain-des-Prés, a new event in Paris in which many of the area’s dealers participate.
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