119
FIG. 3 (right):
Pumbu mask.
Pende, DR Congo.
Wood, pigment, fi ber. H: 30 cm.
Ex J. V. De Raadt, Ghent, Belgium
(by 1937); the Tara Collection
of African Sculpture (J. Werner
and Sarah Gillon), London and
New York (by 1971); Allan Stone,
New York; Jacaranda Tribal (Dori
Rootenberg), New York; Alain
Naoum, Brussels; Didier Claes,
Brussels (by 2015).
Javier Peres Collection, Berlin.
Photo: © Trevor Good, courtesy
Peres Projects, Berlin.
This is an example of a mask
genre called Pumbu, the
representation of the executioner,
locally referred to by the name
of ngunza. It identifi es a male
individual who has drawn blood,
whether literally, such as a soldier
or hunter, or metaphorically,
such as a sorcerer (Strother 1998:
155).
FIG. 4 (below):
Front and back covers
of the leafl et designed
by Filiep Tacq for the
promotion of the
exhibition Frans M.
Olbrechts (1899–1958):
In Search for Art in
Africa at the former
Ethnographic Museum
in Antwerp (7 December
2001–31 March 2002).
FIG. 5 (below right):
Inscription on the inside
of the ex–De Raadt
Pende mask currently
in the Javier Peres
Collection.
Photo: © Trevor Good, courtesy
Peres Projects, Berlin.
log published in 1937, but Olbrechts or one of
his collaborators also inscribed them in white or
black ink on the objects themselves. These inventory
numbers also contain the fi rst few letters of
the last names of the objects’ owners and lenders,
which greatly facilitates their recognition.
Thanks to these records, it has been possible to
confi rm provenances that claimed a link with the
Kongo-kunst exhibition and, better still, to determine
that other “unprovenanced” objects actually
had been included in the exhibition.2
ARTWORKS IN KONGO-KUNST
Coincidentally, as I was nearing completion of a
draft of this article, Bruno Claessens, a Belgian
African art afi cionado who was recently hired as