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was formative both for the appreciation and understanding
of the subject and for the recognition
of private collections as important repositories.
DEDICATION
I wish to dedicate this essay to the memory of art historian
Herman Burssens (10 March 1927–12 October 2016). For
nearly thirty years, from 1963 until his retirement in 1992,
Dr. Burssens taught African art and cultural history courses
at Ghent University, where he also introduced me to the
study of African art during my undergraduate years in
the late 1980s. One of the last students of the legendary
Frans M. Olbrechts, he obtained his PhD in art history and
archaeology in 1959 with a monographic study on the
art of the Zande. Dr. Burssens’ publications mostly deal
with the northern regions of the Democratic Republic of
the Congo. Aside from his books Les peuplades de l’entre
Congo-Ubangi (London, 1958) and Yanda-beelden en
Mani-sekte bij de Azande (Tervuren, 1962), among others,
he also contributed essays on the topic in edited volumes,
such as Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers’ Ubangi: Art and Cultures
from the African Heartland (Brussels, 2007), and entries in
collection and exhibition catalogs, including Susan Mullin
Vogel’s publication on the Tishman Collection, For Spirits
and Kings (New York, 1981). In 2001 Dr. Burssens wrote an
autobiographical essay on his student days under Olbrechts
at Ghent University for the publication I edited in conjunction
with the exhibition Frans M. Olbrechts: In Search of Art
in Africa at the former Ethnographic Museum in Antwerp.
It is partly thanks to Dr. Burssens’ teaching that some of
Olbrechts’ methods and his interest in formal analysis were
transmitted to several later generations of students at Ghent.
FIG. 22 (far left):
Female fi gure.
Songye, DR Congo.
Wood, pigment, animal horn, glass
beads, fi ber cord, resin. H: 59.5 cm.
Ex Willy Claes, Brussels (by 1937);
Emile Deletaille, Brussels (by 1972);
John J. Klejman, New York (by 1973);
Jack and Deborah Rosenberg, New
York (1973 to 2004); Sotheby’s, New
York (November 11, 2004; lot 12);
Bernard de Grunne, Brussels.
Private collection.
Photo: © Frédéric Dehaen, courtesy
B. de Grunne Archives, Brussels.
Aside from serving as a container
of magical substances of vegetal,
animal, and mineral sources, the
horn inserted into the skull also
emphasizes the fi gure’s otherness,
placing it at a junction between a
cultural construct and a bestial entity
and indicates the fi gure’s ambivalent
potential as a sacred ruler with both
creative and destructive powers.
FIG. 23 (left):
Sketch by Frans M.
Olbrechts of the ex-Claes,
ex-Rosenberg Songye
female fi gure.
MAS | Museum aan de Stroom,
Antwerp.
© Collectiebeleid Musea en Erfgoed,
Antwerp.