New
Catalogue
available during
Parcours des Mondes
3, rue Visconti
Paris
12.- 17.9.
The Alphonse Bellier Sale of 1932
In the early days of tribal art in Paris – in June 1932 –
Bellier held a sale with the title Sculptures Anciennes
d‘Afrique, d‘Amérique et d‘Océanie. The sale and its
accompanying catalogue were rather small, especially
when compared to the Collection André Breton et Paul
Éluard – Sculptures d’Afrique, d’Amérique et d’Océanie
auction that was conducted by Bellier a year earlier.
However, in terms of quality, it was an outstanding
sale that included several artworks fated to become
historic thereafter. Among them were the Baule mask
sold by Madame Breton that was acquired by Pablo
Picasso and subsequently belonged to Jan Krugier and
the famous Wè mask that is now part of the collec-
tion of the Oberlin College in Ohio, which came from
Camille Bondy. As for the Éluard-Breton sale, it was
Charles Ratton and Louis Carré who served as experts.
Part of this signifi cant sale was also this impotant lower
Sepik River mask (H. 51cm), illustrated on plate 8
of the 1932 catalogue. Dating back to the 19th century,
it is a complex and self-contained mask made at a
time when the cultural understanding of the artist
was untainted and the mask had to unconditionally
fulfi ll its socio-religious role.
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