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ABOVE: Mask, mukuyi.
Punu, Gabon.
Wood (Ricinodendron africanum Müll.
Arg. Euphorbiacées), pigment.
H: 30 cm.
Fondation Dapper, Paris, inv. 0959.
© Archives Fondation Dapper. Photo:
Hughes Dubois.
LEFT: Portrait of Bepkamrek
Kayapo and Nhakti Kayapo.
© S. Guiraud/Jabiru Prod.
RIGHT: Headdress. Kayapo.
© Yohann Deslandes, RMM Rouen
Normandie.
BELOW: Buffalo
Bill show at the Elbeuf
fairgrounds, Normandy, June
14, 1905.
Modern print from vintage negative
(Fabrique des savoirs collection).
© Yohann Deslandes, RMM Rouen
Normandie.
A statement from the foundation notes
that these works and their history echo
“what most profoundly touches the personal
practices of people in the Antilles.”
A Punu mask from Gabon, a Dogon fi gure
from Mali, a Yoruba dance staff from
Nigeria—these and other works have
been carefully selected for the strength
with which they represent the artistry of
the great cultures of sub-Saharan Africa.
These objects had tremendous infl uence
on the evolution of European art at the
beginning of the twentieth century, particularly
on the works of Matisse and Picasso.
More importantly, they represent
the history of peoples, as well as their
rites, their beliefs, and their worldviews.
Part of the exhibition is devoted to contemporary African
art and features works by seventeen living artists.
While their approaches and techniques vary, including
sculptures, collages, paintings, and photographs,
among other things, these artists all face the same challenge
of creating new forms of refl ection and engagement.
Slavery, colonization, identity, and war are some
of the subjects they focus their attention on.
This fi rst partnership of the Dapper outside of Europe
refl ects the extraordinary creativity and dynamism of
African art of both yesterday and today.
Potluck
ROUEN—On view through January
21, 2018, at the Muséum de Rouen,
an exhibition titled Potluck brings together
a variety of objects from the
Americas in national French museum
collections. It was conceived of as a
typical traditional North American
potluck—a meal to which everyone
contributes. Since the earliest days
of contact, the New World captured
the imagination of Europeans, and
French museums have vast quantities
of drawings, paintings, sculptures,
ceramics, textiles, photographs, and
posters that attest to this fascination.
The new Americas section of the
Galerie des Continents, which is the venue for the
Potluck exhibition, is born of a close collaboration
between the Muséum de Rouen and the autochthonous
communities whose works are in its collection.
Representatives of the Osage community in
the United States and of the Kayapo of Amazonia
in Brazil selected works they found interesting. They
then explained the cultural symbolic meanings of the
objects they chose. A traditional dress illustrates the
woman’s place among the Osage, for example, while
a Kayapo artist’s paintings of geometrical forms actually
are symbolic representations of animals.
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