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T.A.M.: You didn’t mention tribal art. Does that
mean it came later in your life?
Y.-B. D.: In fact, it was due to my profession as an
attorney, and more specifi cally to my involvement in
a pro Deo case I was required to make as part of my
legal training, that I owe its discovery. When it was
over, my client, who nothing would have indicated
was predestined to be such an important infl uence
on my life, recommended me to one of her friends,
who was the owner of the only magazine dedicated
to the so-called “tribal” or “primal” arts.
This new client did two things for me. He offered
me a subscription to his magazine, in the pages of
which I became acquainted with the arts of Africa,
Oceania, the Americas, and Asia, but he also
made it a point to introduce me to his contacts—
collectors, institutions, and dealers—who, in turn,
each helped me discover new aspects of the fi eld.
Each new client and every new case became a
pretext for deepening my knowledge of a continent,
a people, a civilization, or a people and its beliefs.
FIG. 1 (left): Yves-Bernard
Debie with a club, u’u, from
the Marquesas Islands.
Photo © Louis-Raphaël Debie.
Below, left to right:
FIG. 2: Pendant.
Hungaan, DR Congo.
Ex Rik Elias.
Photo © Paul Louis, Brussels.
FIG. 3: Pendant, hei tiki.
Maori, New Zealand.
Ex Jacob Epstein.
Photo © Paul Louis, Brussels.
FIG. 4: Passport mask.
Lega, DR Congo.
Ex Willy Mestach.
Photo © Paul Louis, Brussels.
FIG. 5: Passport mask.
Songye, DR Congo.
Ex Willy Mestach.
Photo © Paul Louis, Brussels.
FIG. 6 (screened behind):
View of the collector’s living
room.
© Tribal Art magazine.