Three questions for Charles-Wesley Hourdé
and Nicolas Rolland
Tribal Art Magazine: What set you on the path to
writing this book?
Charles-Wesley Hourdé and Nicolas Rolland: The 1930
exhibition at the Galerie du Théâtre Pigalle in Paris has
always been well known to specialists and afi cionados
of African and Oceanic art. However, although the fact
of the event itself appears to have been lastingly etched
into our cultural memory, the material that was actually
shown in the exhibition remains little known.
Of the 425 objects listed in the catalog, only sixteen
were reproduced.
Art historian Maureen Murphy, who devoted a part of
her thesis to the exhibition and wrote a brief article about
GALERIE PIGALLE.
Afrique. Océanie
11
Sommet demasque
« Suguni », garni d’une fi gure
d’antilope. Bois noir.
Mandé. Région du Haut-Niger. Haut. 0m.42.
Coll. Mme de Saint-Villemer.
12
Haut demasque
« Suguni » en forme d’antilope.
Bois teinté noir.
Mandé. Région du Haut-Niger. Long. 0m.82.
Coll. Deslouis.
D E S C R I P T I O N
Cimier. Bambara. Mali. 83 cm.
H I S TO R I Q U E
> Félix Deslouis
Louis Carré
Dr. Maurice Girardin, acquis en 1944
Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris
(AMOA 368), legs en 1953
P U B L I CAT I O N S
Marquetty V., 1930 cat. exp., p. 7, cat. 12
Sweeney J. J., 1935 cat. exp., p. 31, cat. 8
Tersen E., novembre 1948, no 36-37, p. 45,
fi g. 24
Noll C., 1972 cat. exp., p. 81, fi g. 188
Masques et sculptures d’Afrique et
d’Océanie, Collection Girardin, 1986
cat. exp., pp. 46-47, fi g. 1
Kerchache J., Paudrat J.-L., Stephan L.,
1988, p. 371, fi g. 303 (erreur : Coll. MAAO)
Bassani E., 1989 cat. exp., n. p., pl. 30 et
p. 234, cat. 30
Bassani E., 1992, p. 134
Homberger L., 2006 cat. exp., p. 57, fi g. 43
Einstein C., 2011, no 14, p. 194, fi g. 1
E X P O S I T I O N S
Paris, 1930. New York, MoMA, 1935.
Paris, 1972. Paris, 1986. Florence, 1989.
Paris, 2006.
13
Haut demasque
« Suguni » représentant
une antilope. Bois.
Mandé. Région du Haut-Niger. Haut. 0m.74.
Coll. Moris.
D E S C R I P T I O N
Cimier. Bambara. Mali. 73 cm.
H I S TO R I Q U E
> Antony Moris
Josef Mueller, acquis avant 1939
Musée Barbier-Mueller, Genève
(inv. 1004-36)
P U B L I CAT I O N S
Lepage P. C., 1922, n. p., pl. VIII
Clouzot H., Level A., 1925, n. p., pl. XVIII
Rivière G.-H., 1926, no 7, p. 177
Delafosse M., 1927, n. p., pl. XXXVIII, fi g. 2
Marquetty V., 1930 cat. exp., p. 7, cat. 13
Level A., 5 mars 1930, no 103, p. 186
Schmalenbach W., 1953 cat. exp., p. 18,
cat. 191 et n. p., fi g. non numérotée
Fagg W., 1980, p. 38
Bassani E., 1982, no 15, n. p.
Schmalenbach W., 1988 cat. exp., p. 72,
fi g. 16
Paudrat J. L., 1996, p. 50, fi g. 7
Stepan P., 1997 cat. exp., n. p., pl. 1
et p. 240
Mattet L., 2007 cat. exp., p. 75
Einstein C., 2011, no 14, p. 194, fi g. 1
Les Collections Barbier-Mueller. 110 ans
de passion, 2017 cat. exp., p. 52
(photographie de l’exposition organisée
par Josef Mueller en 1957 au Musée d’art
de Soleure)
E X P O S I T I O N S
Paris, 1923. Paris, 1930. Berne, 1953.
Soleure, 1957. Düsseldorf/Francfort/
Munich/Genève, 1988. Munich/Bielefeld/
Luxembourg/Tervuren/Paris, 1997.
Genève, 2007.
14
Haut demasque
« Suguni » en forme d’antilope.
Bois patine noire.
Mandé. Région du Haut-Niger. Long.0m.66.
Coll. Deslouis.
D E S C R I P T I O N
Cimier. Bambara. Mali. 66 cm.
H I S TO R I Q U E
> Félix Deslouis
Louis Carré
Localisation inconnue
P U B L I CAT I O N S
Marquetty V., 1930 cat. exp., p. 7, cat. 14 et
n. p., fi g. 14
Sweeney J. J., 1935 cat. exp., n. p., pl. 9
Radin P., Sweeney J. J., 1952, n. p., pl. 38
Roy C., 1957, pp. 40-41
Sweeney J. J., 1970, n. p., pl. 38
E X P O S I T I O N S
Paris, 1930. New York, MoMA, 1935.
1
Haut demasque
en forme de tête de mule.
Bois patine brune.
Haut. 0m.37. Coll. Deslouis.
D E S C R I P T I O N
Marionnette. Bambara. Mali. 40 cm.
H I S TO R I Q U E
> Félix Deslouis
Louis Carré
James Albert Ford Memorial Fund,
Cleveland (inv. 1035)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
(inv. 1935.307)
P U B L I CAT I O N S
Marquetty V., 1930 cat. exp., p. 7, cat. 15
Portier A., Poncetton F., 1930, n. p.,
pl. XXIV, cat. 47
Sweeney J. J., 1935 cat. exp., p. 31, cat. 10
et n. p., pl. 10
Radin P., Sweeney J. J., 1952, n. p., pl. 36
Plass M., 1959 cat. exp., p. 10, fi g. 25
Goldwater R., 1960 cat. exp., p. 33, fi g. 37
Sweeney J. J., 1970, n. p., pl. 36
Webb V.-L., 2000 cat. exp., p. 95, fi g. 57
(couverture du portfolio de Walker Evans)
Petridis C., 2003, p. 38, fi g. 4
E X P O S I T I O N S
Paris, 1930. New York, MoMA, 1935.
16
Masque d’homme
stylisé orné de deux cornes.
Bois patine noire.
Haut. 0m.46. Coll. Tristan Tzara.
D E S C R I P T I O N
Masque. Bété-Gouro. Côte d’Ivoire.
46 cm.
H I S TO R I Q U E
> Tristan Tzara
Christophe Tzara, par descendance
Loudmer, Paris. Collection Tristan Tzara
et à divers amateurs, 24 novembre 1988,
lot 284
Sotheby’s, Paris, 18 juin 2014, lot 40
Collection privée, Paris
P U B L I CAT I O N S
Marquetty V., 1930 cat. exp., p. 7, cat. 16
Sweeney J. J., 1935 cat. exp., p. 35,
cat. 86
E X P O S I T I O N S
Paris, 1930. New York, MoMA, 1935.
17
Masque cornu
de forme allongée sans
bouche. Bois teinté brun,
traces de polychromie.
Haut. 0m.57. Coll. J. Lipchitz.
D E S C R I P T I O N
Masque. Toma. Liberia. 57 cm.
H I S TO R I Q U E
> Jacques Lipchitz
Localisation inconnue
P U B L I CAT I O N S
Anonyme, Action, avril 1920, n. p.
Marquetty V., 1930 cat. exp., p. 7, cat. 17
Sweeney J. J., 1935 cat. exp., n. p., pl. 81
Radin P., Sweeney J. J., 1952, n. p., pl. 3
Sweeney J. J., 1952, n. p., pl. 3
The Lipchitz Collection, 1960 cat. exp.,
n. p., fi g. 4
Webb V.-L., 2000 cat. exp., p. 60, fi g. 10
(portfolio de Walker Evans)
E X P O S I T I O N S
Paris, 1930. New York, MoMA, 1935.
New York, 1960.
180
181
Cat. 13
Toledo, 1959. New York, 1960.
Cat. 12
centred on the theatre itself? Or was it the scandal
the exhibition had provoked that made them decide to
put it on record?
The collection of images relating to the exhibition of
African and Oceanic arts held at the theatre’s gallery
(46 positive and negative images) and to the théâtre
Pigalle itself (15 images) consists of 61 stereoscopic
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glass plates. The formats of these plates (4.5 × 10.7 cm
and 6 × 13 cm) suggest that they are the result of visits
by more than one practitioner.
A careful reading of the Bulletin, cross referenced
with other information, leads us to suppose that
one of the photographers may have been Hippolyte
Legénisel6, a member from 1921 to 1934, “in
whose hands the Vérascope is a truly marvellous
instrument7”, and whose name appears on the
wrappers of some ten 4.5 × 10.7 negatives.
Two photographers were in fact awarded prizes for
their work during this visit; they were Louis Delamare
and Paul Collemant. Both were very active figures
within the association.
Louis Delamare, who lived at 56 rue de
La Rochefoucauld, just around the corner from
the théâtre Pigalle, had been a member of the Société
excursionniste des amateurs de photographie since
29th October 1929. He was introduced to the society
by Hippolyte Legénisel and Paul Collemant. It was
Delamare’s suggestion that the group should visit the
theatre. Delamare appears to have had close ties with
the theatrical world as, in January 1930, he arranged
a visit to the Opéra and in October 1931 projected a
series entitled Our theatre artists (intimate memories).
At the projection sessions of 25th November and
30th December 1930, Delamare’s théâtre Pigalle
ceiling was described as “impressive” and it is possible
that he was the source of the negatives in this format
(4.5 × 10.7) referred to above which were found
without identification.
Paul Collemant, who became a member in 1922,
appears to have been an ardent supporter of
Vue de l’exposition d’art africain et océanien
à la galerie du théâtre Pigalle, Paris, 1930
101
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PILAT BOOK PRIZE
154
PILAT 2018
FRENCH CATEGORY
Edited by Charles-Wesley
Hourdé and Nicolas Rolland
Published in French by Somogy
éditions d’Art
24.6 x 28 cm, 320 pages,
344 illustrations
it as well,1 reproduced a few photographs of it taken in
situ in 1930. We visited the private archive these photos
are in. A number of the images we saw convinced us that
it would be possible to identify most of the objects that
had been featured at the show. This led to the idea of
creating a publication that would both include a complete
inventory of the works in the exhibition and put the
historical signifi cance of the event into perspective.
FIG. 1 (ABOVE LEFT):
Seated fi gure. Dogon, Mali.
Private collection. Photo © Sotheby’s.
FIG. 2 (ABOVE): Ancestor fi gure.
Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia.
Private collection. Photo © Binoche et Giquello.