ART ON VIEW
72
FIG. 15 (bottom left):
View of painted wood
zoomorphic sculptures in
an Igbo dance ceremony,
before 1913.
© The Geographical Journal, 1913.
relentlessly revered by the art market, is, according to
him, a symbol of the taste for these reassuring styles —
for a “measured audacity”—one that is at odds with
the powerful presence of the Igbo masks (fi g. 14).
Operating with a kind of love-at-fi rst-sight principle
with respect to unknown forms, Ewa and Yves distanced
themselves to some degree from the prestigious
provenances that, according to them, took something
away from the thrill of discovery. However, the unusual
nature of most of the sculptures in their collection
did not prevent their being published in some of
the most important books that have appeared in the
last fi fty years, including Chefs-d’oeuvre inédits de
l’Afrique noire (1987) and L’Art africain (1988) by
Jacques Kerchache (fi g. 13).
The Develons demonstrated themselves to be completely
unafraid of “atypical” works, even though the
tendency of the art market is to reject any object with
FIG. 13 (right): Mask.
Idoma, lower Benue region,
Nigeria.
Donated by Ewa and Yves Develon.
Musée des Confl uences, inv.
2018.14.17.
Photo © Ewa Develon.
FIG. 14 (middle): Mask,
agbogho mmwo. Igbo,
southeastern Nigeria.
Donated by Ewa and Yves Develon.
Musée des Confl uences, inv.
2018.14.14.
Photo © Pierre-Olivier Deschamps /
Agence VU’.
no formal equivalents. This is the case for an unusual
mask (fi g. 8) and a fi gure said to originate in the town
of Zuru in northeastern Nigeria, an area from which
only a few terracotta fi gures are otherwise known. The
same is true of a monumental and complex “emblem”
(fi g. 16), which only a single photograph (fi g. 15) published
in 1913 in an article by Albert Ernest Kitson6
documents its use at the beginning of the twentieth
century in the Igbo region.
As Yves likes to stress, the collection is, in a larger
sense, conceived of as an homage to the sculptors of
Africa. Refl ecting this, the couple has a particular
sensibility for the original artistic solutions found
by creators, whatever continent they may be from,
to address “sculptors’ issues.” This interest in the
infi nite diversity of aesthetic perspectives explains
why the couple sometimes seems to have a penchant
for clumsy-looking objects, such as the Bassa-nge
sculptures that they have a special fondness for.
“The sum of partial imbalances directs us toward a
deeper equilibrium,” says Yves of these fi gures from
the lower Benue, whose hesitant poses reveal an accomplished
art process.
FIG. 16 (below): Emblem.
Igbo, southern Nigeria.
Donated by Ewa and Yves Develon.
Musée des Confl uences,
inv. 2018.14.30.
Photo © Gregor Podgorski.