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form is one of them. We illustrate that at the
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in the last
part of the exhibition with the Les Poseuses (the
models) drawings by Seurat, which will be shown
juxtaposed with two African sculptures of nude
women—a Mabea Fang fi gure (fi g. 10) and an
astonishing Baga sculpture.
P. P.: We needn’t speculate or repeat hearsay
about Fénéon’s taste. We can stick to the facts:
The major exhibitions at Galerie Pigalle in 1930,
and African Negro Art at MoMA in 1935–1936,
along with the main publications of that period,
all include artworks from the Fénéon Collection.
It was a group of high-quality objects. We have
done everything we could to underscore the
African collection’s vital importance in this show,
but much work still remains to be done on it. We
hope that our efforts will give rise to new research
and (let us not be afraid to dream!) that the
elusive notebooks in which Fénéon described the
pieces in his collection will one day reappear.
T.A.M.: Any other wishes, now that the prep for
this project is concluding?
I.C.: Working on this tripartite exhibition has
been a sensational adventure. Exhibitions often
have dynamizing and stimulating properties!
We already felt the positive effects here while in
the preparatory stages of the show. When the
tribal art world found out about the subject of
our exhibition, pieces that had been in Fénéon’s
collection suddenly began to reappear. As Philippe
said, it would be wonderful if the reconstructive
work we have done could open up new paths for
future research. If I could have one wish granted,
it would be that the visitors to the exhibitions
at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac,
the Orangerie, and the MoMA would all bring
away with them the vision of a multifaceted and
somehow elusive Fénéon—of a distant dandy with
an awesome intellect who ultimately wanted to
disappear and almost succeeded in doing so.
All of the poetry in the man lies therein.
FIG. 9 (above):
Box lid. Merina; Madagascar.
19th century.
Wood. L: 167.25 cm.
Ex F. Fénéon, no. 226; Fénéon sale,
1947c, no. 203; acquired by dealer
and sale expert Charles Ratton
(1895–1986), 1947.
Guy Ladrière Collection, Paris.
© Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, Paris. Photo: Pauline Guyon.
FIG. 10 (left):
Figure. Mabea Fang;
Cameroon. 19th century.
Wood. H: 67.5 cm.
Ex F. Fénéon, no. 217; Fénéon sale,
1947c, no. 63; acquired by art dealer
and collector Albert Kleinmann, 1947;
Jacques and Anne Kerchache, Paris;
Robert T. Wall Family Collection, San
Francisco.
Private collection.
Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
FIG. 11 (below):
Seated fi gure. Bembe;
Republic of the Congo.
Wood. H: 23 cm.
Ex F. Fénéon; Fénéon sale 1947c, no. 95;
acquired by Pierre Lévy (1907–2002), an
industrialist at Troyes, 1947.
Troyes, Musée d’Art moderne,
collections nationales Pierre et Denise
Lévy, donated in 1976. Photo © Ville de
Troyes. Photo: Carole Bell.