FIG. 63 (above):
Reliquary guardian fi gure.
Kota-Ndassa; Republic of the Congo. Before 1931.
Wood, copper, copper alloy. H: 68 cm.
Georges de Miré, Paris; Étude Bellier, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15 December 1931,
lot 52; Alain de Monbrison, Paris (1989).
Private collection.
FIG. 64 (right): Page from the 1931 de Miré catalog
showing fi gure 63.
Image courtesy of the author.
116
5. Cahiers d’Art 2, no. 7–8 (1927).
6. For more on this important exhibition, see Charles-Wesley
Hourdé and Nicolas Rolland, eds., Galerie Pigalle
Afrique Océanie: 1930, une exposition mythique (Paris:
Somogy éditions d’art, 2018).
7. Henri Béraud, “L’art nègre,” Bonsoir, May 31, 1919,
3; “Le Carnet d’un curieux,” La Renaissance de l’art
français et des industries de luxe 2 (1919): 278.
8. Le Populaire, April 18, 1930, 4.
9. Journal des débats, March 2, 1930, 2.
10. Ratton acknowledged his co-authorship of the catalog
with Tzara in a letter to the American curator James
Johnson Sweeney. See Charles Ratton to J. J. Sweeney,
Jan. 5, 1935, Registrar Correspondence for African Negro
Art, Exhibition Number 39, Archives of the Museum of
Modern Art, New York.
11. L’Oeil de Paris, May 3, 1930, 10.
12. Le Temps, March 18, 1930, 6.
13. Carnet de la semaine, March 16, 1930, dossier ”Revues
de Presse,” DA001293, Archives du Musée du Quai
Branly, Fonds Privés, Fonds Louis Carré (MQBFLC).
14. See Carl Kjersmeier, Centres de style de la sculpture
nègre africaine, vol. 1, Afrique occidentale française
(Paris: A. Morancé, 1935); vol. 2, Guinée portugaise, Sierra
Leone, Libéria, Côte d’or, Togo, Dahomey et Nigéria
(Paris: A. Morancé, 1936); vol. 3, Congo belge (Paris: A.
Morancé, 1937); vol. 4, Cameroun, Afrique équatoriale
française, Angola, Tanganyika, Rhodésie (Paris: A. Morancé,
1938).
15. See Philippe Dagen, “Vie de Charles Ratton,” in Charles
Ratton : L’invention des arts “primitifs,” ed. Philippe
Dagen (Paris: Skira Flammarion, 2013).
16. Charles Ratton to William Ockelford Oldman, Oct. 26,
probably 1929, heading “Angleterre,” dossier “Oldmann
sic,“ Archives Guy Ladrière (AGL). The original text of
the letter is in English.
17. Ratton to Henri Lavachery, undated draft, c. April 1930,
heading “Belgique,” dossier “Lavachery,” AGL.
18. Le Figaro, March 25, 1931, 6.
19. Oldman to Ratton, July 12, 1930, heading “Angleterre,”
dossier “Oldmann sic,” AGL.
20. Ratton to Oldman, undated draft, heading “Angleterre,”
dossier “Oldmann sic,” AGL.
21. See Michèle Hornn, “The Art Nègre Sculptures of Guillaume
Apollinaire and Paul Guillaume,” Tribal Art 79
(Spring 2016): 148–159.
22. Alphonse Bellier to Louis Carré,
June 19, 1931, “Vente publique du 7
mai 1931,” DA001305, MQBFLC.
23. Typewritten lists of sale prices and
buyers from the Étude of Alphonse
Bellier, inserted in the back of Ratton’s
annotated Georges de Miré catalog,
AGL.
24. Félix Fénéon, “Fin de l’enquête
sur les airts lointains,” Bulletin de
la vie artistique 26 (Dec. 15, 1920):
729–30.
25. Paris-Soir, Feb. 13, 1930, 5.
26. Maurice Feuillet, “Les arts et la
curiosité,” La Semaine à Paris, April
4, 1930, vii.
27. L’Oeuvre, July 9, 1931, 5.
28. For more on Surrealist perceptions