FIG. 7 (above left): William
Ellis. Untitled portrait of a
woman, East Africa.
Albumin print on paper. H: 22.8 cm.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, inv. PP0229393.
FIG. 8 (above):
Textile, lamba. Merina,
Madagascar. 19th century.
Silk, identical double-faced weave
with supplementary yarn (a technique
known as akotifahana). L: 207 cm.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, inv. 75.14993.
Photo: Claude Germain.
FIG. 9 (right): Textile, lamba
landy akotofahana. Merina,
Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Before 1988.
Embroidered silk. L: 219 cm.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, inv. 71.1988.76.1.
Photo: Claude Germain.
in 1946, a bovine skull fl oating above a map of Madagascar
was the poster image. The second funerary
post, which has a fi gural couple at its top (fi gs. 2a
and b), is a work of great sculptural quality and signifi
cance, the more so since another post—or, to be
exact, the upper part of another post—is attributed
to the same artist. Madagascan funerary posts are
now considered major works in the corpus of world
statuary, but the recognition they now enjoy actually
threatens them, since they have been and continue to
be systematically looted, despite the fact that legislation
aimed at preventing this has been in force since
1982. But Madagascan art is not limited to funerary
sculpture, and Madagascar. Arts de la grande ile
(Madagascar: Arts of the Great Red Island), opening
at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac on
September 18, 2018, highlights the full range of the
island’s sculptural creations through the presentation
of more than 300 works.
Artworks or decorative objects? Artists or craftsmen?
These are questions that will never really be
fully resolved. In the between-the-wars period, Mad-