“An authentic African piece is by definition a sculpture executed by an artist of a primitive tribe
and destined for the use of this tribe in a ritual or functional way, never lucrative.”
KAMER, Henri. “De l’authenticité des sculptures africaines”.
Arts d’Afrique noire, Villiers-le-Bel, décembre 1974, n° 12, p. 19. ISSN 0337-1603.
In one of the huts of this commercial station [Bel-Air, Boké, Guinea], I saw one of the most beautiful specimens of negro art, a doll carved from a piece of ebony. Two copper nails stuck in the middle of the head replaced the statue’s eyes. two enormous protuberances on the chest indicated that the artist had intended to represent a woman. I asked a beautiful chocolate-colored negress, the owner of this work of art, to kindly relinquish it to me; she gestured emphatically that she refused: the statue was a fetish!
NOIROT, Ernest. À travers le Fouta-Diallon et le Bambouc (Soudan occidental).
Paris : Marpon et Flammarion, 1893, p. 27 [or p. 37-38 in the first ed., Paris : Dreyfous, 1885].
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Littérature et art, 8-Y2-40971 (242), Gallica.
“Féticheurs et féticheuses à Abomey. Les populations dahoméennes sont à peu près exclusivement fétichistes.”
Cliché Fortier, in SONOLET, Louis. L’Afrique occidentale française. Paris : Hachette, 1912, pl. 30, p. 224.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Mr. Cholet, our resident in Loango, has sent the Musée ethnographique du Trocadéro four very voluminous crates containing a collection of carved wooden fetishes, covered with old nails, masks, whistles, native defroques and so on. Dr. Hamy points out that these fetishes are in fact deportees: powerless to put an end to the terrible drought that has afflicted Loango for several years, the fetishist has lost all credit, and his former clients have abandoned all their gods to Mr. Cholet.
“Société de géographie. Séance du 20 mai 1892”. Revue de géographie, Paris, janvier-juin 1892, 15e année, t. 30, p. 472. ISSN 1967-4333.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l’homme, 8-G-361, Gallica.
Photograph taken by Rose-Marie Westling during work on the exhibition
Magasinet, an ethnographic treasury, Statens museer för världskultur – Etnografiska museet, Stockholm, 2011. Carlotta database.
From the artistic point of view, first of all, we can’t protest too much against the deep-rooted prejudice that depicts the negro as a brute, capable at best of chopping a piece of wood or playing terribly barbaric music. Negro art. The negro may have only the feeling of the primitive, but he nevertheless has a highly developed artistic sense: in him the artist always accompanies the worker, and each of his productions, even the most common domestic object, takes on a very special individual stamp. It’s worth noting that negro art is mostly utilitarian: the worker chisels the hilt of a sword, decorates a cup, weaves the colorful cloth of a hat, and in all these objects an art – perhaps rudimentary, but a true art – is created. And how could it be otherwise? The workman has before his eyes the model of such a marvelous nature! But if the negro can find a way to put an artistic stamp on even the most ordinary objects, he will truly surpass himself when it comes to religious art. There he is no longer after convenience; he has an idea, a symbol to express, and he’ll create a true work of art. This is how he builds truly remarkable temples and jewel-like fetishes.
HESS, Jean. “L’art chez les nègres : notes d’un voyageur retour d’Afrique”.
La Fraternité : organe des intérêts d’Haïti et de la race noire. Paris, 20 mars 1894, p. 1. ISSN 2425-5858.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Droit, économie, politique, JOA-816, Gallica.
First published in L’Éclair : journal politique quotidien absolument indépendant. Paris, 15 mars 1894, p. 2. ISSN 1168-4224.
“Modern men and women. XXI, Jean Hess”. The American register, Paris, October 26, 1901, p. 3.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Droit, économie, politique, JO-9066, Gallica.
Fig. 142. – Moriba often joined the two children on their walks.
– “You can see,” he told them, “that the people of Djenné are not clumsy. They know how to build beautiful houses, make elegant clothes and produce delicate handicrafts. This proves that Blacks are capable of making art. Do you understand this word: art?
– I’m not quite sure, Captain,” replied Moussa frankly. As for Gi-gla, it was the first time he’d heard the word.
Quiz. – 1. What is special about the houses in Djenné, in terms of their appearance and construction?
– 2. Why was Moriba happy? – 3. What did Moussa and Gi-gla notice at the Djenné market?
– 4. How does a man make art? – 5. Are there any artists among the natives of French West Africa?
– 6. What great progress must Black people make in art?
SONOLET, Louis, PÉRES, Auguste. Moussa et Gi-gla : histoire de deux petits noirs : livre de lecture courante.
Paris : Armand Colin, 1915, p. 229 & 231.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Littérature et art, Z BARRES-30122, Gallica.
“The only possible means by which these objects could have arrived in Paris was in the hands of colonial civil servants, missionaries, businesspeople, and soldiers returning from Africa. They might not necessarily have been aware that any African trophies or souvenirs obtained during their service could potentially be valuable. The point where these African objects entered the market of the metropolis was often the brocante or marché aux puces rather than the Hôtel Drouot.”
Saint-Raymond, L., & Vaudry, E. (2020). The vanishing paths of African artefacts: Mapping the Parisian auction market for “primitive” objects in the interwar period. Journal for Art Market Studies, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.23690/jams.v4i1.96
Marché aux puces [de Saint-Ouen qui a acquis droit de cité, chalands et chiffonniers] :
[photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]. Septembre 1922.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie, EI-13 (941), Gallica.
Galerie Devambez. Première exposition d’art nègre et d’art océanien :
organisée par M. Paul Guillaume du 10 au 31 mai 1919 : catalogue, couv. & p. 9.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Sciences et techniques, 8-V PIECE-30599, Gallica.
CLOUZOT, Henri, LEVEL, André. L’art nègre et l’art océanien. Paris : Devambez, 1919, p. 85 & pl. XXXVII.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Sciences et techniques, 8-V-47348, Gallica.
