Mask of the Ngil society Fang people Gabon,... Lot 92

Mask of the Ngil society Fang people Gabon, late 19th century Cheese tree wood, kaolin, woven rattan and raffia fiber beard, fabric. Height: 55 cm - Width: 26 cm - Depth: 27 cm Provenance: Collected by the governor René Fournier (1873-1931) then transmitted by descent. CIRAM date n°1221-OA-942B of January 13, 2022. A very complete report by Mr. Louis Perrois, ethnologist, honorary director of research Orstom/Ird is available on request. THE GOVERNOR'S MASK Visitors to the "Native Forests" exhibition at the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum in 2017 were able to admire to their heart's content the most important collection devoted to the art of the Fangs of Gabon ever presented to date. One hundred and fourteen masterpieces masterfully illustrating the different centers of style had been selected to illustrate the creativity and genius of these sculptors of pre-colonial Africa, in the manner of an art history that defines the different degrees of expression and formal variations (Yves Le Fur). Within this exceptional reunion, only one showcase presenting four masks was devoted to the Ngil society. This may not seem like much, but in fact it represented one third of the production of these masks that has come down to us. Who could have imagined that one of the most beautiful examples was still sleeping, hidden from view and from the comments of specialists? The infatuation for the masks of this region dates from the beginning of the 20th century, the period of discovery of "Negro art" by the Fauvist painters. As early as 1906 Amboise Vollard had a bronze print of a Fang mask belonging to Derain, who had acquired it from his friend Vlaminck, made by the founder François Rudier. In the catalog of the exhibition Primitivism in XXth. century art, William Rubin, former director of the Paintings and Sculptures Department of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, states that Picasso, Braque, Derain, and other artists owned Fang masks. The reappearance today of Governor Fournier's mask - and its first worldwide publication in this catalog - is therefore a major discovery for the history of the art of equatorial Africa and for the history of art in general. The purity of its lines and the arrangement of its volumes make it an icon in the very limited corpus of masks from the Ngil society. Bernard Dulon Fournier René-Victor Edward Maurice (1873-1931) After a twelve-year career in Madagascar, René-Victor Fournier was assigned to the Department of Indigenous Affairs in Dakar in August 1908. He became director of the cabinet of the General Government of the AOF, then governor of the 2nd class on September 26, 1916. At the end of this stay, he befriended Maurice Delafosse - who had settled in Dakar at the end of 1915 - and who undoubtedly introduced him to the charms of African art. On May 20, 1917, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of the Middle Congo, a position from which he resigned on May 16, 1919. As a member of the close guard of the Governor of the AEF Angoulvant, he was certainly called upon to carry out some missions in Gabonese territory.