Trading
Western collectors seem to have a habit of associating the values of traders they acquire from directly with the art itself - I loosely use the term “traders” as anyone acting as an intermediary, on-selling African art to a collector (final resting place of a collection). Sometimes there are few but often there are many in the chain linking the village to the collector’s home. It is interesting to briefly explore the difference, in western and African emphasis, between the “values” of an exchange.

There is a broad spectrum of trade in African art. At one end there are African traders in location (Africa) always carrying everything from poor tourist replicas through to beautifully recent ritual pieces mixed up together. The difference between them is the balance in numbers between craft, replica and ritual. In my African experience the traders objective is unashamedly and openly “to make a sale”.


At the other end of the spectrum are the western traders - dealers, auction houses and galleries - that on the whole also seem to have faux works and ritual pieces mixed up together. The difference between these entities is once again the balance in numbers between craft, replica and ritual. In my commercial experience the primary objective of these businesses is also to “make sales and drive revenue”.

An African trader invites a buyer into an openly commercial environment (“I want to sell you something”) and then, if the time is taken by both parties (even within a short timeframe), a level of social trust is borne whereby there can be open discussion about ritual and faux works (but ultimately the exchange is still driven by the dollar).

One of my favourite experiences was two days before I left Mali in 2007. I was doing the rounds of the Ngolonina markets in Bamako where I had identified one or two ritual pieces that I was interested in. I sat and spoke with many of the traders and after much conversation one was insistent that he showed me his stock at his house. After a quick assessment I thought I might as well add to my Mali experience, so I jumped on the back of his motorbike and held on while he zigzagged through the back streets of Bamako

Now, I am an ex-army officer, 38 years old, 6ft 2, 190lbs, I have led mine clearance teams in Cambodia and I feel reasonably comfortable in unusual situations…but I realized I had no idea where I was, in streets that looked like the back alleys of Baghdad.

Instead of nervousness I felt a sense of exhilaration as we reached his house and I made amazing discoveries over 5 rooms and 2 levels stacked to the roof beams with a huge variety of ritual and non-ritual pieces. I departed 3 hours later (on the back of the bike) with a hessian sack slung over my shoulder, ½ dozen pieces and a grin a mile wide. From the beginning of the experience I’d had no expectation of social trust. But westerners acquiring in a western environment expect a level of social trust, which is taken for granted in everyday transactions. That level of trust being that “I won’t be ripped off or mislead in a consumer purchase”. So the real difference is that when western traders misrepresent items, they do it in a social environment of commercial trust, and when it occurs it is often on a much grander scale - traders that buy faux works in wholesale lots, bulk ship them  and represent them as authentic ritual works.

It is worthwhile to note that for every “backstreet Bamako” experience I had 20 others that turned out differently. It simply reinforced my own collecting philosophy of “don’t have a level of expectation (in the west or in Africa), make informed judgments and accept the outcomes - good or bad”.

African Art As A Continuous Phenomenon
Lee Rubinstein summed up the issues of provenance, judgment of newer ritual objects from the continent on the basis of age, copyist and faux art and European paint on objects, in one of his final paragraphs from the African Art & Culture discussion group on 7th November 2007. “We have the evolving conundrum (for many) of African art broadly defined, and the conceptual struggle for the world to understand Africa and her arts as a continuous phenomenon and as a sub-field of broader social, cultural and historical evolution”. I have tried to capture this “continuous phenomenon” diagrammatically in Fig.12.

At a time in the past, almost all African art was produced for ritual purpose. From the first point of contact with outside groups the scope (amount) of non-ritual art has increased, most significantly in the post colonization era. In recent times (especially in the last 50 years) the amount of both “faux tourist” and contemporary non-ritual art has expanded at an exponential rate as it has become more fashionable and available. This has driven production which in turn has driven demand.


Remember Lee’s previous comments? “Collectors and tourists who help drive the art and crafts industries and markets have precipitated these shifts of value from the ritual/religious/internal toward the commercial/monetary/external”. The “true” ritual art environment (styles, volume production and the rituals themselves) have remained fairly static compared to non-ritual art, but there have been constant evolutions and innovations. For example the Chokwe Katoyo mask in Fig.13 is a good example of the historical existence of non-ritual art that has entrenched itself over time and become ritualized. I acquired the Katoyo mask from the Paul Rabut collection. It was invented in the early 20th century ridiculing the “awkward” features and behaviours of westerners, and represents a European. It is a caricature of “the other” and now falls into a ritual context.


As this discussion paper set out to compare differences in the way African art is valued, the place where a “caricature of awkward behaviours by westerners” is manifest in the art itself seems a highly appropriate place to finish the discourse.

What this exercise has taught me is that the difference between “value” and “values” is only valid to the extent that any individual collector applies it. The African art collector that applies “value” will forever be wasting energy espousing the virtues of provenance, criticizing newer ritual objects from the continent on the basis of “age”, arguing “copyist art isn’t real art” or stating that European paint on objects means that they are not authentic. On the other hand, the African art lovers that explore “values” will always be fueling their passion.


Appendix

The following people have contributed directly and/or indirectly to this discussion paper:

1. Lee Rubinstein: African Art internet discussion group
2. Veronique Martelliere: African Art internet discussion group
3. Rand: African Art internet discussion group www.randafricanart.com
4. Ann Porteous, Sidewalk Gallery. Tasmania: African Art internet discussion group  www.sidewalkgallery.com.au
5. Alexander Bortolot: African Art internet discussion group
6. Boris Wastiau, Assoc Curator, Division of Ethnography. Royal Museum for Central African Art. Tervuren. Belgium.
7. Dr. William A. Emboden, F.L.S. “What is Provenance?”
8. John Russell, New York Times

Texts:

• A History of African Art, Harry. N. Abrams Inc Publisher NY 2001.
• African Masks of the Barbier Mueller Collection. Prestel Verlag Munich. 1998.
• Four Dan Sculptures: Continuity & Change, Barbara C Johnson. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 1986.
• Expressions of Cameroon Art, The Franklin Collection, Tamara Northern. Rembrandt Press. 1986.
• University of Iowa, Art and Life in Africa Project and UIMA. Stanley Collection Database.
• African Art, Western Eyes. Susan Vogel. Yale University Art Gallery. 1997.
• The Tribal Arts of Africa, J.B. Bacquart. 1998.
• African Sculpture Speaks. Ladislas Segy.1975.
• African Art in the Cycle of Life. Roy Sieber and Roslyn Adele Walker. National Museum of African Art 1988.
• Masks of Black Africa. Ladislas Segy. 1976