Magazines - Tribal Art Autumn 2009

By Elena Martinez-Jacquet

Introduction
“I would like this eighth Parcours des Mondes art fair to be a great moment for dealers, an occasion to celebrate their contributions to both the knowledge and validation of tribal art, and to pay homage to these ever-present intermediaries for objects, who have assuaged the desires of so many private collectors and museums.” This was said to me by Pierre Moos, director of the Parcours des Mondes and, more importantly, himself an impassioned devotee of tribal art. He was expressing his intentions when he gave me the task of putting together an exhibition at the Monnaie de Paris in association with the Parcours, as had been done in 2008 with the successful Fragments du Vivant, Sculptures Africaines dans la Collection Liliane et Michel Durant-Dessert (Fragments of the Living: African Sculptures in the Liliane and Michel Durant-Dessert Collection).
Inspired by an admiration for the dealers in the field of tribal art, Moos’ idea to make these individuals the theme of a six-week exhibition was very interesting to me—in fact, important and overdue. Dealers are generally not included in exhibitions and academic studies relating to tribal art, although sometimes the name of a historical figure in the trade is acknowledged as part of an object’s provenance. Examples of this are Paul Guillaume, Charles Ratton, and Jacques Kerchache, the latter having been elevated to the status of a pioneer in the field through his involvement in the creation of the Pavillon des Sessions at the Louvre and the formation of Musée du Quai Branly. However, such cursory mentions shed no real light on the personalities of these key individuals, nor on their motivations, their tastes, or their backgrounds.