Magazines - Tribal Art Spring 2010

By Louis T. Wells, Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School, has served as a consultant to the Liberian government.

Introduction
When I first arrived in Monrovia in 1967, Rene Guyot, a resident Swiss jeweler, introduced me to African art. Many of the finest art objects from Liberia and Sierra Leone in today’s private and public collections came through the hands of such expatriates, who are the subject of this article. While this discussion is extensive, additional serious collectors in Liberia certainly remain to be identified and I apologize to any I have missed. I hope, however, that this article serves as a useful start in documenting the provenance of art from the region.
Monrovia then housed many foreigners, some quite mysterious. I was told not to ask older Europeans about their roles in World War II. Some foreigners were smuggling diamonds from Sierra Leone, and many Americans were working for Voice of America and CIA transmitting stations. Liberia also attracted shady “middlemen,” who bribed officials for mineral, timber, or other concessions to sell to solid investors. There were diplomatic and technical assistance communities, foreign bankers, and managers and technicians at the large, foreign-operated mines and plantations, as well as European and Arab small-scale entrepreneurs. Generously sprinkled across the interior were anthropologists, missionaries, and a large contingent of Peace Corps volunteers.