Museums - Musée des Arts Africains, Océaniens et Améridiens

The MAAOA is an art museum that that attempts to reconcile the aesthetic contemplation of so-called “primitive” works with the dissemination of information of a scientific nature. Created in 1992, it’s holdings are primarily made up from three collections: the gift of Mme. Pierre Guerre and of her daughter Mme. Alain Vidal-Naquet, the collection of Professor Gastaut, and that of the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Marseille. The Guerre donation consists of eighty-seven African masks and sculptures, many of which have been shown in major international exhibitions. These include Marka masks from Mali, masks of the Guro, Bete, and Baule of Côte d’Ivoire, and of the Punu of Gabon, as well as three Fang reliquaries. A group of ninety sculpted, painted, engraved, or overmodeled skulls and shrunken heads in the Gastaut collection is unique. The permanent loan from the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie is for the most part comprised of material from former colonial museums, the last of which closed in 1962. Highlights in this collection include a New Caledonia statue and doorjamb, two masks from Ambrym Island in Vanuatu, Yoruba masks from Nigeria, a Senegales Diola mask, and a Kota reliquary from Gabon. Several recent donations have been made by major collectors such as Jacques Kerchache and Arman.