The Jean-Louis Danis Collection in Paris

ABOVE: Lot 19. Janus figure; Songye, DR Congo.
H. 60 cm
Est. 400,000 - 600,000 EUR
To be offered by Christie's Paris on October 26, 2023



Christie’s in Paris has secured a collection for auction that will encourage a new way of looking at African art.

Jean-Louis Danis, an aesthete above all else, a great lover of contemporary art as well as of African art, and the committed founder of the Africarium Collection will be offering these artworks to connoisseurs on October 26, 2023.

Made up of around fifty lots, the selection of works from the Danis collection bears witness to his intimate relationship with the continent, to which he has close personal ties starting with his grandfather’s time in the Congo and then his own in Niger, Madagascar, and Côte d’Ivoire. He made his first acquisition there in 1985, and the works that joined the collection over the next four decades were widely diverse—Dogon, Baga, Senufo, and Boyo sculptures, to name but a few.
The range of artistic traditions represented by exceptional examples in the Christie’s sale speaks of a connoisseur with true sensitivity to the expression of aesthetic power in all its manifestations, as well as to the singular charm inherent in any work of quality and the uniqueness it expresses. Danis put particular effort into developing groups of objects based on two artistic traditions for which he has a particular predilection: maternity groups from the Congo and Baule monkey figures from Côte d’Ivoire. He devoted his first monograph to the latter, coauthored with Bruno Claessens, in 2016.

Far from being an accumulation of similar works, each of these subcollections is meant to be understood as a gathering of unique pieces, each operating as a variation on the same theme, and enhancing perception of the subtleties of difference and the harmony that emerges.

Collection Jean-Louis Danis
Christie's, Paris
26 October 2023 - 3pm



ABOVE: Lot 11. Mask. Fang, Gabon.
H. 31.5 cm
Est. 100,000 - 150,000 EUR
To be offered by Christie's Paris on October 26, 2023

ABOVE: Lot 33. Male Figure. Baga, Republic of Guinea.
H. 38 cm
Est. 120,000 - 180,000 EUR
To be offered by Christie's Paris on October 26, 2023

ABOVE: Lot 36. Standing Figure. Banda, DR Congo.
H. 46 cm
Est. 300,000 - 500,000 EUR
To be offered by Christie's Paris on October 26, 2023