PAST IS PROLOGUE

PAST IS

PROLOGUE

PAST IS PROLOGUE ______________________________________________

A Conversation Between Classical and Contemporary African Art

CLASSICAL

Zoomorphic Ritual Stool, ogatoumon Unidentified Dogon/ Tellem Artist, Mali, N'duleri Bondum Region Wood, metal alloy, organic material L: 69cm PROVENANCE Loudmer-Poulain, Paris, Arts Primitifs, 22 March 1980. Lot 135 Collection of Edward Alexander Hof (1914-2001), The Hague, Netherlands Private Collection, The Hague, Netherlands, thence by descent Antonio Casanovas/ Arte Y Ritual, Madrid, Spain, acquired from the above Collection of Ferdinando Fagnola, Torino, Italy, acquired from the above Galerie Flak, Paris, France, by 2019 Collection of Carlos Bassó (1947-2020), Barcelona, Spain, acquired from the above, 21 October 2019 Cole Harrell, New York LITERATURE Fagnola, F., Viaggio a Bandiagara. Sulle tracce della missione Desplagnes, (1904-1905).

La prima esplorazione del paese Dogon, Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnnografico Luigi Pigorini, Roma, Officina Libraria, 2015, pg. 271 Cf: Musée Barbier Mueller, Genève, Switzerland, inv. 1004-236 (Goldet Collection, Paris, C-14 test result: 1400-1488 AD) Museum Rietberg, Zürich, Switzerland, inv. RAF 256 Pierre Bergé, Paris-Drouot Montaigne, Collection Kerchache, 13 June 2010, Lot 248

Anthropomorphic Face Mask, glewa Unidentified Dan Artist, Cote d’Ivoire Wood, plant fiber, cowrie (cyprea moneta), pigment Height of the Mask: 25cm PROVENANCE Alfred L. Sheinberg (1949-1992), New York James Camp/ J. Camp Associates Ltd, New York, by 1977 Dr. Robert Plant Armstrong (1919-1984), Dallas, TX Christie’s, New York, The Robert Plant Armstrong Collection of African Art, 15 May 1985. Lot 103 Collection of the Newark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey De-accessioned to benefit the Newark Museum of Art, 2019 Cole Harrell, New York EXHIBITED New York, NY, USA: Treasures from the Ivory Coast, J. Camp Associates Ltd, 24 September-5 November 1977 LITERATURE Expo cat: Treasures from the Ivory Coast, New York, J. Camp Associates, Ltd, 1977:29#81

Zoomorphic Simian Male Figure, mbotumbo Attributed to the Baule Master of the Double Auricle, Cote d’Ivoire Wood, organic material H: 49cm PROVENANCE Collection of Maria and Paul Wyss, Basel, Switzerland Distinguished Private Collection, Florida, acquired from the above, circa 1970 Private Collection, Florida, thence by de Cole Harrell, New York Cf: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 1978.412.468) Christie’s, Paris, 10 April 2019, lot 86 Christie’s, New York, 12 May 2016, lot 604 Claessens (Bruno) and Jean-Louis Danis, Baule Monkeys, Brussels: Fonds Mercator & Africarium, 2016:151, fig.99 We extend our gratitude to Bruno Claessens for his assistance in attributing the present figure.

Notes on a Rediscovered Baule Monkey Figure

by Bruno Claessens, January 2021

This rediscovered monkey figure presents an exciting new addition to a small corpus of known statues sculpted by one of the most virtuoso Baule artists to create such sculptures, the Master of the Double Auricle.

In my three years of research for my book Baule Monkeys, published in 2008, I was able to identify five master artists. While sculptors had to follow a diviner’s guidelines in creating a bowl-bearing figure, certain talented carvers introduced morphological elements unique to their artistic output. Such details manifested an artist’s individuality, based on his tendency to repeat them throughout the different statues he would sculpt throughout his career. In my research I coined the nickname Master of the Double Auricle based on the stylistic signature unique for this sculptor at hand: his particular carving of the ear with the auricles resembling a double “C”. A second unique trait of his style is the presence of cylindrical projections on each buttock – most probably representing the baboon’s ischial callosities, or sitting pads. Other morphological elements further define this artist’s hand: the rare presence of small nostrils, the prominent low-set cheek pouches, the hatched eyebrows protruding, the protuberant oval eyes and eyelids set deep in the eye sockets, the conspicuous teeth, a visible tongue, a curved lower jaw, thumbs curled to touch the index fingers, carved nails, a double row of rectangular keloids for a spine and a small penis. All these features are present in this rediscovered monkey, with the exception of the positioning of the thumb.

With only four statues attributed to the Master of the Double Auricle until present, the rediscovery of the Wyss monkey is an important art-historical event. The archetype of this style is a remarkable monkey figure, previously in the collection of Michael C. Rockefeller, is now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 1978.412.468). Here we find all the typical features of this master hand perfectly rendered, with a great sense for detail and precision. Its original polychrome on the eyes and mouth is still in pristine condition, and at three centimeters taller than the present figure, with the legs slightly more flexed, it has an even stronger sense of verticality. A second, very similar, figure was sold at Christie’s, New York, 12 May 2016, lot 604.

Once in the famous collection of Ferrari de la Salle, it presently resides in a private European collection.

Although missing its feet and base, it displays the trademark features of the Master of the Double Auricle. The same rounded, hanging shoulders below a neck-less head can be found on a third well-known monkey figure in a Belgian private collection (Baule Monkeys, p. 151, fig. 99). Covered with a thick sacrificial crust, it can also be attributed to the same carver. A last statue that can be attributed to this master artist was previously in the collection of Maine Durieu and offered at auction in Paris at Christie’s on 10 April 2019 (lot 86). As with the de la Salle monkey, it is missing its feet and base - a common damage with this type, which often was posed on the ground.

To understand the role these statues played within their communities, it is important to elaborate on the Baule worldview. The Baule world was populated by numerous supernatural powers that could positively or negatively influence human life, Amuin, an invisible force, materialized in the form of a wooden simian-like figure. Such a monkey figure put the devotee in direct visual contact with something that would otherwise remain intangible. The explicit choice for a zoomorphic iconography placed this statue in the realm of the

bush (blo), which the Baule associated with chaos, danger and the supernatural. A bowl-bearing figure like this would have led a hidden life within Baule society; few people were allowed in their sacred grove (bois sacré) in the bush; women and children were forbidden to see them. These monkey figures were not realistic depictions of the powers they would come to host. Essential were the raised forearms, and hands clasping a bowl or cupped to receive offerings – a functional reference to the frequent sacrifices needed to maintain the spirit’s benevolence and cooperation.

Important also was the vivid zoomorphism of the figure’s head – in most cases referencing the baboon, a befitting association in the Baule mind as the animal was widely feared. Yet, the bowl-bearers are not direct representations of these monkeys, as witnessed by their standing position, which the baboon cannot hold.

Although essential to a Baule monkey is its container for offerings (generally a bowl clasped in the hands), offerings were not limited to the bowl – the whole body is often covered with remnants of sacrifices. The Amuin within the statue would protect its devotees from harm (failed harvests, fires, floods and epidemics), and grant their petitions, most frequently for good health and fertility (of both soil and women) only if it was provided with frequent sacrifices. The relationship between Amuin and its adherents was reciprocal; the spirit’s benevolence depended on the worship and the offerings received from its followers. Although the primary role of an Amuin was protective – at both the individual and the collective levels – frequent and appropriate veneration was essential for the force not to turn against its beneficiaries. A diviner mediated between people and Amuin, which then through the statue, dictated to the petitioner instructions and solutions. A sacrifice accompanied such requests. One defining characteristic of an Amuin was its need for blood offerings. Both during collective ceremonies and in imploring personal favors, domestic animals (such as chickens, sheep and cattle) were sacrificed and their blood was sprinkled abundantly on the statue to increase its potency. The nature of the sacrifice depended on the importance of the petition. Additionally, eggs were regularly deposited in the bowl clenched in the hands of the statue to please the Amuin.

The zoomorphic head gives the statues a powerful and fearsome appearance. In contrast to the refinement and harmony of the anthropomorphic Baule figures, the counter-aesthetic elements – such as their ‘dirty’ surface, covered with a layer of sacrificial residue – were deliberate. The emphasis on the awe-inspiring was essential for the figure to convey the fear and respect necessary to perform the regulating functions of village life that were expected from the statue. Although foreign to this formal language and ritual context, the Western eye is still able to experience the intimidation conveyed by this iconography.

Anthropomorphic Reliquary Figure, mbulu ngulu Identified Kota-Obamba Artist, Gabon Wood, metal alloy, organic material H: 50cm PROVENANCE Paris Art Market, circa 1950 Collection of Everett Burton Helm (1913-1999), Germany/ USA Private Collection, Germany, by descent Zemanek-Munster, Wurzburg, 17 November 2018, Lot. 234 Cole Harrell, New York Cf: For an additional work from the same atelier, please see: Chaffin, Alain and Francoise, L’Art Kota, Meudon France, 1979, p. 174

Anthropomorphic Standing Power Figure, nkisi nkondi Unidentified Kongo-Vili Artist, D.R. Congo, Cabinda Wood, metal alloy, rotan, glass, pigment, organic material H: 59cm PROVENANCE Acquired in situ by Mr. Mugnier while working as an engineer for the Mayumbe Railroad, 1936-1939 Mugnier Family Collection, France, thence by descent Cole Harrell, New York Cf: Rijkmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands (inv. RV-2668-888) Loudmer, Paris, Arts Primitifs, 30 June 1988. Lot 240 (collected by the Frères Capucins, 1900) Sotheby’s, Paris, 8 June 2007, lot 248 (Bronsin Collection, Los Angeles)

Standing Female Power Figure, nkisi Identified Songye Artist, D.R. Congo Wood, metal alloy, fiber, beads, cowrie (cyprea moneta), Domestic Goat (Capra hircus) hide, African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) horn, Reedbuck Antelope (Redunca redunca) horn, Olive Baboon (Papio anubis) teeth, African Royal Python (Python regius) skin, Rock Monitor (Varanus albigularis) skin, organic material H: 97cm PROVENANCE Private Collection, Europe, by 1988 Guy Loudmer, Paris, Arts Primitifs, 29 June 1989, lot 324 Collection of Allan Stone (1932-2006), New York Private Collection, New York, thence by descent Cole Harrell, New York EXHIBITED The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA: Power Incarnate: Allan Stone's Collection of Sculpture from the Congo, 14 May-4 September 2011 LITERATURE Cat: Christies, New York, Selections from the Allan Stone Collection, 12 November 2007, lot 617 Dumouchelle, Kevin D., Power Incarnate: Allan Stone's Collection of Sculpture from the Congo, Greenwich, Connecticut: Bruce Museum, 2011:60, cat. 37 Cf: An additional work from the same atelier is noted in the Guy van Rijn Yale Archive, no. 012895 (Boris Kegel-Konietzko collection)

CONTEMPORARY

Thameur Mejri (Tunisian, b. 1982) ERODED GROUNDS, 2018 Oil on Canvas 200 x 180cm PROVENANCE Executed by the artist, 2018 Montague Contemporary, New York Cole Harrell, New York Heavily inspired by Roland Barthes, Derrida, Picasso, and David Lynch, Thameur Mejri’s apophatic canvases are deconstruction in the flesh, expressing what he calls a “secular exorcism.”

This active deconstruction is done to showcase the violent hierarchy of the signified over signifier, to make some sense of how we as humans are conditioned by dogma, circumstance, and the power elite.⁣ To achieve any understanding of our conditioning, Mejri feels we must deconstruct our landscape, our surroundings, and ourselves to free ourselves from the external – to shed light on the difference, as Derrida mentions, to regain control of ourselves and to see objects and our environment for what it does to us, how it shapes us, and how it threatens our existence while at the same time shaping it. His canvases are an exercise in cathartic release, to look inwards and outwards at the same time, so to free ourselves from the shackles of our dogmatic existence.⁣

Jess Atieno (Kenyan, b. 1991) PAST IS PROLOGUE, 2021 Tapisserie jacquard 100x180cm PROVENANCE Executed by the artist, 2021 Montague Contemporary, New York Cole Harrell, New York Jess Atieno’s Past is Prologue provides the inspiration for the exhibition title, offering a refreshing exploration into our past. Atieno’s practice begins by mining historical artifacts and photography, seeking images in which the colonial gaze has effectively sealed the fate of the subjects within. By translating these images into new contexts - through her unique digital jacquard printing loom in this case - she liberates these subjects from one understanding into a completely re-imagined life. Her process of digital printing further codifies the images, translating these lived histories through binary code into the loom, thereby distancing from the subjugation of the original photo and allowing the subjects to regain agency in a historically salient medium of tapestry.

Jess Atieno (Kenyan, b. 1991) THE WEIGHT OF WHISPERS, 2021 Serigraph on Canvas 100x150cm PROVENANCE Executed by the artist, 2021 Montague Contemporary, New York Cole Harrell, New York Jess Atieno’s The Weight Of Whispers explores ideas of place and belonging.

Through her continued exploration of historical imagery from the colonial period, Atieno aims to liberate the subjects captured within these photographs by deconstructing these photos into their basic formulas and reproducing them in a new medium entirely on canvas.

The very nature of the artistic process - converting historical artifacts into screen prints, with new additions of color and abstraction - suggest a revisionist interpretation of our understanding of the permanency of colonialism. By re-inventing these images in new mediums and with culturally relevant abstraction, Atieno reshapes how we can meditate on lived histories and future possibilities of reinvention.

Paul Onditi (Kenyan, b. 1980) ENVELOPED, 2020 Mixed media on paper 76x57cm PROVENANCE Executed by the artist, 2020 Montague Contemporary, New York Cole Harrell, New York Onditi’s practice challenges our understanding of both our cultural topography and the physical world within which we exist. Addressing universal themes of pollution, climate change, fragmented and unequal societies, and the degradation of our natural planet, Onditi’s practice eschews trendy identity politics to focus on endemic issues affecting all of humanity.

Beatrice Wanjiku (Kenyan, b. 1978) REALMS OF EXISTENCE II, 2020 Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 160x133cm PROVENANCE Executed by the artist, 2020 Montague Contemporary, New York Cole Harrell, New York Beatrice Wanjiku’s distinctive canvases probe the human condition, delving into the psyche to question notions of reality and positionality. Taking her own experiences as a jumping off point for her investigations into existentialism, Wanjiku’s practice scratches away at the superficial images we project into daily life, peeling away the layers that constitute social norms to reveal spectral figures, Wanjiku believes represent our inner selves. Created during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, Realms of Existence II explores the intrapersonal dialogues Wanjiku held to help find meaning and solace during a time of forced isolation.

Leveraging her unique exploration of the inner self, these wraith-like figures suggest the desire for deep, meaningful human connection in a time of uncertainty.

Wole Lagunju (Nigerian, b. 1966) OYINBO, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 158x104cm PROVENANCE Executed by the artist, 2019 Montague Contemporary, New York Distinguished Private Collection, New York Cole Harrell, New York Wole Lagunju practices a visually stunning form of Onaism, wherein he appropriates Western cultural artifacts and combines them with Yoruba cultural artifacts, notably Gelede masks, to challenge the audience to consider how we often look at culture through a Western lens.

The Gelede masquerade is a performance celebrating motherhood, fertility, and femininity – and combining these themes with Western cultural icons, he evolves our understanding of the role of Yoruba culture - and broadly African art - to reframe our perspective.

Sampling from a wide variety of cultural iconography across history - from Dutch Golden to Elizabethan to fifties Americana to Nigerian adiré batik - Lagunju’s paintings are both fashionable but also imbued with layers of inspiration and meaning.

Produced in conjunction with exhibition PAST IS PROLOGUE Presented in partnership by Cole Harrell, New York and Montague Contemporary, New York 19 May – 30 June 2022

Layout and design……………………….……..Cole Harrell, Montague Hermann Photography…………….................. Sasithon Pooviriyakul, Edward Parrinello

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Tai-Heng Cheng Bruno Claessens Dr. Baloji Campbell Deborah Glasser

Produced in conjunction with exhibition PAST IS PROLOGUE Presented in partnership by Cole Harrell, New York and Montague Contemporary, New York 19 May – 30 June 2022

Layout and design....................................Cole Harrell, Montague Hermann Photography................................. Sasithon Pooviriyakul, Edward Parrinello

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Tai-Heng Cheng Bruno Claessens Dr. Baloji Campbell Deborah Glasser

COLE HARRELL 291 7th Avenue PH

MONTAGUE CONTEMPORARY 526 West 26th St, 4th Floor

New York, NY 10001

New York, NY 10001

1.830.660.5089 cole@coleharrell.com

1.917.495.3865 info@montaguecontemporary.com

www.coleharrell.com

www.montaguecontemporary.com