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Fall Collection 2026

Page 1

November 4-8,2026


stephensonafricanart.com info@stephensonafricanart.com 646.644.7156 New York


Fall Collection


James Stephenson


ABOUT

James Stephenson is an UNESCO Global Selectee in African Art—focusing on the convergence of fine art and anthropology. This year's presentation showcases selections of antique African Art, integrated with vivid collaborative paintings created during a decade among hunter-gatherers, a testament to shared creation. This foundation is brought into dialogue with design, featuring works by visionary designer Yonathan Moore, alongside contemporary photos from artists such as Alison Rossiter.


01

Nkishi Anthropomorphic male Songye DRC Lamami Basiin 19th century 49 cm

Provenance

Collection Édith Hafter (1911-2001), Soleure-Zurich Christie's, Amsterdam, 7 December 1998, lot 184 Pierre Dartevelle, Bruxelles, acquired at this sale Private collection, Europe, acquired from the latter Sotheby's, New York, 15 May 2003, lot 76 Sotheby's, Paris, 3 December 2009, lot 103 Private collection, United Kingdom

Literature Neyt, F., Songye. La redoutable statuaire songye d'Afrique centrale - Songye. The Formidable Statuary of Central Africa, Bruxelles, 2004, pp. 212 et 390, n° 178


02

Face mask Chokwe Angola Late 19th/early 20th Century H 23.5 cm

Wood, Tukula powder, natural fiber and brass

Provenance

Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels Jan Lundberg, Malmo, Sweden Cecile Kerner, Brussels, Belgium Published Kerner, Cecile "Afrique-Asia_Oceanie, No.17"


03

Wooden post / Anthropomorphic female / Truncated Kwere/Zaramo Tanzania

19th century 58.5 cm Wood

Provenance

Private collection, New York Merton Simpson Gallery, NYC inv.5722 (1990) Alain Dufour, Ramatuelle / Saint-Maur-de-Fossés, France


04

Guilleminot-Boespflug & Cie, Etoile, ca.1930s / Gevaert Larjex, ca.1950s

Alison Rossiter American 2025 Signed, Titled and Dated Verso in Pencil; Unique Overall approximately 17" x 15" (43 x 38 cm) Two Gelatin Silver Prints


05

Luba Divination Janus Figure DRC Over 100 Years 19th Century 37 cm Provenance Old Belgium Collection Pierre Dartevelle


03


06

Kongo-Vili Figure Republic of the Congo (Congo Brazzaville) Figure Anthropomorphic female Standing 29.2cm Wood, pigment, glass and metal copper alloy (bronze, brass) earrings and anklets Power figure, fetish Provenance

Agueda Hernandez Herrero Collection, Mexico City, Mexico, acquired in the 1970s Thence by descent seller 2020 Galerie Philippe & Lisa Laeremans, Brussels, Belgium (2021) Galerie Didier Claes, 2022 Publications Expo cat.: "Winter BRUNEAF. Brussels Non European Art Fair" Brussels: BRUNEAF, 2021:47 (Philippe & Lisa Laeremans) Exhibitions Brussels, Belgium: "Winter BRUNEAF. Brussels Non European Art Fair"', Philippe & Lisa Laeremans, 27-31 January 2021 Brussels, Belgium. "BRAFA-The Brussels Arts and Antique Fair", Galerie Didier Claes, 19 - 26 June 2022


07

Reliquary Figure Kota Gabon

Early 1900’s 62.5 cm

Wood and metal; brass, iron and copper Provenance

Private collection, France Briscadieu, Bordeaux, France Ex Dr David Malik, London (SOAS)

Exhibited TAL 19


08

Figure Kongo Democratic Republic of the Congo 30.5 cm Wood, glass, pigments Provenance

Sotheby's, London, 1961 M.L.J. Lamaire, Amsterdam, inv. #20667 Herbet Baker collection The Art Institute of Chicago (1962) Donation by Herbert Baker Property of the Art Institute of Chicago, until 1987 Sotheby's, New York, 10 November 1987, lot 59 Lance Entwistle, London Private collection Christie's, Paris, November 2017, Lot 56


09

Face mask Wè (Guéré) Ivory Coast — Upper Cavally, border Ivory Coast/Liberia 19th century 30 cm

Wood, metal and pigments; Tin teeth

Provenance

Alfonso Bermel, Germany Dr Sheffer collection, Germany, Berlin Kjall Arvidsson collection, Sweden Claude Verite, Paris (1980’s)

Exhibited Stockholm, Sweden: Före Picasso. Afrikansk konst i svensk ägo / Before Picasso: African Art in Swedish Collections, Liljevalchs Konsthall, December 2, 1988 – January 15, 1989. Humlebæk, Denmark: Före Picasso. Afrikansk konst i svensk ägo / Before Picasso: African Art in Swedish Collections, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 1989.


10

Touching #36 David Goldes American 2017 Signed, Titled and Dated Verso in Pencil; Unique

22" x 18" (56 x 45.5 cm)

Graphite on Black Gessoed Paper, Electrified with 15,000 volts


11

Face mask Fang Gabon

19th century

H 38 (cm) L12 (cm) 22 (cm)

Wood, pigment Black, white and red

Provenance

Pace Primitive New York, USA 1980s Yale Archives #0070792 Pace Primitive Photo Files


12

Namji Cameroon Late 19th/early 20th century 15 cm Wood, beads, metal, fibers, and hair Provenance

Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé Collection, Paris Christie's, Paris, Collection Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé, 20 November 2009, lot 908 Property from a Princely Collection


13

Kwere Tanzania 19th Century

12 cm Wood and Fiber Provenance Ex German Collection


14

Power Figure Fetish nkisi/nkishi (pl. mankishi) Democratic Republic of the Congo 19th century 62 cm MEDIUM Wood, metal METAL Copper alloy (bronze, brass), iron Provenance

Allan Stone (1932-2006), New York City, NY, USA. Through decent in the family, seller 2014 Philippe Laeremans, Brussels, Belgium (2014-2019) Mark Eglinton #4872 (2019)

Exhibited

Brussels, Belgium: "Winter BRUNEAF", 18 January 2017 - 22 January 2017 (Laeremans) AUCTIONS Sotheby's, New York, "The Collection of Allan Stone: African, Pre-Columbian & American Indian Art - Volume Two", 16 May 2014. Lot 76.


15

Bateba dunoni anthromorphic Lobi Figure Burkina Faso 19th century H 13 (cm) Medium Metal Provenance Thomas Wheelock Published

"Land of the Flying Masks, Art and Culture in Burkina Faso.: The Thomas GB Wheelock Collection." Munich/ Berlin/ London/ New York Prestel New York Prestel 2007. Christopher Roy and Thomas GB Wheelock “ #383


16

Lwena Mask Mwana Pro Lwena Angola

19th century

H 10 ¾ in (27.3 cm)

Wood, pigments Provenance

Jacques Deprince, Brussels Jacques Hautelet, La Jolla, California, acquired from the above in 1983 Joel Cooner, Dallas Daniel & Marian Malcolm, New Jersey, USA


17

Himalayan mask Tibet 18th to 19th century Wood with yellow, white, and black pigments, human hair Provenance

Arnold Lieberman Asian Fine Arts, New York, 1980s Inez Whitiker, collection NY, Sao Paulo, Brazil 1990s Alan Steele, collection NY


18

TOMA ARTIST Miniature Fetish Mask Guinea Late 19th century 20th century H 7 in (17.8 cm) Wood Provenance Pace Primitive


19

Face mask Baule (Baoulé) or Yaure (Yohouré) Ivory Coast

19th century

H25.4 (cm) D 6.4 (cm) W 15.2 (cm) Wood, pigments

Provenance

Allan Roos (1906-1975), New York, USA Sold by Order of the Executors of His Estate, December 13, 1975

Exhibited Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, "Pre-Columbian, American Indian, African & Oceanic Art", 13 December 1975. Lot 213.


20

Hadzabe Hunters and James Stephenson Pink Sky (Bush Study), 1994 Tanzania

Framed dimensions: 57"x 66"

Medium: Mixed media on canvas Pink Sky was created with one of the last Hadzabe hunter-gatherer bands still living traditionally in the 1990s, before encroaching modernity permanently dismantled their way of life. Conceived while walking hundreds of miles across ancient hunting grounds—moving and living as they had for thousands of years in remote bush sites—and later finished in gritty East Village and Brooklyn basement apartments, it is a collaboration with a young artist who split his life between New York construction work and living with the Hadzabe for months-years at a time (1993-2005) to paint side-by-side with them. Brought out of decades of storage, it stands as a quiet, physical record of an anthropological bridge between an ancient indigenous continuum and contemporary expression that can never be replicated—a fixed-point artifact of a specific, closed historical window when two absolute extremes—ancient deep-time nomadism and urban New York—briefly collided.


21

Hadzabe Hunters and James Stephenson Red dogs 1995

Featured on the cover of The Language of the Land (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), a book praised in The New York Times Book Review (2001).


22

Japanese Buddhist nun, poet, and ceramicist Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791–1875). Saki Cup H 4 3/4 in Her work was featured prominently in the Denver Art Museum exhibition titled (Her Brush): Japanese Women Artists from the Fong-Johnstone Collection, which ran through mid-2023.

Provenance Fong-Johnstone Collection


23

Yonathan Moore (French-Israeli, b. 1990) Wave 1, 2026 Aluminum, Integrated LED, Polished Ceramic Coating 24v dimmable LED strips, 2700k (available in additional temperatures), 93 CRI, 800 lumens 15 13/16" x 14 13/16" x 6 13/16" (40 x 38 x 17 cm)


November 4-8,2026

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