Private collection Sepp Arnemann, Hamburg 1917 – 2010 “If we’re going to collect something – let’s make it Africa” - Marion and Doris Arnemann recall the start of the collection by their father, German caricaturist and humorist Sepp Arnemann and his friend, Ulrich Klever [1]. “So why don’t we just do it?” That was in 1960 when both were seeking a new challenge. They had good powers of observation and a distinct passion for collecting from birth and these skills were also in the nature of their jobs. Marion and Doris Arnemann know that their father had a fascination with all things exotic since his childhood. As a child he brought home the paper used to package oranges and lemons from Cologne’s fruit sellers because it featured images of far-away lands. What started out as something spontaneous and natural changed when Arnemann and Klever sought advice from the Hamburg-based gallery owner, Boris Kegel-Konietzko. This had a great impact on Arnemann’s style and he purchased his initial items almost exclusively from the gallery between 1960 and 1966 such as the small and very delicate ‘tugubele’ figure of the Senufo people (lot 141) or the equally refined mask of the Pende group (lot 150). Also listed during these years are items which he obtained by exchanging objects with the Museum of Ethnography in Hamburg. One of these items is the antelope dance crest from the Bamana people of Mali (lot 125), once in the collection of Leo Frobenius (1873 – 1938). From 1966, Arnemann increasingly began to purchase from galleries and auctions across Germany as well as in Europe. “When going on holiday, he would always look at the telephone book first to scout out any art dealers, exhibitions and museums,” his two daughters remember. They experienced their father’s years of collecting from the outset, having been 11 and 12 at the time. Beauty, grace, refinement – aesthetic values were always at the forefront of Arnemann’s acquisitions. This is particularly evident in the small amulet figure of the Baule people: it is just 6.5 cm tall yet impresses with its exquisite grace and enchantment (lot 133). Arnemann completed his collection in 1986.
Einige seiner Objekte stammen von den Admiralitäts-Inseln Some of his objects came from the Admirality Islands In: Hans Nevermann, Admiralitäts-Inseln, Hamburg 1934, ill. 23
[1] Ulrich Klever, 1922-1990, a German non-fiction author and journalist;
author of ‘Bruckmann’s Handbuch der afrikanischen Kunst’ (Bruckmann’s handbook of African art), Munich 1975; also foreword and collaboration in ‘Ibeji’ by Gert and Mareidi Stoll, Munich 1980.
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