Bonhams African And Oceanic Art Auction

Born in Rouen in 1942, Jacques Kerchache opened his first art gallery in Paris aged 18 and visited West Africa for the first time at 21. He soon began displaying traditional West African art alongside artworks by European artists. Jacques Kerchache was also an artistic advisor and curator of exhibitions. He was an advocate of the Primitive Arts, promoting their entry into important French museum collections. It was under his initiative that the Pavillon des Sessions was created at the Louvre in 2001, as well as the musée du quai Branly in 2006. Jacques Kerchache also collaborated with the Fondation Cartier on many occasions, first on the thematic exhibitions À visage découvert (1992) and être nature (1998) as well as on the solo show of the Haitian artist Patrick Vilaire in Réflexion sur la mort (1997).
Highlights from this selection include:
• A Mbembe Drum finial, exhibited in the prestigious 1987 exhibition Primitivism in 20th century art, MOMA in New York (estimate: €100,000-150,000)
• A Bembe seated figure, Democratic Republic of Congo, published in L’Art Africain, Paris, 1988, Citadelles et Mazenod (estimate: €15,000-20,000)
• A group of 18 Fon Boccio figures featured in the Vaudou exhibition at Fondation Cartier in Paris in 2001 will be offered including a Fon Boccio Figure from Benin (estimate: €15,000-20,000). As early as the late sixties, Jacques Kerchache recognized the aesthetic potency and stunning originality of voodoo statuary and its forms. During his first trips to the birthplace of voodoo currently known as the Republic of Benin, the collector began to bring together what has become the most significant existing collection of African Fon boccio statuary.
• Seven impressive Igbo figures include one published in L’Art Africain, Paris, 1988, Citadelles et Mazenod (estimate: €15,000-18,000).